Exploring the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and nutritional and anthropometric metrics in the PERSIAN dena cohort

Public health is influenced by both diet quality and climate changes. The study evaluated the association of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) and cumulative energy demand (CED) from diet of 3,203 adults aged 35 to 70 years who participated in the PERSIAN Dena cohort study, considering various nutritional and anthropometric factors. Binary logistic regression was used to investigate the correlation of dietary GHGE and CED on obesity indices including BMI, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). The mean of GHGE, non-renewable CED, BMI, WHR and WHtR were found to be 4.88 ± 2.33 kg CO₂-eq/person, 23.1 ± 10.6 MJ/day, 27.82 ± 5 kg/m², 0.97 ± 0.17 and 0.61 ± 0.13 respectively. There were no differences in these indices between lower and upper median groups of GHGE and CED; however, in the fully adjusted analysis, participants in the upper median group of GHGE had a 44%, 21% and 44% higher risk of overweight/obesity or underweight, high WHR and high WHtR, respectively; Based on CED., also, these risks were 42%, 21% and 40%, respectively. GHGE and CED both showed moderate predictive power (AUC: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.67-0.71, P < 0.001). The result suggests that GHGE and CED can serve as useful indicators for assessing the risk of unhealthy body composition; on other hands, integrating environmental sustainability with nutritional health, can be holistic approach that benefits both individual well-being and the planet.