Previously, Food World News reported that a vegetarian diet can be quite harmful for the environment because of green house gas emissions. And the green, crispy, leafy, lettuce is getting the bad rap for it.
According to a study from a team of researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University:
Common vegetables 'require more resources per calorie' than many people realize.
Lettuce is over three times worse when it comes to green house gas emissions as compared to eating bacon. The impact per calorie from lettuce alone costs high when it comes to energy intake, water use and emissions.
Anthony Froggatt, a senior researcher from Chatham House, was surprised with the findings when digging deeper into the lettuce world. Chatham is an independent think tank that is currently focusing their researches on the link between green house gas emissions and meat consumption.
Froggatt says, that though growing lettuce is dependent on how it is raised, grown and nurtured:
..true lettuce can be incredibly water intensive and energy intensive to produce.
Paul Fischbeck, a co-author on the study, also agrees:
Lots of common vegetables require more resources per calorie than you would think.
When it comes to lettuce consumption, it is known that the leafy green as a great vehicle for meat or salad. It is the most widely planted salad vegetable for your appetizers, snacks, vegetarian meals, salads and sandwich crunches. Lettuce in general provides dietary fiber and nutrients. It also has an extremely high water content of about 94.9% which makes long term home preservation a pain because lettuce doesn't respond well to freezing. It's better eaten crip and fresh.
While it is now known that there is a wide spread over-consumption of meat in the United States, it is forecasted that there is a significant increase that will impact global warming if not properly treated, as published online.
Other vegetables taking the bad rap includes eggplant, cucumbers and celery.
