'Replacing beef with poultry and eggs would help environment'

Cutting global beef consumption and eating protein-rich poultry and eggs instead could lead to major climate benefits, says a new research.
The study by David Bryngelsson from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden investigated various future scenarios to determine how the climate would be impacted if humans were to change their diet.
The research shows that adopting a diet in which the protein derives from poultry is a smart and inexpensive way to reduce our impact on the climate.
"Cattle ranching is already responsible for 15 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions that humans cause. The diet we are accustomed to in wealthy countries is not consistent with our climate goals," says Bryngelsson, who recently presented his doctoral thesis on land use, food related greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change.

Even though vegan diet results in less greenhouse gases, Bryngelsson's research shows that we can continue eating animal protein and still make a major contribution to the climate - if we replace beef with poultry and eggs, and cut down on our consumption of milk and cheese.
"Even people who eat an extremely protein-rich LCHF diet with chicken as the base make a greater contribution to the environment than vegetarians who consume a great deal of dairy products".

There might be ethical objections to the current chicken industry, but Bryngelsson believes that climate gains will prevail even with more animal-friendly production methods.

Technical improvements in the production chain can to a certain extent also reduce the food industry's climate impact, but cattle are still the biggest problem as they need a lot of feed and they release methane as they ruminate.
Furthermore, forests are being devastated to make room for the increasing number of cattle.
The study also shows the difference between chicken and beef as regards to area requirements and greenhouse gas emissions.
This is because a hen can have around 150 chicks per year as compared to a cow that can give birth to not quite one calf per year, and because chicks grow extremely quickly and thus absorb a significantly greater proportion of their feed.

Furthermore, cows belch large amounts of methane while chewing on their cud, which is something chickens do not do.