Mexican national dietary guidelines promote less costly and environmentally sustainable diets

Abstract

The 2023 Mexican Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Guidelines (HSDG 2023) were developed to include all dimensions of sustainability. Here we compare the environmental impact and cost of diets based on the HSDG 2023, current diets and the Mexican-adapted EAT healthy reference diet. Diets following HSDG 2023 are 21% less expensive, require 30% less land to be produced and have 34% less carbon emissions than current diets—particularly in Mexico City and other urban areas with higher prevalence of Westernized diets. This is driven by reduced animal-source food, especially red meat, and ultra-processed foods. In south–rural areas, the water footprint and cost of diets following HSDG 2023 were higher than those of current diets owing to increased intake of nuts, fruits and vegetables not offset by lower meat consumption (which is already close to recommendations). Diet environmental impact and cost could be further reduced with the Mexican-adapted EAT healthy reference diet compared with the HSDG 2023. Sustainability is increasingly integrated into national food-based dietary guidelines, but how and to what effect requires investigation. This study analyses the costs and environmental impact of the 2023 Mexican Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Guidelines (HSDG) relative to current diets and the Mexican-adapted EAT healthy reference diet.