Search

Urbanization and globalization have led to an increasing concern and focus on the sustainability of the food sector, particularly in discussing the composition of consumers' diets. This study examines Italian consumption habits, categorizing them into four macro-geographical areas (North-West, North-East, Center, South, and Islands), utilizing public data obtained from surveys including 3323 individuals, and assesses their environmental impacts through the application of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The findings unveil distinct dietary patterns across Italian macro-regions, indicative of cultural disparities, and present avenues for promoting environmentally sustainable dietary choices. The study identifies meat consumption as the primary environmental concern across all macro-regions, with fish emerging as a secondary contributor to particulate matter formation. Pork and poultry exhibit notable impacts within toxicity-related categories. Additionally, the research underscores challenges in data collection, notably the absence of a site-specific Italian database, and underscores the necessity for more recent consumption data to accurately capture contemporary Italian dietary habits. Finally, the study demonstrates that addressing the issue from a macro-regional perspective allows for more targeted and dedicated cultural interventions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hormesis is a dose-response phenomenon observed in numerous living organisms, caused by low levels of a large number of stressors, among which metal ions. In cities, metal levels are usually below toxicity limits for most plant species, however, it is of primary importance to understand whether urban metal pollution can threaten plant survival, or, conversely, be beneficial by triggering hormesis. The effects of Cd, Cr and Pb urban concentrations were tested in hydroponics on three annual plants, Cardamine hirsuta L., Poa annua L. and Stellaria media (L.) Vill., commonly growing in cities. Results highlighted for the first time that average urban trace metal concentrations do not hinder plant growth but cause instead hormesis, leading to a considerable increase in plant performance (e.g., two to five-fold higher shoot biomass with Cd and Cr). The present findings, show that city habitats are more suitable for plants than previously assumed, and that what is generally considered to be detrimental to plants, such as trace metals, could instead be exactly the plus factor allowing urban plants to thrive., (© 2021. The Author(s).)