The environmental footprint of animal food production is considered several-fold greater than that
of crops cultivation. Therefore, the choice between animal and vegetarian diets may have a relevant
environmental impact. In such comparisons however, an often neglected issue is the nutritional value
of foods. Previous estimates of nutrients\u2019 environmental footprint had predominantly been based
on either food raw weight or caloric content, not in respect to human requirements. Essential amino
acids (EAAs) are key parameters in food quality assessment. We re-evaluated here the environmental
footprint (expressed both as land use for production and as Green House Gas Emission (GHGE), of
some animal and vegetal foods, titrated to provide EAAs amounts in respect to human requirements.
Production of high-quality animal proteins, in amounts sufficient to match the Recommended Daily
Allowances of all the EAAs, would require a land use and a GHGE approximately equal, greater o smaller
(by only \ub11-fold), than that necessary to produce vegetal proteins, except for soybeans, that exhibited
the smallest footprint. This new analysis downsizes the common concept of a large advantage, in
respect to environmental footprint, of crops vs. animal foods production, when human requirements of
EAAs are used for reference
