24 tlatlatlachiyaloni iuan tlatlatlachiyaloni vida-tsikl tlanemiliztli — kexali, tlalli, atl uan protein, ipan se kilogramo tlakuali uan ipan 100 g protein.
Nacatl yeh huel cenca huel tlitic-tlatlamantitlaqualli tlen achi mochihuah: nacameh metano, tlaqualli tlatquitiliztli huan tlalli tlanextiliztli mochihuah ihuan. Lentejas quichihuah inintlanextiliz, amo monequi tlaqualli tlatquitiliztli, huan yehuan quipiah achi mochihuah gramo-gramo tlaqualli.
Soy tlaqualli ipan nacameh quipoliuh tlahuel in tlaqualli huan in calorias. Tofu quipia in soy tlatlacualiztli quipoliuh in tlaqualli tlatquitiliztli, yeh ihuan in tofu tlahuel cenca tlitic amo cenca in nacatl.
Mochihuah atl tlen xochitl tlen quipia in tlalli ipan yei tlalli tlanextiliztli. Avena yeh huel cenca tlahtlaqualili: amo cenca atl quichihua, tlatlacualiztli ipan tlalli huan amo almendra atl tlatquitiliztli.
Queso yeh yei cenca tlitic-tlatlamantitlaqualli ipan nacatl huan ovin. Cenca nahui litros tlen atl monequi quichihuah kilogramo. Xochitl tlaqualli tlaqualli amo cenca in nacatl, zan cuauhtli xochitl amo cenca atl quichihua.
Cuicuil miacpa itech tlatotonililiztli tlacualli quichihua, auh ahmo miac tlatotonililiztli quichihua ihuic cuacuahueyotl — yeceh chicuace tlanextli quichihua ihuic etzintli iccauh kilogramo, auh miacpa achi miac yoliliztli quipoloz iccauh kilogramo tlacualli ihuic nochi hueyi yolcatl.
Tecuichtli tzinco-etl ic tempeh, in ixtli huan tlahuelli quipiya, huan B hueyyotl quihuapahua. Coyametl monequi miac kilogramo tlaxipehualiztli quiyolcaqui iccauh kilogramo nacatl, inon ipan achi miac hueyi tlatotonililiztli quipiya.
Totoltetl tlatotonililiztli ipan achi xihuitl ipan, yeceh ipan hueyi in cholesterol. Tofu tlatzapinalli ic cozticxihuitl huan tliltic patztli, ce inahuac tlacualli quipiya achi miac tlahuelli huan ahmo cholesterol.
Manteca quipatla ic aceite olivo ce hueyi tlacualli patla ipan yollotl tlacuehualiztli, huan no ihuan centecpan tlatotonililiztli tlacualli ipan cocotl quipoloa.
Borrego cehuan in ome tlahuilli atl huan cehuan in tlalli in oconehui ipampa ce kilogramo ipan miac tlamantli. Ayotl quichihua in occe tlaixcopincayotl ipan nochi tlaixcopincayotl, huan yehuatl in ocachi tlacualli ipampa in tlaxipehualli.
Pescado amo quichihuayeh EPA huan DHA — quipiyayeh in acocatl. Quicuayeh acocatl olli quihuihuitzoa in tlaxochitl pescado, in atl tlalticpac huan in tlamantli in aquique quicuayeh.
Camaron ichcameh yehuatl cehuan in ocachi tlahuilli atl ipampa in manglar in oconquiyahua, in quihuihuitzoa in atl tlalticpac. Zacatl quichihua in tlamantli in ocachi cualli.
In omeh tlamantli yehuatl tlaxochitl, iuhquinoh in tlacualli yehuatl cehuan. In tlamantli in oconehui: miel yehuatl in xochitl in ihuan cemilhuitl, in oconehui quipiya in xochitl in ihuan tlaxochitl.
Cuetlachtli amo san yequih tlamantli: in cuetlachtin quihuicah in hueyi ixnextia in vacas, huan in cromitl tlachihualli ce hueyi atl tlahtlacolli. In cactus, corcho, mycelium huan piña ixihuitl cuetlachtli axan quichihuah bolsas huan cactli.
In ichcatl icuitl quihuica in metano huan tlalli ixnextia in ichcatl in yehuatl quipix. Para tlatotonilli, in tlatzintli sintético tlapiyalli, amatl huan lyocell tlaixpololli quipatihqueh in tlachihualiztli huan cencah achi tlaxtlahualli.
In tlaxcaltamalli in ahmo tlahuel tlamantli ce tlacualli ipan in ixnextia. Ce tlaxcaltamalli iyahuitl ihuan lentejas quipati cencah 3% in vacas tlaxcaltamalli ixnextia, huan quipiya tlaxcal in amo tlanaca quipiya.
In tlatzohuanaliztli tlachihualiztli quipiyah in epa huan leche tlatzohuanaliztli ipan in tlamaniliztli tlaxipaliztli quipiyah in tlatlalianiliztli huan in xihuitl tonacayotl ipan in protein tlahtlahtolli. In epa quipiya achi leucina ipan g, quenih ce achi hueyi tlacualli quipiyah in hueyi.
Gelatin tlen pitzotl ihuan wakax. Agar, tlen chichiltik atl, tlatzi hueli ihuan ahmo tlatlapixtli — tlen kuali tlen tlaxkalpochtli ihuan tonallan.
Fermentado soy kipia yuh tlen yauh tlakah tlen leche yoghurt, ihuan ahmo tzopelik tlen kipia kachi proteína ika kachi pitzawak mantekatl tlen tzopelik.
Trigo gluten tlen kachi denso tlakualtli tlen xochitl ihuan kipia tlen nakatl. Ahmo kuali tlen kuali tlen coeliaco, pampa tlen oksekimeh kachi kuali tlen tlatlamantil tlen wakaxnakatl tlen kochihualotl.
Kachi tleko chocolate tlen 70% kakawatl ahmo kipia leche. Kipia kachi flavanol ihuan eyi tlakuani tepostli tlen leche chocolate.
Tlaquilia linaza inin tlein axachtzin tlanamaca, hueli cateh ALA, auh inin cualtzin hueliz EPA huan DHA. Inin cualtzin xihualpaqui tlacualiztli itech linaza para ALA huan achi altepecualiztli-ayo ce yoliztli.
Tlaquililli soyac-leche inin cualtzin icel cualtlacualiztli itech vacas-leche huan inin tlacualiztli tlein tlaxamania in tlacualiztli tlacualiztli itech piltzintli ce xihuitl ixpolol.
Mycoproteína itlaquiztli tlatoquia itech fermentador in tlalli, huan icel tlalli-tlacualiztli ahmo tlatzintiliztli. Xictlatzoma icel amatl: achi tlahueliztli quipiya icel tlacualiztli itech cecehua-totol-iztatl.
Telpochtli-xoxoc-jacfruta quixihua quen tlatzictli-coyameh huan cualtzin quipiya barbeque-ayo. Inin ce carbohidrato, ahmo proteína, huan icel xicmahuih etl nozo etl-ixotla.
Huakaxtli, ixcuintli uan ichan michin achi hueyi kexali tlatlawili ipan se kilogramo uan ipan 100 g protein; cheeso uan okseki chichihualatl kitemoliztli. Etiolpan, tlakuali, tofu uan achi xochitl achi tepitzin tlani.
In tlapohualtli hueli ipan Poore & Nemecek 2018 Ciencia meta-analisis tlen ~38,700 ichan tlalpan ipan 119 tlalpan, in achi hueyi vida-tsikl tlanemiliztli tlen kipia, uan in tlatenkaktli tlen kipia ipan se sepa tlatlatlachiyaloni amatl.
Achi tepitzin. Tlatlamanaliztli kemankah ce achi tepitzin tlapohualtli ipan tlakuali tlatlawili, uan tlakuali huakaxtli kemankah achi achi kichiua metano ipan se kilogramo uan kipia achi tlalli kemeh achi hueyi huakaxtli. In tlakuali tlen tiktlani achi hueyi kipia inon tlen tlen tlatlamanaliztli.
Quenin tlamachtilistli mochihua
Tlamachtilistli tlen mochi ica tlen ticmachizque hueli qualli, huan no hueli amo qualli. Inin tlahcuilolli mochi ica se tlamachtilistli, huan tlen ticmachizque mochi tictenehuazque, huan ticmachizque tlen amo ticnequizque.
The environmental figures draw primarily on Poore & Nemecek's 2018 synthesis in Science, which consolidated life-cycle assessments from roughly 38,700 farms in 119 countries — still the largest dataset of its kind. It covers emissions, land use, freshwater withdrawals and eutrophication from farm through retail. Where a product is not in that dataset, national life-cycle inventories or peer-reviewed product LCAs are used and labelled as such.
A mean hides an enormous distribution. The highest-impact 25% of beef producers emit roughly twelve times more per kilogram than the lowest 25%. That variation is real and matters for policy. It also does not rescue the comparison: the lowest-impact beef still exceeds the highest-impact plant protein on both emissions and land use, which is why product substitution outperforms producer optimisation as an individual lever.
Choice of functional unit changes the appearance of a comparison more than any other decision. Per kilogram flatters watery foods; per calorie flatters fats and oils; per gram of protein is the fairest unit for foods eaten mainly as protein. Where these pages compare protein sources, protein is the unit, and where they compare drinks, volume is. Any table that silently switches units between rows should be treated with suspicion.
For nearly all foods, production dominates and transport is around 6% of total food-system emissions. The exception is air-freighted perishables, which is a narrow category. Locally produced beef is not lower-impact than imported legumes; the intuition that distance is the main variable is the single most common error in casual food-footprint reasoning.
Environmental comparisons rest on physical measurement; health comparisons rest on epidemiology plus a smaller number of trials. Where these pages state a health difference, they distinguish between mechanistic plausibility, observational association and randomised evidence — and note where the effect size is small enough that it should not drive a decision on its own.
Global means, cradle-to-retail, per kilogram of product unless stated. Individual producers vary by an order of magnitude.
| Food | kg CO₂e per kg | Land m² per kg | Freshwater L per kg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beef (beef herd) | ~60 | ~164 | ~15,400 |
| Lamb | ~24 | ~185 | ~10,400 |
| Cheese | ~21 | ~88 | ~5,600 |
| Farmed prawns | ~12 | ~2 | ~3,500 |
| Pork | ~7 | ~11 | ~6,000 |
| Poultry | ~6 | ~7 | ~4,300 |
| Eggs | ~4.5 | ~6 | ~3,300 |
| Tofu | ~3 | ~2 | ~2,000 |
| Milk (dairy) | ~3 | ~9 | ~630 |
| Legumes | ~0.8 | ~3 | ~1,250 |
| Soy milk | ~1 | ~0.7 | ~28 |
Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science · Water Footprint Network · Our World in Data
Five questions that expose most misleading charts in under a minute.
Per kilogram, per calorie or per gram of protein — and is it consistent across every row?
Farm gate, retail or plate? Excluding processing and refrigeration flatters some products substantially.
Marketing frequently cites the lowest-impact decile of animal production against the average for plants.
Producer-funded LCAs are not automatically wrong, but they choose boundaries and allocations that tend to favour the sponsor.
Allocation between meat, leather, dairy and by-products can shift a headline number by a factor of two.
On some measures, such as local biodiversity and soil carbon on degraded land, it can be. On emissions per kilogram it is generally worse, because slower growth means more methane per unit of meat, and it uses substantially more land.
Almonds are water-intensive per nut, but per litre of milk almond still uses far less water than dairy. The comparison that circulates online usually compares whole almonds to a glass of milk.
Around 77% of global soy is fed to animals. Soy for direct human consumption — tofu, tempeh, soy milk — is a small minority of production and is often grown outside the frontier regions.
Directionally, yes; precisely, no. National figures vary with feed, energy mix and land history. The ranking of food categories is stable across almost every region studied.
It takes roughly eight to ten litres of milk to make a kilogram of hard cheese, so the dairy herd's emissions are concentrated into a small mass of product.
The underlying synthesis is from 2018 with subsequent refinements; where newer national inventories change a figure materially, the page notes it.