Scientists
reveal 'ideal diet' for peoples' and planet's health
Send a link to a friend
[January 17, 2019]
By Kate Kelland
LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Scientists have unveiled what they say is an
ideal diet for the health of the planet and its populations - including
a doubling of consumption of nuts, fruits, vegetables and legumes, and a
halving of meat and sugar intake.
|
If the world followed the "Planetary Health" diet, the researchers
said, more than 11 million premature deaths could be prevented each
year, while greenhouse gas emissions would be cut and more land,
water and biodiversity would be preserved.
"The food we eat and how we produce it determines the health of
people and the planet, and we are currently getting this seriously
wrong," said Tim Lang, a professor at Britain's University of London
who co-led the research.
Feeding a growing population of 10 billion people by 2050 with a
healthy, sustainable diet will be impossible without transforming
eating habits, improving food production and reducing food waste, he
said. "We need a significant overhaul, changing the global food
system on a scale not seen before."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jan/17/images/ads/current/christian_village_sda_031616.png)
Many life-threatening chronic diseases are linked to poor diets,
including obesity, diabetes, malnutrition and several types of
cancer. The researchers said unhealthy diets currently cause more
death and disease worldwide than unsafe sex, alcohol, drug and
tobacco use combined.
The proposed planetary diet is the result of a three-year project
commissioned by The Lancet health journal and involving 37
specialists from 16 countries.
(For a graphic, click here https://tmsnrt.rs/2APqnln)
It says global average consumption of foods such as red meat and
sugar should be cut by 50 percent, while consumption of nuts,
fruits, vegetables and legumes should double.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jan/17/images/ads/current/heartland_lda_CNA_121718.png)
For individual regions, this could mean even more dramatic changes:
People in North America, for example, eat almost 6.5 times the
recommended amount of red meat, while people in South Asia eat only
half the amount suggested by the planetary diet.
Meeting the targets for starchy vegetables such as potatoes and
cassava would need big changes in sub-Saharan Africa, where people
on average eat 7.5 times the suggested amount.
Presenting the diet at a briefing on Wednesday, the researchers said
they acknowledged it was very ambitious to hope to get everyone in
the world to adopt it, not least because there is vast global
inequality of access to food.
"More than 800 million people have insufficient food, while many
more consume an unhealthy diet that contributes to premature death
and disease," said Walter Willett of Harvard University in the
United States.
"If we can't quite make it, it's better to try and get as close as
we can," he said.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jan/17/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png) |