Diet revolution needed
DIETS must “change dramatically” to improve health and prevent catastrophic damage to the planet, scientists will warn today.
A bombshell report recommends that worldwide consumption of red meat and sugar is slashed by more than 50 per cent in favour of a largely plant-based diet.
According to a “planetary diet” designed by researchers, about 35 per cent of calories should come from whole grains and tubers.
We should eat just over a pound (500g) of fruit and vegetables every day, and proteins should come mainly from plants.
But we are only allowed half an ounce of red meat per day – an eighth of a quarter pounder burger.
The diet was developed by 37 experts from the EAT-Lancet Commission, which claims it could save 11 million lives each year globally.
Co-lead commissioner Dr Walter Willett, of Harvard University, US, said: “The world’s diets must change dramatically. More than 800 million people have insufficient food, while many more consume an unhealthy diet that contributes to premature death and disease.
“To be healthy, diets must have an appropriate calorie intake and consist of a variety of plant-based foods, low amounts of animalbased foods, unsaturated rather than saturated fats, and few refined grains, highly processed foods and added sugars.”
The report states that more than three billion people are malnourished.
It says adult deaths could be cut by 23 per cent if the new diet was adopted worldwide.
Targets will vary for different countries depending on their current diets.
Countries in North America eat almost 6.5 times the recommended amount of meat, while countries in South Asia eat only half.
Dr Richard Horton, editor-in-chief at medical journal The Lancet, said: “Poor nutrition is a key driver and risk factor for disease.
“However, there has been a global failure to address this.
“The transformation this commission calls for is not superficial or simple. It requires a focus on complex systems, with communities and governments at multiple levels having a part to play in redefining how we eat.”
Professor Tim Lang, of City, University of London, said: “The food we eat and how we produce it determines the health of people and the planet. We need a significant overhaul, changing the global food system on a scale not seen before in ways appropriate to each country’s circumstances.”
The report also recommends measures to cut CO2 emissions and create a sustainable food supply for a global population expected to hit 10 billion by 2050.
Suggestions include preserving natural habitats, restoring degraded land and closing at least 10 per cent of marine areas to fishing.
Food waste must also be halved. The majority of waste occurs in low and middle-income countries during food production, due to lack of access to markets and infrastructure to store and process foods.
In high-income countries, it is largely caused by consumers and could be prevented by improving shopping habits, use of leftovers and our understanding of “best before” and “use by” dates.
Co-lead commissioner Professor Johan Rockstrom, of Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden, said humanity “poses a threat to the stability of the planet”.
“Designing sustainable food systems presents a formidable challenge,” he said. “There is no silver bullet, but by defining a safe operating space for food systems, diets can be identified that will nurture human health and support environmental sustainability.”
A spokesman for the British Nutrition Foundation said: “In a UK context there are some general principles we can adopt.
“These include following guidance in the Eatwell Guide, which is estimated to have a 32 per cent lower environmental footprint than the current average UK diet.
“Advice includes wholegrains, plenty of fruit and vegetables and plant-based sources of protein, along with cutting consumption of foods high in fat, salt and sugar.”
However, Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: “I welcome this report because it reveals the agenda of nanny state campaigners. Their desire to limit people to one tenth of a sausage a day leaves us in no doubt that we are dealing with fanatics.”
Obesity researcher Dr Edward Archer, former professor at the University of Alabama, US, said the report’s recommendations were “based on physiologically implausible and inadmissible dietary data”.