Healthy eating ‘fanatics’ demand people give up meat
Expert panel says everyone should switch to diet that limits pork, beef and eggs to help save the planet
HEALTH experts have recommended people should restrict their meat intake to the equivalent of one beef burger a fortnight, in new dietary recommendations branded “fanatical” by critics. The Eat-lancet Commission, a group of 37 health experts, has spent two years compiling what it claims is the healthiest and most sustainable food plan for everyone in the world.
The experts have developed a diet they claim could cut deaths and help combat hunger – but would limit pork and red meat consumption to just 7g per day, the equivalent of a quarter of a slice of bacon.
They believe it could cut premature deaths globally by 11 million and help feed the growing worldwide population, due to reach 10billion by 2050. However, to comply with the new diet, the average Briton would need to reduce their red meat consumption by 77 per cent – from 62g to 14g for pork and beef – allowing them to have an 8oz steak just once a month, or alternatively enjoy a single slice of bacon once every four days.
The NHS recommends that Britons should eat no more than 70g per day of any meat – but the new plan cuts that to 43g. The report also limits dairy to 250g a day – about one cup of milk – half a fish finger a day, and eggs to just three a fortnight.
The plan is so strict that two out of three commission members introducing the new diet at a briefing in London yesterday said they were not sticking to it.
Dr Richard Horton, editor-in-chief at The Lancet, said: “I’m close, but I have two eggs for breakfast every morning, so I’m already having too many eggs.”
Author Dr Line Gordon, director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, also admitted: “I am moving towards it, but I have young kids at home, which is driving me in the wrong direction.”
The plan also calls for unhealthy food to be removed from shops or heavily taxed to force people into choosing healthier options.
The commission said “unprecedented global collaboration and commitment” was needed to push the plan forward, involving immediate changes away from cattle farming and starchy crops toward nutrient-rich varieties.
But critics said the plan eliminated personal choice and failed to look at alternative options for feeding the world.
Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: “Their desire to limit people to eating one tenth of a sausage a day leaves us in no doubt that we are dealing with fanatics.
“The potent combination of nannystate campaigners, militant vegetarians and environmental activists poses a danger to a free society. They say they want to save the planet, but it is not clear which planet they are on.”