A dietary pattern that is good for both human health and the health of the planet was proposed in 2019 by the EAT-Lancet Commission, a group of leading researchers in nutrition, health, sustainability, and policy from around the world. A group of researchers set out to see if adhering to this dietary pattern was associated with lower risk of death.
The study compared self-reported dietary intake information and health records from over 159,000 U.S. women and over 47,000 U.S. men. The researchers calculated what they called a “Planetary Health Diet Index” to see how closely the participants’ usual dietary intake resembled the EAT-Lancet diet. The participants were free from cancer, diabetes, and major cardiovascular diseases when data collection began.
During more than 30 years of follow-up, 31,300 women and 23,206 men died. Compared to diets that least resembled the EAT-Lancet diet, those that were closest to the planet-friendly recommendations were associated with lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory diseases, and neurodegenerative disease.
Doing what is best for our health can also benefit the earth. The Planetary Health Diet recommended by the EAT-Lancet Commission is a flexible, plant-forward dietary pattern in which meat and dairy make up a significantly smaller proportion of food intake than whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and legumes (see page 4 for a discussion of “plant-forward” dietary patterns).