How what’s on your plate can save the environment – A review of the Eat Lancet Report
On January 17 2019 Prof. Walter Willett MD and Prof. Johan Rockström PhD, co-chairs of the EAT Lancet Commission published a report on a scientific recommendation of a diet that can feed the world population while sustaining our environment. As we advance towards becoming a plant of 10 billion people by 2050, this paper couldn’t have come sooner. Though not rocket science, for those that doubt, at least now there is proof in the pudding about the importance of plant-based eating, promoting plant-based diets and its positive impact on the environment. The report in question is the EAT Lancet Report. The question that it addresses is whether healthy food and a healthy diet can save the planet.
Here are a few thoughts on this timely formula for diet that will ensure a higher level of environmental sustainability and a healthier population.
The global population is set to balloon to 10 billion. Everybody gotta eat. While dealing with environmental issues, our population continues to boom as we head towards the projected 10 Billion humans that will call the earth home by 2050. Unless efforts to reach and make Mars livable is expedited, there isn’t another planet for us to move to any time soon. How will feed everyone? Where will the food be grown? Or, will it not be grown, but cultivated in a lab? These are all valid questions. And they are pressing questions given that 2050 is but 30 years away. While the production of lab grown meat continues to advance, and the mad dash to produce plant-based “proteins” is in full swing it is refreshing to note that there is some science that has been established between what our diets should look like such that our eating habits will sustain the environment while also feeding our bursting population.
What we eat and the state of the environment are linked. We cannot deny this. There is a strong connection between our current eating habits and the state of the environment. As we have transitioned from frugivorous and herbivorous eating habits of our ancestors to one that is now predominantly animal meat based, there has been a somewhat equally on-going decline in the state of the environment. Though many questions have been raised about this and the debates are on-going it is hard to deny the connection between our food production practices and global warming. Think about the odd weather lately. The excessive heat, changing weather patterns, rising sea levels, the state of the soil, and depleting resources and even the near extinction of animal and planetary species in recent times are known to be a result of manmade practices, especially the cultivation of food. The cultivation of food to feed animals leads to high levels of nitrogen in the atmosphere aka greenhouse gases.
What we eat does affect the state of our health. We also cannot deny this. As many cases one may want to make for or against the benefits of eating a plant-based or vegan, it cannot be denied that a diet based on plants is one that delivers optimal health. As the movement towards plant-based eating and veganism grows ever more intense, the Lancet study proves scientifically that they way forward is a plant forward, plant-based diet and that such a diet will deliver optimal health. According to the report, a healthy diet should optimize health, with health defined broadly as being a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease.
The China Study, a 40 year study on the impact of diet on lifestyle and disease conducted by T. Colin Cambell demonstrates with scientific evidence that SAD (the Standard American Diet), which is transferring across the globe thanks to fast food chains and multinational FMCGs, is the leading cause of chronic diseases. Chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cancer and many other ailments stem from the high saturated fat, high protein processed convenience foods most of us now have easy access to.
We must change our ways, and do that fast, in order to prevent catastrophic damage to the earth’s systems. Back to the environment, what we eat and the impact of both on our health and quality of life. The report states a few clear strategies on what change is required to enable us to feed 10 billion people, while protecting the environment.
- First, governments – international and national – must be actively involved in driving change. Whether we like it or not, it is government policies and joint agreements such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals that will drive change for all. And governments will need to work swiftly and in tandem on this one. We all share the earth.
- Second, our agricultural priorities need to shift. Increasing the production of food diversity and plant-based foods. Of the 30,000 or more varieties of foods that exist in the world, majority of us only consume about 200. There is so much more we could be doing with so much more.
- Third, improving yield with innovation in agricultural practices to reduce water usage, use of fertilisers and reducing gaps between yields are crucial to the survival of our growing population.
- Fourth, improving governance on land and oceans ensuring that no more reduction to natural environments occurs due to the need to expand agricultural production. Let’s feed off of what we are already using
- Finally, food loss and wastage is real. In countries such as Nigeria for instance, where it is stated that approximately 60% of produce goes to waste annually, something has to change. Investments in technological innovation is also required to reduce food loss amounts to 50% to achieve SDGs.
Emphasis on plant-based foods is the way forward. The scientific guidance provided in the report recommends increased consumption of whole foods plant-based diet that includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains – while in many settings substantially limiting animal source foods. Let me state that my only major issue with the proposed diet is that it still contains the consumption of animal products, even though to a lesser amount. By 2050, in my opinion, there should be no need to slaughter animals for meat. There are many reasons for this, such as the increasing awareness among consumers of the benefits of a whole foods plant-based diet and the development of plant-based meat alternatives being driven by the likes of Impossible Meat, Beyond Burger, The Good Catch Company and other companies jumping into this game. That said, I am very excited that for all those that raise questions about why anyone should be on a plant-based diet (not sure why this is even a question), but all for those who may have had some doubt, there is finally some science behind it.
You can access the summary report here: EAT Lancet Summary Report
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