June 10, 2024 – A food plan wealthy in fruits, vegetables and whole grains may not only result in longer lives, but may help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote other things that protect the environment, a brand new study shows.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from the diets of 200,000 people and assessed how well their selections were aligned with the Nutrition for planetary health. A panel of experts proposed a dietary plan in 2018 that individuals can follow to maximise their personal health and the health of the planet.
People who followed the food plan most closely had a 25 percent lower risk of early death and were less prone to die from heart problems, cancer, respiratory disease or neurodegenerative diseases similar to Alzheimer's or Parkinson's than individuals who ate mostly animal proteins, foods with added sugar and processed foods.
Women who strictly adhered to the food plan were less prone to die from infectious diseases, while men weren't. The researchers described the link they observed between the food plan and a reduced risk of respiratory diseases similar to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as certainly one of the “most striking” health effects.
The Results were published on Monday in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The people involved within the study provided detailed details about their food plan every 4 years for as much as 34 years and all of them were either nurses or other health care professionals.
The Planetary Health Diet suggests about 2,500 calories per day, with half of the each day food plan coming from fruit and veggies, followed by whole grains and plant proteins. The food plan can include small amounts of dairy and animal proteins, and oils ought to be unsaturated vegetable oils. The creators of the food plan describe it as an optimization of human health and environmental sustainability.
“Climate change is putting our planet on the path to ecological catastrophe, and our food system plays a major role,” said study creator Walter Willett, MD, professor of epidemiology and nutrition on the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, in a opinion“Changing our diets can help slow climate change. And what is healthiest for the planet is also healthiest for people.”
The researchers estimated that strictly following a planet-friendly food plan could have far-reaching environmental impacts, similar to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 29 percent, reducing fertilizer needs by 21 percent, and reducing farmland use by 51 percent in comparison with a food plan consisting primarily of highly processed or animal-based foods.
“The results demonstrate how closely human health and planetary health are linked,” said Willett. “Healthy eating promotes environmental sustainability – which in turn is critical to the health and well-being of every person on Earth.”