American researchers discovered that adherence to the so-called "eco-friendly diet" reduces premature death by approximately one third.
The study explained that a “planetary healthy diet” rich in plants and light in meat, helps reduce the risks of disease and the impact of agriculture on climate change and the natural world.
Study author Professor Walter Willett, an expert in epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard University, said: “Changing the way we eat can help slow climate change, and fortunately what is healthier for the planet is better for us, too.”
This diet recommends that fruits and vegetables represent half of a person's daily food intake.
Protein comes mainly from nuts, beans, and lentils, and it is recommended to eat less than 50 grams per day of eggs, fish, meat, and sugar.
In the study, the research team tracked more than 200,000 American adults over 3 decades. They were scored based on how closely their diet matched the Planetary Health System, based on how much they ate from 15 food groups, including: vegetables, whole grains, dairy products such as milk and cheese, and chicken.
The researchers recorded 54,536 deaths among the study group, including more than 14,600 deaths from cancer and just over 13,700 deaths from cardiovascular disease.
The researchers found that the 10% of participants who followed the environmentally friendly diet had a lower risk of premature death by about a third.
They also reduced their risk of death associated with cardiovascular disease by 14%, as well as their risk associated with cancer by 10%.
The researchers wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that the diet was not only beneficial for people, but it was also beneficial for the planet, as adherence to it reduced the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by 29%.
Previous research has estimated that food production is responsible for about a quarter of total global greenhouse gas emissions.
Experts say that raising livestock for human consumption, for example, takes up huge amounts of farmland and contributes to deforestation, biodiversity loss and water pollution.
Emissions from cattle, sheep and goats generate methane, which is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in warming the planet within 20 years, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
Very impressive.
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