Diets that are good for the environment are also good for our health

A new study from Lund University, Sweden found that more sustainable dietary habits are linked to health benefits.

The study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition investigated how the EAT-Lancet diet (The EAT-Lancet diet is a report detailing how food production and consumption needs to transform covering 6 different areas, climate impact, water use, biodiversity, phosphorus and nitrogen use and acidification). The EAT-Lancet diet recommends targets for daily food intakes consisting of whole grains, vegetables, nuts, fruit, seeds, pulses including beans and lentils and recommends consuming significantly less meat, sugar and saturated fat.

The researchers studied 22,421 participants from the Malmö diet and cancer cohort over an average of 20 years, adjusting for factors including BMI, physical activity levels, smoking and alcohol consumption. The researchers found those individuals with diets closest to the EAT-Lancet recommendations had a 25% lower risk of premature death compared to individuals with the lowest adherence to the EAT-Lancet diet recommendations. The researchers also found that the recommendations were linked to a 32% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 24% lower risk of dying from cancer.