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A bit of meat, a lot of veg - the flexitarian diet to feed 10bn
By James Gallagher
Health and science correspondent, BBC News
17 January 2019
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Food marketImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
A diet has been developed that promises to save lives, feed 10 billion people and all without causing catastrophic damage to the planet.
Scientists have been trying to figure out how we are going to feed billions more people in the decades to come.
Their answer - "the planetary health diet" - does not completely banish meat and dairy.
But it is recommending we get most of our protein from nuts and legumes (such as beans and lentils) instead.
Their diet needs an enormous shift in what we pile on to our plates and for us to turn to foods that we barely eat.
What changes am I going to have to make?
If you eat meat every day then this is the first biggie. For red meat you're looking at a burger a week or a large steak a month and that's your lot.
You can still have a couple of portions of fish and the same of chicken a week, but plants are where the rest of your protein will need to come from. The researchers are recommending nuts and a good helping of legumes every day instead.
There's also a major push on all fruit and veg, which should make up half of every plate of food we eat.
Although there's a cull on "starchy vegetables" such as the humble potato or cassava which is widely eaten in Africa.
So what is the diet in detail?
If you served it all up this is what you would be allowed each day:
Picture
Nuts - 50g a day
Beans, chickpeas, lentils and other legumes - 75g a day
Fish - 28g a day
Eggs - 13g a day (so one and a bit a week)
Meat - 14g a day of red meat and 29g a day of chicken
Carbs - whole grains like bread and rice 232g a day and 50g a day of starchy vegetables
Dairy - 250g - the equivalent of one glass of milk
Vegetables -(300g) and fruit (200g)
The diet has room for 31g of sugar and about 50g worth of oils like olive oil.
Will it taste awful?
Prof Walter Willet, one of the researchers who is based at Harvard, said no and that after a childhood on a farm eating three portions of red meat a day he was now pretty much in line with the planetary health diet.
"There's tremendous variety there," he said. "You can take those foods and put them together in thousands of different ways. We're not talking about a deprivation diet here, it is healthy eating that is flexible and enjoyable."
FoodsImage copyrightMOLLY KATZEN
Image caption
These are some plates of food that meet the planetary health diet rules
BBC Food: Health recipes and diet information
Is this for real, or just a fantasy?
This plan requires changes to diets in pretty much every corner of the world.
Europe and North America need to cut back massively on red meat, East Asia needs to cut back on fish, Africa on starchy vegetables.
"Humanity has never attempted to change the food system at this scale and this speed," said Line Gordon, director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, at Stockholm University.
"Whether it's a fantasy or not, a fantasy doesn't have to be bad... it's time to dream of a good world," she says.
Taxes on red meat are one of the many options the researchers say may be necessary to persuade us to switch diets.
Who came up with this?
A group of 37 scientists from around the world were brought together as part of the EAT-Lancet commission.
They're a mix of experts from farming to climate change to nutrition. They took two years to come up with their findings which have been published in the Lancet.
Why do we need a diet for 10 billion people?
The world population reached seven billion in 2011 and it's now around 7.7 billion. That figure is expected to reach 10 billion around 2050 and will keep on climbing.
Will it save lives?
The researchers say the diet will prevent about 11 million people dying each year.
That number is largely down to cutting diseases related to unhealthy diets such as heart attacks, strokes and some cancers. These are now the biggest killers in developed countries.
Presentational grey line
How bad is farming for the planet?
Analysis box by Matt McGrath, environment correspondent
The use of land for growing food and forestry accounts for around a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. That's about the same as from electricity and heating, and substantially more than from all the trains, planes and automobiles on the planet.
When you look more closely at the food sector's environmental impact, you can see that meat and dairy are the major factors. Worldwide, livestock accounts for between 14.5 and 18% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
When it comes to other warming gases, agriculture is one of the leading contributors to both methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
Agriculture is also a significant source of air pollution with ammonia from farms a major cause of fine particulate matter, which the World Health Organization (WHO) says is a threat to health worldwide.
Similarly when it comes to water, agriculture and food productions are one of the biggest threats, consuming 70% of global freshwater sources for irrigation.
Presentational grey line
So will this diet save the planet?
The researchers' aim was to feed more people while:
minimising greenhouse gas emissions
preventing any species going extinct
having no expansion of farmland, and
preserving water
However, just changing diets is nowhere near enough.
To make the numbers add up, also requires a halving of food waste and an increase in the amount of food produced on current farmland.
Why isn't meat being banned?
"If we were just minimising greenhouse gases we'd say everyone be vegan," said Prof Willet.
However, it was unclear whether a vegan diet was the healthiest option, he said.
So what happens now?
The EAT-Lancet Commission is going to take its findings to governments around the world and bodies such as the WHO to see if it can begin to change the way we eat.
Follow James on Twitter
Are you currently following this diet? How easy or difficult are you finding it? Tell us about your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
WhatsApp: +44 7555 173285
Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay
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By James Gallagher
Health and science correspondent, BBC News
17 January 2019
Share this with Facebook Share this with Messenger Share this with Twitter Share this with Email Share
Food marketImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
A diet has been developed that promises to save lives, feed 10 billion people and all without causing catastrophic damage to the planet.
Scientists have been trying to figure out how we are going to feed billions more people in the decades to come.
Their answer - "the planetary health diet" - does not completely banish meat and dairy.
But it is recommending we get most of our protein from nuts and legumes (such as beans and lentils) instead.
Their diet needs an enormous shift in what we pile on to our plates and for us to turn to foods that we barely eat.
What changes am I going to have to make?
If you eat meat every day then this is the first biggie. For red meat you're looking at a burger a week or a large steak a month and that's your lot.
You can still have a couple of portions of fish and the same of chicken a week, but plants are where the rest of your protein will need to come from. The researchers are recommending nuts and a good helping of legumes every day instead.
There's also a major push on all fruit and veg, which should make up half of every plate of food we eat.
Although there's a cull on "starchy vegetables" such as the humble potato or cassava which is widely eaten in Africa.
So what is the diet in detail?
If you served it all up this is what you would be allowed each day:
Picture
Nuts - 50g a day
Beans, chickpeas, lentils and other legumes - 75g a day
Fish - 28g a day
Eggs - 13g a day (so one and a bit a week)
Meat - 14g a day of red meat and 29g a day of chicken
Carbs - whole grains like bread and rice 232g a day and 50g a day of starchy vegetables
Dairy - 250g - the equivalent of one glass of milk
Vegetables -(300g) and fruit (200g)
The diet has room for 31g of sugar and about 50g worth of oils like olive oil.
Will it taste awful?
Prof Walter Willet, one of the researchers who is based at Harvard, said no and that after a childhood on a farm eating three portions of red meat a day he was now pretty much in line with the planetary health diet.
"There's tremendous variety there," he said. "You can take those foods and put them together in thousands of different ways. We're not talking about a deprivation diet here, it is healthy eating that is flexible and enjoyable."
FoodsImage copyrightMOLLY KATZEN
Image caption
These are some plates of food that meet the planetary health diet rules
BBC Food: Health recipes and diet information
Is this for real, or just a fantasy?
This plan requires changes to diets in pretty much every corner of the world.
Europe and North America need to cut back massively on red meat, East Asia needs to cut back on fish, Africa on starchy vegetables.
"Humanity has never attempted to change the food system at this scale and this speed," said Line Gordon, director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, at Stockholm University.
"Whether it's a fantasy or not, a fantasy doesn't have to be bad... it's time to dream of a good world," she says.
Taxes on red meat are one of the many options the researchers say may be necessary to persuade us to switch diets.
Who came up with this?
A group of 37 scientists from around the world were brought together as part of the EAT-Lancet commission.
They're a mix of experts from farming to climate change to nutrition. They took two years to come up with their findings which have been published in the Lancet.
Why do we need a diet for 10 billion people?
The world population reached seven billion in 2011 and it's now around 7.7 billion. That figure is expected to reach 10 billion around 2050 and will keep on climbing.
Will it save lives?
The researchers say the diet will prevent about 11 million people dying each year.
That number is largely down to cutting diseases related to unhealthy diets such as heart attacks, strokes and some cancers. These are now the biggest killers in developed countries.
Presentational grey line
How bad is farming for the planet?
Analysis box by Matt McGrath, environment correspondent
The use of land for growing food and forestry accounts for around a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. That's about the same as from electricity and heating, and substantially more than from all the trains, planes and automobiles on the planet.
When you look more closely at the food sector's environmental impact, you can see that meat and dairy are the major factors. Worldwide, livestock accounts for between 14.5 and 18% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
When it comes to other warming gases, agriculture is one of the leading contributors to both methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
Agriculture is also a significant source of air pollution with ammonia from farms a major cause of fine particulate matter, which the World Health Organization (WHO) says is a threat to health worldwide.
Similarly when it comes to water, agriculture and food productions are one of the biggest threats, consuming 70% of global freshwater sources for irrigation.
Presentational grey line
So will this diet save the planet?
The researchers' aim was to feed more people while:
minimising greenhouse gas emissions
preventing any species going extinct
having no expansion of farmland, and
preserving water
However, just changing diets is nowhere near enough.
To make the numbers add up, also requires a halving of food waste and an increase in the amount of food produced on current farmland.
Why isn't meat being banned?
"If we were just minimising greenhouse gases we'd say everyone be vegan," said Prof Willet.
However, it was unclear whether a vegan diet was the healthiest option, he said.
So what happens now?
The EAT-Lancet Commission is going to take its findings to governments around the world and bodies such as the WHO to see if it can begin to change the way we eat.
Follow James on Twitter
Are you currently following this diet? How easy or difficult are you finding it? Tell us about your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
WhatsApp: +44 7555 173285
Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay
Send pictures/video to yourpics@bbc.co.uk
Upload your pictures / video here
Text an SMS or MMS to 61124 or +44 7624 800 100
Please read our terms of use and privacy policy
Or use the form below:
Your contact details
Name
Your E-mail address (required)
Town & Country
Your telephone number
Comments (required)
If you are happy to be contacted by a BBC journalist please leave a telephone number that we can contact you on. In some cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name as you provide it and location, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. When sending us pictures, video or eyewitness accounts at no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions.
Terms and conditions
The BBC's Privacy Policy
Related Topics
FoodDiet & nutritionClimate change
Share this story About sharing
Messenger
Will going vegan make you healthier?
5 September 2018
'Flexitarian' diets key to feeding people in a warming world
11 October 2018
How to eat well - and save the planet
11 September 2018
Around the BBC
'Measure food with your fist' - BBC News
Is being vegan better for the environment? - BBC News
TAKE THE TEST- How carb-clever are you? BBC Food
Healthy recipes and diet information - BBC Food
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