The analysis carried out by scientists has shown that healthy human nutrition is beneficial for the ecosystem of the entire planet.
In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists weighed the health and environmental impact of consuming a variety of foods. To do this, they divided food into 15 well-studied food groups: for example, vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, several types of meat, fish.
For each of the groups, a check was carried out for five types of harmful effects on human health and the environmental situation. For humans, these were type II diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease, colorectal cancer, and overall mortality. For the planet, greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water waste and pollution.
The risk for each type of health hazard was calculated by adding an additional portion of the product from each group to the average daily consumption of a person. Each such portion was then analyzed for costs in production, processing, waste of agricultural resources, seeds, equipment and arable land. Transportation, processing, retailing, and food preparation have been excluded from this equation.
With very few exceptions, their results show that wholesome foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and grains have less environmental impact in terms of agriculture and mass food production.
All of the definitely healthy foods had less harmful effects on the environment than the less healthy ones. The only exception is fish that is good for us; however, its extraction, according to the authors, is less harmful than the production of red and processed meat, which entails the greatest damage to the environment among all the tested groups of products. Moreover, the results, of course, are not completely identical. For example, processed foods that contain sugar harm us more than the planet.
But while we may not want to hear this, food systems researcher Michael Clark of the University of Oxford told The Guardian that replacing any meat with a plant-based diet seems to make the biggest difference.
“How and where food is produced affects its impact on the environment, but to a much lesser extent than food choices,” explains Michael Clarke, a food systems researcher at the University of Oxford.
Unfortunately, the diets of people around the world still do not look healthy. The UN, WHO and doctors are trying to enforce nutritional guidelines that include enough plant-based foods. However, many people still struggle to maintain a healthy diet.
“It is important that we all think about the health effects of the foods we eat. We now know that by making our nutrition a priority, we will also reap dividends for the Earth,”says Jason Hill, biosystems engineer at the University of Minnesota.
What is right for humans may not always work for the entire planet, but at least in terms of priorities in food choices, our needs overlap in many ways. “This study shows that eating healthier also means eating better. Generally, if a food product is beneficial for one aspect of a person's health, it is better for other aspects of health as well. The same applies to environmental impacts,”sums up David Tilman, an ecologist at the University of Minnesota.
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