Food and planetary health

Our health and environmental sustainability are tightly linked. We want to provide the best possible evidence to inform individual food choices.

Health and environmental sustainability

Current mainstream diets are pushing the Earth beyond its limits, while also causing ill health in communities. New dietary guidelines which will provide optimal health for humanity, as well as define sustainable food systems that will minimize damage to our planet, are therefore urgently needed.

This research project was carried out by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and supported by Login5 Foundation.

Why do we need a better food system?

Food in The Anthropocene: the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems report (read the adapted Summary Report), published in January 2019, showed that more than 800 million people have insufficient food, while many more consume an unhealthy diet that contributes to premature death and disease. Additionally, food production is exceeding planetary boundaries—driving climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution due to over-application of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers, and causing unsustainable changes in water and land use.

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Food, health and planetary needs

In their work with the Food and Planetary Health project at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the research team assesses the environmental and health impacts of different foods.

We are looking for a win-win framework, where our diets benefit both: human health and the environment.

Using data to inform individual choices

The current study combines data from multiple large cohorts around the world, to examine the link between major protein sources to the risk of coronary heart disease.

Using data collections going back to 1986, researchers have now provided the best possible evidence to inform individual dietary choices that benefit our health and the health of our Earth. It could serve governments across various parts of the world in developing new dietary guidelines.

Read more about the EAT Lancet Report here.

Project Leader: Walter C. Willett, M.D., Dr. P.H., Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School