Photo: Einladung_zum_Essen on Pixabay.
People who eat closest to the plant-forward Planetary Health Diet have a 23% lower risk of dying early, according to a huge new Harvard study, and their diets are kinder to the planet too.
Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health followed 206,404 women and men from the Nurses' Health Study, Nurses' Health Study II and Health Professionals Follow-up Study for up to 34 years, publishing the results in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The diet was devised by the EAT-Lancet Commission in 2019: mostly whole grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes, with little meat. Comparing the top fifth of adherence with the bottom fifth, the team found 14% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, 10% lower from cancer, 28% lower from neurodegenerative disease and 47% lower from respiratory disease. Higher scores also went with lower greenhouse gas emissions and land use.
Corresponding author Professor Walter Willett said in the Harvard press release:
Shifting how we eat can help slow the process of climate change. And what's healthiest for the planet is also healthiest for humans.
Filling the plate with beans, lentils, whole grains and veg looks like a good bet for both.
When the EAT-Lancet diet launched we reported that 37 scientists agreed the world must halve red meat, and Oxford researchers later found it would save 34% more lives than national guidelines.
Good for you, good for the planet. What's not to love?