‘Planetary health diet’ could save 40,000 deaths a day, landmark report finds

03 October 2025

Adopting a plant-rich “planetary health diet”, including moderate meat consumption, could prevent 40,000 early deaths a day across the world, according to a report by the EAT-Lancet Commission, gathering world-leading researchers in nutrition, health, and sustainability.

The diet is linked to lower risks of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and other non-communicable diseases.

Today, a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from the global food system. Food production is also the biggest cause of the destruction of wildlife and forests and the pollution of water.

The Planetary Health Diet recommends a plant-rich, flexible diet with daily portions of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, and dairy, with moderate weekly consumption of eggs, chicken, fish, and red meat.

Despite enough food being produced globally, 2.8 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet and 1 billion are undernourished. The Planetary Health Diet could help feed an expected population of 9.6 billion by 2050.

The report highlights that moving diets towards the Planetary Health Diet could be achieved by shifting taxes to make healthy foods cheaper and putting warning labels on unhealthy foods.

To support the adoption of this diet, the report recommends making healthy food more affordable through tax changes and adding warning labels on unhealthy products. It also calls for reducing food waste, adopting greener farming, and improving wages and working conditions in the food sector.