A new report from the EAT–Lancet Commission outlines a roadmap for global dietary transformation. The report sets scientific targets for healthy diets and sustainable food production, and it outlines strategies for addressing the interconnected challenges of human health, environmental sustainability, and food and nutrition insecurity.
The Commission, co-chaired by Shakuntula Thilsted, Walter Willett, and Johan Rockström, convened 37 scientists from 16 countries with the goal of setting universal scientific objectives for the food system. The Commission’s report includes targets with substantial ranges to maximize flexibility and choice, Willett tells Food Tank. But feeding the expected population of 2050 will not be possible if only part of the global population achieves something close to the targets, Willett says.
Building on its 2019 report, the Commission again recommends what it calls a “planetary health diet”—a flexible eating pattern designed to reduce environmental harm while improving nutrition worldwide. According to the report, food is the single most powerful tool for improving both planetary and human health.
Without action, the Commission warns, the world risks failing to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. The Commission estimates that transitioning to healthier diets and more sustainable food systems could help avoid approximately 11 million deaths each year.
The report sets out five core strategies to enable this transformation including international commitment to implementing updated dietary guidance, coordinated global governance of land use and ocean management, prioritizing nutrition rather than volume in agriculture, and action to reduce food loss and waste. Packages of strategies are likely to be more effective than the sum of the individual strategies, Willett explains.
The updated dietary guidance remains largely consistent with the 2019 framework. It recommends doubling global consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts, while reducing red meat and sugar. It suggests modest amounts of animal products and emphasizes flexibility across cultures and individual preferences.
The latest analysis has also an added emphasis on food system equity. “The most distinctive advance” of the report, according to EAT–Lancet Commissioner Jessica Fanzo, “is its centering of justice.” It aims to account for cultural acceptability, nutritional adequacy, and accessibility of the recommended dietary patterns across diverse communities.
The 2019 EAT–Lancet report faced pushback from the livestock industry, friends of the industry, international organizations, and some governments. Some industry experts questioned the strategy’s affordability and whether diets limiting or excluding meat would be appropriate in many parts of the world. Others raised concerns regarding the data and modeling used to calculate estimates.
However, a recent Changing Markets Foundation investigation points to evidence that some of the backlash was fueled by coordinated disinformation campaigns. These efforts, according to the investigation, used social media tactics, misleading health claims, and targeted messaging to discredit the Commission’s work and influence policymakers.
In response to renewed criticism from groups like Quality Meat Scotland, which argue that meat-reduction messages may harm nutrient intake, the Commission emphasizes that the planetary health diet is not intended to be prescriptive but to serve as a global reference point, highlighting the need for dietary transitions that are aligned with local contexts. The Commission report includes targets broad goals to ensure a versatile and agile framework, Willett says.
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Photo courtesy of Andy Arbeit, Unsplash
