Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems
Food systems have the potential to nurture human health and support environmental sustainability, however our current trajectories threaten both. The EAT–Lancet Commission addresses the need to feed a growing global population a healthy diet while also defining sustainable food systems that will minimise damage to our planet.
The Commission quantitively describes an universal healthy reference diet, based on an increase in consumption of healthy foods (such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, and nuts), and a decrease in consumption of unhealthy foods (such as red meat, sugar, and refined grains) that would provide major health benefits, and also increase the likelihood of attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. This is set against the backdrop of defined scientific boundaries that would ensure a safe operating space within six Earth systems, towards sustaining a healthy planet.
An Editorial highlights the Lancet’s focus on nutrition in 2019, linking this EAT–Lancet Commission and an upcoming Commission on the Global Syndemic of obesity, undernutrition, and climate change.