Some 40,000 early deaths could be prevented each day across the world if more people adopted a healthier, planet-friendly diet, according to a new landmark report. The findings from the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems, released Oct. 2, also suggest that widespread global adoption of a diet emphasizing minimally processed plant foods could result in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture being cut by more than half.
The report builds on the 2019 EAT-Lancet report, which first dubbed this dietary pattern the Planetary Health Diet. Commission co-chairman Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was quoted in multiple news stories about the new report.
“The Planetary Health Diet is not a one-size-fits-all approach,” he said in an Oct. 2 ABC News article. “It allows for cultural diversity and individual preferences, providing flexibility within clear guidelines to achieve optimal health and sustainability outcomes worldwide.”
What variations of the Planetary Health Diet have in common are a focus on fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and whole grains, with moderate amounts of meat and dairy and very little added sugar, saturated fat, and salt, Willett said in an Oct. 2 CNN article. He suggested limiting dairy to once a day, red meat to once a week, and eggs, poultry, and fish to about twice a week.
Members of the Commission—who include experts in nutrition, climate, economics, health, and agriculture from more than 35 countries—found even greater population health benefits to widespread adoption of the Planetary Health Diet than in the 2019 report. They increased their estimate of annual lives saved from 11.6 million to 15 million and also noted associations with reductions in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, and other improved chronic disease outcomes.
