Amid Ukraine war, scientists say it’s time to give this plant-based global diet another look

Chinese-Dutch joint study says conflict and climate change make the EAT-Lancet food plan more advisable
Climate-friendly planetary health diet would cut meat consumption and waste, ease food shortages and improve food production

Science

Ling Xinin Beijing

Published: 12:01am, 15 Nov 2022

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A new joint study by researchers in China and the Netherlands has shown that moving towards plant-based diets could help Europeans fight emerging food shortages and rising food prices caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

The findings are related to a meal plan known as the EAT-Lancet’s planetary health diet, which was first proposed in 2019.

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According to a paper published in the journal Nature Food on Tuesday, shifting to such a diet – mostly vegetables, fruit, whole grains and a small amount of meat – could help the European region reduce its reliance on food exports from Russia and Ukraine.

“We found that a shift to the planetary health diet in the European Union and the United Kingdom would save a large proportion of crops, mainly by reducing the overconsumption of additive sugar and animal products,” researchers from China Agricultural University in Beijing and Leiden University in the Netherlands said in the paper.

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Results from research modelling showed that the food savings alone would be sufficient to compensate for losses of almost all Ukraine and Russia food exports, they said.

Together, Ukraine and Russia supplied 64 per cent and 28 per cent of global sunflower oil and wheat exports, respectively, in 2021. While Ukraine is often described as Europe’s breadbasket, Russia is a major producer and exporter of essentials like barley and fertilisers in the global market.

In a world that had already been suffering from food shortages made worse by weather extremes and the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine has sent further shock waves across European and international markets.

Europe is now experiencing one of its worst cost-of-living crises in decades due to surging energy and food costs.

First released in 2019 in an attempt to lay out what constitutes a healthy, sustainable global diet with environmental targets, the EAT-Lancet report triggered widespread criticism over its affordability, universality, possible disruptions to traditional cultural heritage and even the modelling methodologies used to produce the report.

The group of 37 world-leading scientists from 16 countries had intended to provide an alternative to global diets that were based on meat. By reducing the demand for meat, the EAT diet would not only produce sustainable food supplies, but also help ease land, water and carbon emission pressures, since so many crops are grown to feed animals raised for meat consumption.

The scientists had proposed a simple but substantial change in eating habits to help ease the situation – Europeans could double their consumption of fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes while cutting back on red meat and sugar by more than half.

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More specifically, the planetary health diet recommended a daily intake of 300 grams (10 ounces) of vegetables, 200 grams of fruit, 230 grams of whole grains, and 125 grams of protein-rich and plant-based food. Weekly consumption of red meat and poultry would be limited to 100 grams and 200 grams, respectively.

The new study also found that considerable environmental benefits could come with the shift in dietary habits, including lower use of fertilisers and water, and billions of tonnes in cuts to greenhouse gas emissions each year.

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“If 50 per cent of people engaged in a planetary diet shift, the saved crops would account for almost all crops exported by Ukraine and Russia … and would yield a considerable environmental dividend,” the researchers said.

“However, there are many social barriers to the widespread adoption of such diets, which include expense, culture norms and knowledge about healthy diets.”

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