What we eat affects more than our bodies. It also shapes the health of the planet. A new study in PLOS Medicine finds that people who most closely followed the Planetary Health Diet had a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and produced fewer diet-related greenhouse gas emissions.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge and colleagues analyzed diet records from more than 23,000 people in the UK, collected across 20 years. Participants who scored highest on adherence to the planetary health diet, which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains and limits red and processed meat and sugary drinks, were 32% less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those with the lowest scores. Their diets were also associated with 18% lower greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our motivation for this study was to address the limited evidence regarding the association between the planetary health diet and both type 2 diabetes incidence and greenhouse gas emissions in a European population,” said lead author Solomon Sowah, Ph.D.
Sowah said the findings showed the planetary health diet was associated with both a lower type 2 diabetes incidence and lower diet-related greenhouse gas emissions.
Senior author Nita Forouhi, M.D., said that supports the idea that adopting the planetary health diet could make significant contributions to preventing type 2 diabetes, while leaving less of an environmental impact.
“So, it offers a win-win to potentially help improve both human and planetary health,” Forouhi said.
Because the research was observational, it cannot prove cause and effect. Still, it builds on mounting evidence that plant-forward eating patterns such as the Mediterranean or DASH diets not only reduce chronic disease risk but also lessen environmental strain.
For individuals, the planetary health diet translates into practical steps: more vegetables, beans and whole grains, smaller portions of meat and fewer sugary drinks. For societies, the authors note, it points to the possibility of tackling two urgent challenges, chronic disease and climate change, at the same time.
The EPIC-Norfolk study was supported by the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK, with additional support from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, the Independent Research Fund Denmark and the Danish Diabetes Association.