Diets for a Better Future: Rebooting and Reimagining Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems in the G20
The EAT-Lancet Commission concluded that achieving healthy diets from sustainable food systems for 10 billion people by 2050 is possible but only with a significant reduction of animal source foods in some countries (mainly G20 countries) and universal increase in healthy plant-based foods in our diets. Hence, shifting towards flexitarian diets, such as the Planetary Health Diet, composed predominantly of healthy plant-based foods, can optimize human health while reducing environmental impacts. Despite this, most food consumption patterns in G20 countries are not aligned with those of a healthy flexitarian diet and most national dietary guidelines (NDGs) are not ambitious enough to bring food systems within planetary boundaries, including limiting global warming to 1.5°C. This is important because NDGs are a necessary component of food policy and an essential first step to promoting healthy eating habits in a country often through educational programs or public awareness campaigns. If NDGs lack ambition or are incompatible with the latest science on human health and environmental sustainability, then this could influence national level food policy and individual food consumption.
