Families are being told to cut their consumption of red meat and sugar by half to improve their health and help save the planet.
Scientists say the adoption of a ‘planetary health diet’ is vital to feed the world’s booming population without destroying the environment.
The radical plan would mean people eating just 7g of pork a day, 7g of beef or lamb and 28g of fish – the equivalent of a quarter of a rasher of bacon, a 16th of a burger and two-thirds of a fish finger.
Experts say this would prevent around 11million early deaths by 2050 by slashing obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Scientists say a ‘planetary health diet’ is vital to feed the world’s booming population without destroying the environment
Experts say incorporating more fruit and vegetables into the diet and reducing meat intake could save the environement
But critics dismissed the campaign being launched today as ‘nanny-state madness’.
The report was drawn up by 37 experts from 16 countries in a three-year project.
Its authors stress that the world population is expected to reach ten billion by 2050, and Earth has finite resources for food production.
They say a billion people are already malnourished, and another two billion are eating too many of the wrong foods.
Previous studies have shown meat uses 83 per cent of the world’s farmland while providing only 18 per cent of calories.
The diet, details of which were published in the Lancet medical journal, would mean a radical shift away from meat and dairy to vegetables, beans, nuts and pulses.
Average consumption of red meat in Britain would have to drop by 77 per cent from its current 62g a day.
Dairy and butter intake would be cut by 40 per cent to just 250g – the equivalent of half a glass of milk, a slice of cheese and a small knob of butter.
The consumption of eggs would fall by more than a half to a fifth of an egg a day, or one and a half a week.
Sugar intake would be cut by half to just 31g a day and potato intake by three-quarters to 50g.
But people would have to eat three times as much vegetables, beans, nuts and soya to make up the calories.
