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Reducing the consumption of red and processed meat and eating more fruit and vegetables could increase the average life expectancy by eight months, a new study suggests.
Researchers said it would also cut deaths from heart disease, stroke and cancer.
Their recommendations are part of a report by the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society, which looked at how climate change measures can improve people's health and save lives both now and in the long term.
Experts said that increasing physical activity, for example by cycling or walking rather than driving, would not only be beneficial health-wise but could also save the NHS £17 billion over 20 years.
Phasing out fossil fuels could cut the 36,000 premature deaths a year from air pollution, the paper adds, while better home insulation would prevent fatalities linked to low temperatures, which account for up to 50,000 deaths a year.
Reducing the consumption of red and processed meat and eating more fruit and vegetables could increase the average life expectancy by eight months, a study suggests (stock image)
Sir Andy Haines, co-chairman of the report and professor of environmental change and public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: 'This report brings us some profoundly good news: the choices we make individually and as a society to prevent climate change will also improve our health, with the potential to reduce the pressure on our overburdened health services — both now and for future generations.'
The report brought together