A diet for mankind that saves Earth

A diet that pleases both vegetarians and non-vegetarians, feeds 10 billion people and saves Earth from ruination may appear too good to be true, but a group of 37 scientists from around the world which formulated the diet feels that it can be a reality. However, at the very outset, people from virtually every corner of the world will have to make changes to their consumption pattern. Europe and North America need to go slow on red meat, East Asia needs to sparingly eat fish, and Africa will have to cut back on starchy vegetables.

So the platter consists of nuts (50gm a day), beans, chickpeas, lentils and other legumes (75gm a day), fish (28gm a day), eggs (13gm a day, so one and a bit a week), meat (14gm a day of red meat and 29gm a day of chicken), carbs — whole grains like bread and rice (232gm a day) and starchy vegetables (50gm a day), dairy (250gm — the equivalent of one glass of milk), vegetables (300gm) and fruit (200gm). The diet also allows for 31gm of sugar and about 50gm worth of oils like olive oil. The mantra seems to be: Have everything in moderation.

The healthy diet comes with manifold benefits. First, it will prevent about 11 million people from dying each year due to heart attacks, strokes and some cancers, owing to unhealthy eating habits. Second, it brings down greenhouse gas emissions such as methane and nitrous oxide emissions. Agriculture also contributes significantly to air pollution. It also consumes 70 per cent of global freshwater sources for irrigation. And, last but not the least, it has the capacity to sustain 10 billion people when the world’s population reaches that figure in 2050.

The EAT-Lancet Commission, which brought the scientists together for the mission to draw up a diet, will take its findings to governments around the world and bodies such as the WHO in an attempt to change people’s dietary habits. But this diet is particularly significant from the food security perspective. In Full Planet, Empty Plates, author Lester Brown, who is an environmental analyst, underscores that the way things are going, ever increasing food prices will spread hunger and lead to political instability, unless governments act promptly to prevent a large-scale catastrophe. Food is the new oil and land is the new gold, and this points to a new strand of geopolitics concerning food, where the scramble for land and water resources is intensifying and each country is fending for itself.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations says: For the third year in a row, there has been a rise in world hunger. The absolute number of undernourished people, i.e. those facing chronic food deprivation, has increased to nearly 821 million in 2017, from around 804 million in 2016. These are levels from almost a decade ago.

Food security is one of the biggest crises facing mankind today. Africa is the worst affected, followed by South America and parts of Asia.