The EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems

What this episode is about

The EAT-Lancet Commission emphasizes the urgent need for sustainable food systems to adequately nourish a growing global population while minimizing environmental impact, highlighting that food systems are responsible for nearly 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. It advocates for the planetary health diet, a flexible, plant-based approach that promotes health for both people and the planet, and demonstrates through research that adhering to this diet can lower disease risk and support a just society.

Key takeaways

• Feeding 10 billion with a healthy diet? Easy! Just change our traditional recipe—less meat, more planet-friendly plants.
• Food is medicine: Embracing the planetary health diet could be the ultimate prescription for a sick planet.
• Half the fish—double the factories: West Africa's sardines are feeding pets, but leaving local diets high and dry.
• Ultraprocessed foods: the fast track to failure, where calories abound but essential nutrients take a backseat.
• Justice in food systems: solving one problem requires considering how it ripples through diets, livelihoods, and the environment.

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: planetary health diet
2. 3:00 – 6:00: West Africa, planetary health diet, Seneagal
3. 6:00 – 9:00: EAT Lancet Commission
4. 9:00 – 11:46: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico

Notable quotes from "The EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems"

• You would Yes. The catchphrase of the planetary health diet had a very successful impact to the point that I find sometimes I'll meet somebody who will tell me casually that they eat the.

  about planetary health diet · at 2:40

• Of local nutritional needs and fish consumption in Seneagal has halfed in the past 10 years and that's directly correlated with a rapid increase in the number of factories…

  about Seneagal · at 4:14

• Work of this eat lancet commission really resonated with what I was finding in fisheries as well. The problem I guess that's causing the rrooting of fish all around the world…

  about EAT Lancet Commission · at 6:29

• Food sharing culture is a critical element in this change. I grew up in Ethiopia where you eat off one plate.

  about Ethiopia · at 8:58

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

Concepts & topics

• planetary health diet — Concept · Core topic · 5 mentions · first at 1:13
  Central theme of the episode, discussing a dietary framework that promotes health and environmental sustainability.
• EAT Lancet Commission — Concept · Key argument · 1 mention · first at 6:29
  The commission's work underpins the discussion on sustainable diets and food systems.

Places & events

• West Africa — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at 3:14
  Highlighted as a region where local food systems are being impacted by global industries.
  Fisheries and marine systems. fish are a really rich source of micronutrients and it's in West Africa it's particularly small pelagic fish so things like sardines called yabo…
• Seneagal — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at 4:16
  Discussed in the context of declining local fish consumption due to industrial processing.
• Ethiopia — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at 9:01
  Mentioned as an example of traditional food sharing culture.
• Kenya — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at 9:08
  Mentioned alongside Mexico for its dietary guidelines promoting communal eating.
  You couldn't not share. Mexico and Kenya both have dietary guidelines, the recommendations to eat together and the importance of sitting down and eating and sharing.
• Mexico — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at 9:08
  Cited as having dietary guidelines that emphasize communal eating.
  You couldn't not share. Mexico and Kenya both have dietary guidelines, the recommendations to eat together and the importance of sitting down and eating and sharing.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:03 How do we feed a growing population approaching 10 billion people a healthy diet that also minimizes environmental harm? The trouble is that we're we're moving in the wrong direction. Business as usual will end up with us disrupting what's called planetary boundaries which offer us safe operating space for human activity.

0:34 Food systems account for approximately 30% of greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change.

0:40 If we exceed the planetary boundaries, that also impacts on our ability to grow food that is nutritious, that is healthy. So, it's pretty crucial we do something about it. Food is medicine. The health of people and the health of the planet are very linked.

0:58 The evidence base makes it clear that change is possible and there are options and alternatives that are healthier for the planet, for people, and also for a just society. It's really exciting actually that there is a guide such as the planetary health diet that could be used as a framework to help that transformation. This planetary health diet is very much uh a food is medicine initiative because it's getting at going to the core of what is making us sick. It's the food we eat and we have to do better. The planetary health diet isn't a restrictive or prescriptive diet.

1:42 Understanding it as a flexitarian diet is probably the best label. It is based on less meat and dairy intake, but it also promotes more plant-based variety and and a more diverse diet being culturally adaptable to different countries and different vegetables and plants and different tastes and different ways of eating. What's happened since the 2019 report is that all sorts of researchers across the world published scientific papers showing higher adherence to this diet lower risk of disease. I used to eat dairy every day and since adopting the planetary health diet six, seven years ago through working on eat I occasionally have cheese as a treat but I've I've really reduced dairy products and the data and the science is was enough to make me want to do it.

2:37 So if we come run to dinner of yours we'll get we'll get planetary health diet.

2:40 You would you would Yes. The catchphrase of the planetary health diet had a very successful impact to the point that I find sometimes I I'll meet somebody who will tell me casually that they eat the planetary health diet. And the way it's been adopted took me by surprise. If you know about the damage that's being done by a particular type of food on your plate three times a day, then you maybe start to think a bit differently about it.

3:07 I came to food through the lens of fisheries and marine systems. fish are a really rich source of micronutrients and it's in West Africa it's particularly small pelagic fish so things like sardines called yabo and it's a really important source of nutrition and it's affordable and it's delicious and there's a little saying about the yabo that it's lucky that the fish are so fiddly because it stops the rich people bothering with them but now the fish meal and fish oil industry um is growing in West Africa, those same small fiddly fish can just be ground up and processed into fish meal and fish oil and suddenly they're easily accessible to higher income markets. It feeds the global pet, livestock and aquaculture industries, which means there's less fish available for the women to process and distribute in land.

4:07 There's less fish available on the market for the local consumers. It's a source of nutrition that was taking care of local nutritional needs and fish consumption in Seneagal has halfed in the past 10 years and that's directly correlated with a rapid increase in the number of factories along that coastline. There are other things happening. The price of fish has gone up and the pressure on the fish stocks as well has really really increased. As we try and address problems within our food system, we really have to look at the interconnected nature of it. And I think justice provides this glue because it enables you to think okay if we're tackling a problem what will it do to the environment? What will it do to people's livelihoods? What will it do to people's diets? My concern and there are many of these traditional diets around the world um that are highly nutritious that are in line with a planetary health

5:00 diet but once those diets are lost or those habits are lost it's really hard to get them back.

5:07 Our food system it is widely now recognized is failing us. I I find it really disturbing that the messaging and predominant way of eating is processed food which is really so unnecessary and difficult to escape. There's a disconnect between some of the big manufacturers and dominant voices in in the food industry that's presenting this as being the normal healthy way to live. Where the foods then become unhealthy is when they're highly or extra or so-called ultrarocessed. There several ingredients which are additives, things like emulsifiers, stabilizers, and artificial colors, artificial sweeteners. They have a lot of calories, but they're nutrient poor.

5:57 You'll find very little fiber in ultrarocessed foods and antioxidants and vitamins and minerals. Producing all these ultrarocessed foods absolutely can affect the flow of nutrients because entire regions in some countries the traditional farming is replaced by producing these ingredients such as palm oil for example and high amounts of sugar. So it does affect global nutrient flow and global nutrient content. The work of this eat lancet commission really resonated with what I was finding in fisheries as well. The problem I guess that's causing the rrooting of fish all around the world away from where it's needed is this disconnect between how much we need to be eating particularly of these animal source foods and how much we are eating.

6:51 As part of this transformation some sectors would need to contract and others would need to expand. There's a real sort of justice element in terms of how diets are being pushed into a less and less healthy and a less and less sustainable way. Demands on people's time have increased so much. And our food environments are conditioned in such a way that the most convenient foods tend to be the most highly processed foods which tend to have both higher environmental pressures but also worse human health outcomes. convenient could be really healthy, you know, if the food environment was conditioned in a way that convenience foods were nourishing and healthy foods.

7:35 But but it's not. We all know uh that many of the highly processed or ultrarocessed foods, junk foods have billions spent on them in terms of the advertising. And the slogans that are used, they stick with you. They help you to make impulsive, more emotion-driven choices. And we're all humans, so we all fall for it, no matter how much your knowledge level. I fall for it myself. You may not have gone into the supermarket wanting to buy that, but you jolly well come out with it. So I feel quite uncomfortable about that. The challenge is for us to make the healthy choice, the easy choice. We need our high streets to look different.

8:15 We need to redress that balance. One should not have every single time you buy an item of food have to use willpower. our food system really needs to make the job easier for us. I uh describe this as low agency or high agency decisions. So low agency would be you could with closed eyes just pick up the products you know they're good for you they're good for the planet. High agency is when you have to think every day right um is this good? Is this not good? Is it good for the planet? Is it good for health? The diets of the richest 30% of the global population contribute to more than 70% of the environmental pressures from food systems.

8:58 Food sharing culture is a critical element in this change. I grew up in Ethiopia where you eat off one plate. You know, you couldn't not share. Mexico and Kenya both have dietary guidelines, the recommendations to eat together and the importance of sitting down and eating and sharing. It's about bringing people together. It's about nourishing both your body but also your kind of soul. And part of why we're transgressing the planetary boundaries in such crucial ways is because we've lost that. A just food system is one where everyone shares in the responsibility to making sure that their habits and practices they are within planetary boundaries.

9:52 And in slowing down and eating together and appreciating the food a little bit more. There's also the possibility to connect back to the workers, producers, the environments, the ecology that it all comes from and just reignite an appreciation for the value of food to people and nature. We have a big task ahead of us. you know um our food system will be fundamentally different in 25 years to what it is today. It is a fundamental change that either will be imposed upon us or that we need to bring about. Justice is critical to this transformation and the only way that we can bring about such a large scale transformation is if we have everyone on board.

10:53 When we're in a crisis, we have to take action on the best available evidence. This report has the state-ofthe-art best available evidence. And is it possible? Yes. It just needs uh a report to become a movement.

Questions about this episode

What is "The EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems" about?

The EAT-Lancet Commission emphasizes the urgent need for sustainable food systems to adequately nourish a growing global population while minimizing environmental impact, highlighting that food systems are responsible for nearly 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. It advocates for the planetary health diet, a flexible, plant-based approach that promotes health for both people and the planet, and…

What is mentioned in this The Lancet episode?

7 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including planetary health diet, EAT Lancet Commission, West Africa, Seneagal, Ethiopia, Kenya. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems"?

The episode runs 12 min; the transcript is about 1,636 words in 18 timestamped sections.

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