Findings from two papers show that moderate alterations to diets have the potential not only to reduce UK emissions relating to diets by 17 per cent but also to bring about increases in average life expectancy of eight months.
Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, using food diaries from 1,500 adults, conducted analysis on the greenhouse gas emissions from UK diets and on diets altered inline with WHO eating recommendations. The findings from this study, reported in Climatic Change, were used to establish the impacts such dietary changes could be expected to have on UK population health. This second study, published in the BMJ, is one of the most detailed anlysis for UK diets. A key part of this work was to establish that the changes needed in order to fall in line with WHO recommendations would be acceptable to the general public.
This very practically focused set of findings suggests that, in the UK, almost 7 million years of life might be saved, largely through reductions in CHD and stroke, over the next three decades.
Find out more here: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2015/health_environment_benefits_diet_change.html and here: http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e007364
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