Diet! Eating a hot dog could cost you 36 minutes of healthy life. While choosing to eat a serving of nuts could help you gain an extra 26 minutes. This is supported by a University of Michigan study.
The study, published in the journal Nature Food, evaluated more than 5,800 foods, ranking them according to their nutritional impact/impact on humans and the environment. The researchers found that replacing 10% of daily caloric intake from beef and processed meats with a mix of fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and selected seafood could reduce the dietary carbon footprint by a third and allow people to gain 48 minutes of healthy life per day.
“In general, dietary recommendations lack specific and easy-to-use direction to motivate people to change behaviour. While environmental impacts are rarely addressed.” This is according to Katerina Stylianou, who conducted the research as a PhD candidate in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the U-M School of Public Health. She currently works as the Director of Strategic Information and Public Health Data Strategy at the Detroit Department of Health.
Based on their findings, the researchers suggest:
- Reducing the foods with the most negative impacts on health and the environment. Including highly processed meat, beef, shrimp, pork, pork, lamb and greenhouse vegetables.
- Increase in the most nutritionally beneficial foods. Including fruits and vegetables grown in the field, pulses, nuts and seafood with a low environmental impact.
“The urgency of dietary changes to improve human health and the environment is clear.” That’s according to Olivier Jolliet, senior author of the study and professor of Environmental Health Sciences at U-M’s School of Public Health.
“Our findings demonstrate that small targeted substitutions offer a feasible and powerful strategy. This achieves significant health and environmental benefits without requiring dramatic dietary changes.”
