{"id":36365,"date":"2016-03-21T15:11:06","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T14:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=36365"},"modified":"2016-04-06T10:18:34","modified_gmt":"2016-04-06T09:18:34","slug":"elizabeth-atherton-and-josephine-head-how-environmentally-sustainable-are-the-new-dietary-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/03\/21\/elizabeth-atherton-and-josephine-head-how-environmentally-sustainable-are-the-new-dietary-guidelines\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabeth Atherton and Josephine Head: How environmentally sustainable are the UK’s new dietary guidelines?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week\u00a0saw the launch of the Eatwell Guide<\/a>\u2014the UK\u2019s official food guide to healthy diets. Astonishingly, despite major changes in eating habits and advances in nutrition science, this is the first review of these guidelines since their original publication 20 years ago<\/a>. While the update\u2014prompted by expert recommendations on sugar<\/a>\u2014is long overdue and welcomed, it is increasingly clear that the food we eat doesn\u2019t only affect our individual health, it also has a big impact<\/a> on the health of our planet. Whilst many are celebrating a step in the right direction, we need to ask if the new Eatwell Guide goes far enough to address concerns about the environment.<\/p>\n

What is the Eatwell Guide?<\/span>
\nThe Eatwell Guide has replaced the Eatwell Plate, and is a guide which breaks food down into five groups (fruit and vegetables, starchy carbohydrates, dairy and alternatives, non-dairy high protein foods, and oils and spreads). It advises what proportion of our diet these food groups should make up, and highlights some of the “healthier” choices within these groups. A picture of an actual plate divided up into five sections forms the centre piece of the new guide.<\/p>\n

Why consider the environment?<\/span>
\nOur health is reliant on the health of our planet. Yet we are currently producing and consuming food in ways that will ultimately limit our ability to feed future generations equitably. Our food system, from farm to fork, is responsible for approximately a third of human produced greenhouse gas emissions\u2014the leading cause of climate change. It also impacts on ecosystems in other ways\u2014through deforestation, water use, overfishing, and biodiversity loss. If we continue with a “business as usual” approach, it will seriously limit our ability to feed a future population of nine billion.<\/p>\n

Different foods have different environmental impacts<\/a>, but overall, meat and dairy have the greatest negative impact. It is widely agreed that reducing meat consumption and moving to a more plant-based diet is better for the environment, and can also be beneficial for health. However, different plant-based foods also have different impacts depending on where, how, and at what time of year they are produced.
\nAlthough the Eatwell Guide has incorporated some considerations around environmental sustainability, does it go far enough?<\/p>\n

The positives
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