Healthy diet could reduce greenhouse gases and extend life expectancy, research shows
Back to Topic
Click to Print
Useful Websites
Glossary Term Selection
A healthy diet, which consists of fruit, veg and cereals – alongside less meat and savoury snacks – could reduce greenhouse gases by nearly a fifth, according to research.
It could also reduce the risk of health problems such as heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, and could even extend average life expectancy by eight months.
Scientists at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said eating better would benefit both people’s health and the environment.
The diets of the average UK man and woman do not currently conform to World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations but its study suggested that if they did, greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by 17%.
Researchers analysed food diaries from more than 1,500 adults in the UK and looked at how diet affected health problems such as coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and a number of cancers.
They said diet-related ill health in the UK is estimated to cost the NHS around £6 billion annually, but calculat...
Want to see the rest of this article?
Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?
- Useful related articles
- Video and multimedia references
- Statistical information and reference material
- Glossary of terms
- Key Facts and figures
- Related assignments
- Resource material and websites
