Healthy plant-based diet may lower type 2 diabetes risk while reducing greenhouse gas emissions

A diet focused on healthy plant-based foods may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study by Solomon Sowah and colleagues from the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, published September 16^th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine.

Growing research shows that unhealthy foods not only impact your health but are also detrimental to the environment. Diets such as the Planetary Health Diet (PHD) recommend high amounts of healthy plant-based foods and limited animal-derived foods and sugary drinks to improve both human and environmental health. Data on the impact of these types of diets show inconsistent findings, and there is little epidemiological data specifically examining the effect of the PHD on type 2 diabetes or environmental factors, such as greenhouse gas emissions.

In this study, researchers analyzed dietary data from more than 23,000 people in the UK taken at three timepoints across 20 years. They found that higher adherence to the PHD was associated with lower incidence of type 2 diabetes-participants in the top fifth of adherence had a 32% lower incidence of type 2 diabetes compared to those in the bottom fifth. Higher adherence to the PHD was also associated with lower greenhouse emissions-among those in the top fifth of adherence, greenhouse gas emissions were 18% lower compared to those in the bottom fifth.

The researchers recognize that while the study does not show a direct causal link between the PHD and type 2 diabetes, promoting healthier plant-based diets could be an important strategy to simultaneously prevent type 2 diabetes while reducing the negative impact of diet on the environment.

Dr. Solomon Sowah says, “Our motivation for this study was to address the limited evidence regarding the association between the planetary health diet and both type 2 diabetes incidence and greenhouse gas emissions in a European population. We found that the planetary health diet containing higher amounts of wholegrains, fruits and vegetables, and lower amounts of red and processed meat and sugary drinks was associated with lower type 2 diabetes incidence and lower diet-related greenhouse gas emissions.”

These findings provide support for the potential of the planetary health diet to make a meaningful contribution to help prevent type 2 diabetes. What’s more is that eating in line with the planetary health diet is also linked with a lower environmental impact. So, it offers a win-win to potentially help improve both human and planetary health. Action will be needed from all players, including individuals and policy makers to enable food consumption aligned with this dietary approach.”

Prof. Nita Forouhi, senior author of the study