Planetary well being and human well being are intently interconnected. What harms the setting, whether or not within the brief or long run, additionally impacts human well being. With this planetary well being method, a pioneering examine in Spain has quantified for the primary time the well being harm brought on by the environmental impacts of our meals demand. The outcomes reveal that the consumption of meat, fish and seafood, and dairy merchandise accounts for 55% of the harm to human well being.
In keeping with the examine, altering consumption patterns and decreasing meals waste might forestall as much as 35% of this affect. The analysis, revealed in Environmental Analysis, was led by the Barcelona Institute for International Well being (ISGlobal).
The analysis group utilized a cutting-edge scientific methodology, Life Cycle Evaluation (LCA), to quantify the totally different environmental impacts of the meals system (from manufacturing to client) and the way they have an effect on human well being. The info was primarily based on the 2022 meals consumption surveys revealed by Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Meals.
The researchers used statistical fashions to evaluate the environmental results on human well being, evaluating varied key indicators equivalent to local weather change, ozone layer depletion, human toxicity, particulate matter formation, ionizing radiation, and photochemical oxidant formation. The well being penalties analyzed included cardiovascular ailments, malnutrition, diarrhea, varied varieties of most cancers, and respiratory ailments, amongst different circumstances.
The outcomes point out that, in 2022 alone, the environmental affect of meals demand in Spain was related to a lack of 447,152 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). This can be a extensively used public well being metric that mixes years misplaced because of untimely dying and years lived with sickness or incapacity. Of the full environmental affect from meals demand with penalties for well being, 95% was attributable to meals consumption and the remaining 5% to meals waste.
Meat, fish and dairy: The meals that the majority hurt human well being via their environmental affect
Among the many 16 meals teams analyzed, meat, fish and seafood, and dairy merchandise had been recognized as the principle contributors to environmental harm with well being penalties, accounting for 55% of the full consumption affect. Moreover, these animal-based meals confirmed a considerably greater well being burden in comparison with plant-based merchandise.
Among the many destructive results of the meals system, the contribution to local weather change was the principle environmental issue related to well being harm, accounting for 77% of the full affect. This was adopted by particulate matter formation (16%) and human toxicity (7%). Different impacts equivalent to photochemical oxidant formation, ozone layer depletion, and ionizing radiation contributed to a lesser extent.
Dietary adjustments that may enhance international well being
The examine evaluated a number of hypothetical eventualities primarily based on generally promoted measures to scale back the environmental affect of meals, aiming to quantify the potential advantages for human well being. Within the first state of affairs, changing crimson and processed meat with chicken confirmed modest advantages.
Nevertheless, the best profit emerged when all meat and dairy had been changed with plant-based meals. This alteration might cut back environmental well being harm by as much as 30%. Moreover, if client meals waste is eradicated, an additional 5% discount in affect might be achieved, totaling a 35% general enchancment.
The analysis additionally aimed to evaluate the dietary implications of changing meat and dairy with plant-based meals. Particularly, the group examined whole power consumption in addition to key macro- and micronutrients, together with protein, saturated fats, fiber, calcium, sodium, iron, zinc, and vitamin B12.
With the dietary shift, the dietary profile aligned extra intently with World Well being Group (WHO) suggestions. Consumption of protein, calcium, and vitamin B12 would lower however stay inside WHO-recommended ranges. In distinction, fiber and iron consumption would enhance considerably—an particularly related discovering given the present deficiency of those vitamins within the Spanish eating regimen.
Public well being implications
This examine not solely highlights the robust hyperlink between eating regimen, the setting, and well being, but in addition opens new alternatives to enhance public well being via a extra sustainable and accountable eating regimen.
“The proposed adjustments wouldn’t solely cut back environmental affect but in addition convey the common eating regimen in Spain nearer to WHO dietary suggestions, thus shifting towards a extra comprehensively nutritious diet,” says Ujué Fresán, ISGlobal researcher and lead writer of the examine.
Furthermore, the analysis supplies a stable scientific basis to information the event of future meals insurance policies. “Our findings can function a place to begin for designing and implementing insurance policies that promote the transition to more healthy consuming habits in Spain, contemplating each the direct and oblique advantages for human well being,” provides Fresán.
Extra data:
Ujué Fresán et al, Quantifying the environmental human well being burden of meals demand in Spain: A life cycle evaluation examine, Environmental Analysis (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2025.122147
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Environmental affect of our meals decisions linked to human well being harm (2025, August 11)
retrieved 11 August 2025
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