The 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission¹ states that ‘when confronted by climate, biodiversity, health, and justice crisis, transformation will require urgent and meaningful changes in our individual and collective behaviours and in our our culture of unhealthy, unjust, and unsustainable food production and consumption’. 

The latest report calls for a ‘whole food systems and policy change and emphasises a balanced dietary pattern that is predominantly plant-based, with moderate inclusion of animal-sourced foods and minimal consumption of added sugars, saturated fats, and salt’.

The Facts: Our food system is at the centre of the climate and ecological crises².

Dr. Shireem Kassam², Consultant Haematologist and founder of Plant-Based Health Professionals UK shares the scientific evidence:

• A plant-based diet is associated with considerable health benefits, with significant reductions in cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, certain cancers and dementia.
• Co-benefits include reductions in the use of antibiotics in farming and consequently the risk of antimicrobial-resistant infections.^12,13 
• 3 of 4 new and emerging infections with pandemic potential come from animals; the next pandemic is predicted to arise from industrialised animal farming, likely a bird flu.¹⁴
• The best available evidence informs us that, without transitioning our food system away from animal agriculture, we cannot meet our climate and nature commitments and will not be able to limit global warming to below 1.5 °C or even 2 °C.⁶ 
• Agriculture contributes at least a third of all greenhouse gas emissions and is the primary cause of biodiversity loss, threatening up to 90% of species with extinction’.
• Some doctors are now referring to the need for plant-based dietary change as ‘a moral imperative’.^19,20 
• The evidence suggests that healthcare systems around the world have the potential to influence more widespread dietary change.
• For example, the NHS has almost 1.3 million employees and serves around 140 million meals to hospital patients each year. Switching to a plant-based menu could reduce the food-related carbon footprint by more than 50%.¹⁵
• £633 million is spent on inpatient food provision, yet studies have shown that a plant-based diet would actually cost a third less in the UK.¹⁶
• Economic modeling suggests billions in health-related cost savings for the NHS.¹⁷

Read the full article written by Dr. Shireen Kassam

Sources

1. https://www.thelancet.com/commissions-do/eat-2025 ↩︎
2. https://www.rcpath.org/resource-report/plant-based-diets-an-underutilised-way-to-tackle-our-health-and-climate-crises.html ↩︎
3. https://www.rcpath.org/resource-report/plant-based-diets-an-underutilised-way-to-tackle-our-health-and-climate-crises.html ↩︎