Eating Red Meat Is Wreaking Havoc on Earth. So, Stop It!

There's a new diet in town, and it offers a two-for-one special: People can help the planet and even live longer … so long as they stop devouring so many burgers, a new report by an international commission finds.

The planetary health diet.

The diet, known as the planetary health diet, is essentially a strategy to help people, especially Westerners, eat healthier meals, with fewer unhealthy foods (red meat, for instance) that are linked to climate change, freshwater pollution and the devastation of wildlife, the commission said.

The new diet could make a real difference, too. If practiced by people the world over, as many as 11.6 million fewer people would die every year from illnesses such as coronary heart disease and stroke, the commission said in the report, published online yesterday (Jan. 16) in the journal The Lancet.

Read the LiveScience story by Laura Geggel - “Eating Red Meat Is Wreaking Havoc on Earth. So, Stop It!.”