Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 1/17/19



A group called the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health has published a 50-page report in The Lancet advising consumers to drastically reduce their meat and dairy consumption for their health and for the good of the planet. It plans to promote the report vigorously over the next month.

The report proposes a “universal healthy reference diet” based on conclusions a group of 19 commissioners and 18 coauthors in various fields of human health, agriculture, political science and environmental sustainability drew from a review of “extensive literature on foods, dietary patterns and health outcomes.”

“This healthy reference diet largely consists of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and unsaturated oils, including a low to moderate amount of seafood and poultry and includes no or a low quantity of red meat, processed meat, added sugar, refined grains and starchy vegetables,” the report said.

Aiming the diet at both the commission’s point of view about health and what it would take to support diets for 10 billion people globally by 2050, the group recommended a greater than 50 percent reduction in global consumption of foods including red meat and sugar, and a greater than 100 percent increase in consumption of foods including fruits, vegetables and legumes.

Specifically, the report recommended:
• Red meat intake of zero to 28 grams per day
• Poultry intake of zero to 58 grams per day
• Fish intake of zero to 100 grams per day
• Nut intake of 50 grams per day

Reader beware
“Read the EAT Lancet report with great caution, as it lacks any kind of scientific rigor and only serves to misguide Americans on their nutritional health,” warns the Nutrition Coalition, a non-profit organization, founded in 2015, with the primary goal of ensuring that U.S. nutrition policy is based on rigorous scientific evidence.

The group went on to state, “The lead author on diet, Walter Willett, has long had potential conflicts of interest, which cast doubt on his ability to bring an unbiased viewpoint to the question of whether a vegan/vegetarian diet is preferable for good health. The Commission's other nutrition experts do not have alternative points of view or have published little on the subject and therefore cannot provide needed balance to this subject.”

According to the Nutrition Coalition, Willett has published more than 200 papers based on epidemiological data (which can show association but cannot demonstrate cause-and-effect) that argue against consumption of red meat in favor of a more plant-based diet.

In the last few years of Willett’s directorship of the Harvard T.S. Chan School of Public Health, the school received between $455,000 and $1.5 million from companies or groups interested in promoting vegetarian products or the vegetarian diet generally. In addition, Willett is an advisor or scientific advisor to at least seven groups and commercial enterprises that promote high-grain, vegetarian diets, according to the Nutrition Coalition.

Nina Teicholz, author of “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat & Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet” is founding member and executive director of The Nutrition Coalition.

Sounds like a fad diet
According to the North American Meat Institute, the recommendations amount to offering “a fad diet solution to complex global issues” that ignores the nutritional benefits of meat and "overstates the environmental impact of animal agriculture."

North American Meat Institute Director of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs KatieRose McCullough said, "The EAT-Lancet Commission's recommendations differ dramatically from consensus nutrition science and U.S. dietary guidance. Americans consume the recommended amount of meat and poultry, which provide nutrition that cannot simply be replaced by another food. In fact, the report's 'fad diet' approach that recommends people radically reduce or even eliminate meat from their diets could have substantial damaging public health consequences."

She said the the report also ignores key facts about food and climate, noting that animal agriculture accounts for just 4 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. 

Report ignores key facts
Animal Agriculture Alliance President and CEO Kay Johnson Smith concurred, saying, "The EAT-Lancet Commission ignores evidence of meat and dairy’s contributions to healthy, sustainable diets. The Commission’s radical recommendations to drastically limit meat and dairy consumption would have serious, negative consequences for the health of people and the planet."   

Smith said The EAT-Lancet recommendation that would amount to eating just a quarter ounce of beef per day and drinking just one cup of milk, would risk worsening malnutrition, increasing food waste, and distracting from the highest priorities for addressing greenhouse gas emissions. 

The Animal Agriculture Alliance has set up a website to help members of the meat and livestock industry counter the report’s recommendations.

Livestock convert inedible plants to protein
“Cattle are solar-powered, mobile and self-replicating, and have been providing meat, milk, fuel, draft power, fiber, and wealth to humanity for millennia,” read a statement issued by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association on behalf of the Beef Checkoff.  “Decades of research shows that beef promotes health and helps prevent human nutrient deficiencies.  Environmentally, cattle play a unique role in our food system because they upgrade inedible plants to high-quality protein.”

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