Research
Energy balance
Adopting the HHEP diet increases total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 49% compared to the current global diet, primarily due to increased animal-source protein consumption.
A diet that meets nutritional guidelines (HHEP) may increase GHG emissions if it relies on animal protein. To reduce emissions, combine healthy eating with plant-based proteins (legumes, seeds, nuts), which have a much lower GHG footprint.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Using statistics from our baseline year of 2011, we estimate that adopting the HHEP diet will increase total cradle-to-farm-gate GHGs relative to the world’s existing diet by approximately 2.8 GT of CO2e/year or by 49%...
Why this rating
Based on life cycle assessment (LCA) data; high fidelity for a modeling study.
Source
When too much isn’t enough: Does current food production meet global nutritional needs?
Krishna Bahadur KC et al. · PLoS ONE · 2018
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0205683
narrative_reviewCited 192×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Current global agricultural production overproduces grains, fats, and sugars while underproducing fruits, vegetables, and protein, creating a nutritional imbalance that contributes to obesity and diabetes.Good
- Shifting global production to match the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate (HHEP) recommendations would save 51 million hectares of arable land compared to current production levels.Good
- A complete shift to plant-based protein (vegetarian diet) reduces total agricultural land use and GHG emissions compared to the HHEP diet, despite requiring more arable land for crops.Good
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