Health Update: Food, Climate Change, Death: You Can Make the Difference

Mark Smith • January 15, 2024

Hello everyone:

 

Do you ever feel that the situation is hopeless and that there is nothing that you can do to make a difference? I know it can feel that way, and yet there is a way to feel empowered that can both improve your health and the health of the planet. While the exact details are not fully worked out, there is a general agreement that what we choose to eat has a dramatic effect on our health and climate change/sustainability. In this paper, the health, environmental, and economic impacts of the most common dietary food plans were evaluated:

 

·        Moving into predominantly plant-based food plans could reduce global death by 6–10% and food-related greenhouse gasses up to 70%.

 

·        This shift could prevent 5.1 million deaths per year.

 

·        Becoming vegetarian could result in 7.3 million deaths avoided annually.

 

·        And adopting a vegan pathway could prevent 8.1 million deaths per year.

 

·        About half of the reduced death rate was attributed to eating more fruits and vegetables along with lower caloric intake with less overweight and obesity.

 

·        The other half of the lowered death rate was due to the reduced red meat consumption.

 

·        Enormous cost savings in total health care expenditures as well as reduction in climate change variables were also seen.

 

 

https://www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.1523119113

 

Bottom Line:

 

It is becoming more obvious that our food choices not only impact our individual and societal health, but that of the globe as well. By simply making upgraded food choices you can simultaneously improve both your health and that of our world. It is time to think bigger, to embrace the fact that we all share this life and this planet, and thus to make moves on a small scale that add up to big improvements overall. It all starts with the choices each of us make for ourselves, and food appears to be the greatest lever for fostering massive improvements for all.

 

“You don’t even have to be a vegetarian to take advantage of this study’s findings. Every time you choose vegetables over hot dogs, or beans over burgers, you are helping to stabilize the world’s climate and to improve the prospects for your long-term health.” Ocean Robbins

By Mark Smith March 23, 2026
Health News Update: How To Fight Inflammation and Chronic Disease 3.23.26 Hello again everyone: You might wonder why I keep focusing on food…so here are some of the reasons: food choices are the leading cause of death in the U.S. and spreading around the world. Poor food choices lead to inflammation which slowly destroy health. It is that simple, plain, and clear and backed by research. The next question: how do we fight back? Introduction The positive impact of food on health was postulated by the ancient Hippocrates, father of modern medicine with his famous quote: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” [1]. In the 21st century, scientists have focused on the effect of nutritional habits in diseases. Nowadays, it is well documented that food plays a noteworthy role in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases namely cardiovascular diseases (CVD), metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus type II, and cancer [2–5], as it correlates with others with the lipid pattern, the blood pressure, and the endothelial function. The scientists examine the effect of nutritional habits on disease emergence and progression in both individual nutrient intake and dietary patterns models. Worldwide, two dietary patterns are usually compared—the Mediterranean diet (MD) and the Western diet (WD) [3,6]. The Mediterranean diet reflects the food culture of most Mediterranean countries based on olive oil consumption, seasonal fresh vegetables, cereals, and plants in balance with low consumption of meat [7]. The Western diet, on the contrary, is dominated by high-fat dairy products processed and red meat [8]. However, discordance in the different MD patterns and consumed food doses had been recognized. Without any doubt, those discrepancies could confine and restrict our knowledge on the health benefit mechanisms of the MD [9]. Due to the above, the medical community along with nutritionists and dieticians take a keen interest in MD and its traits [7]. https://www.academia.edu/45378994/biomedicines_Mediterranean_Diet_as_a_Tool_to_Combat_Inflammation_and_Chronic_Diseases_An_Overview?email_work_card=view-paper food choices can fight inflammation and chronic disease Bottom Line: This is a 2020 paper and since then literally hundreds of papers on the MD have emerged showing how the food plan lowers inflammation and the risk for developing multiple chronic illnesses. Even still, lots of research needs to be done to elucidate the many mechanisms of how food impacts our system and how to optimally individualize dietary recommendations. At this point, our best strategy to prevent and/or recover from any chronic condition is to eat as clean and natural as possible. It has become rather obvious that the further away from a natural diet we get, the sicker we become. On top of that, I have yet to see a full recovery from any health issue without the foundation of a predominantly plant-based, unprocessed, whole foods approach…which is why I keep posting about this subject. All the best to you and yours!
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