There is a considerable amount of scientific evidence establishing links between the food system, human health and environmental sustainability. A healthy diet should optimize human health broadly defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease. Food is the most powerful lever to optimize human health and environmental sustainability together.

Agriculture, fishing and fish farming must not only produce enough calories to feed a growing world population, but also produce a diversity of foods that promote human health and support environmental sustainability.

Healthy diets are characterized by optimal calorie intake and consist primarily of a variety of plant foods (fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole seeds), small amounts of animal foods, unsaturated rather than saturated fats and limited amounts of refined grains, highly processed foods and added sugars. This type of diet confers both health and environmental benefits. It includes more than a doubling of the consumption of healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts, together with a reduction of more than 50% of the consumption of less healthy foods, such as added sugars and meat Red.

Dietary changes from current diets to healthy diets are likely to have major health benefits. This includes preventing approximately 11 million premature deaths per year, which represents between 19% and 24% of the total number of adult deaths.