Healthy and sustainable diets are essential for planetary health.  Poor diets are a leading cause of ill health and death globally, and the food system is responsible for between 20% and 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

On-going environmental changes is also having a direct impact on food production. Yields of cereals, vegetables and legumes, and fruits, nuts and seeds are projected to decline substantially in the coming decades as a result of increasing temperature, reduced rainfall, increased ozone and increased salinity. Without substantial efforts to adapt to the new environmental conditions, the food system will struggle to deliver healthy and sustainable diets for all. The consequences for public health, national food security and social stability (including migration) are largely unknown but may well be significant. 

We research both the impact of the food system on the environment and the effect that the changing environment is having on the food system. We seek to generate evidence that will support policy makers to identify solutions that will deliver healthy and sustainable diets for all.

• Sustainable and Healthy Food System (SHEFS) programme working in the UK, India and South Africa

• FACE-Africa project working in the Gambia

• Work in sub-Saharan Africa on the links between agricultural production, weather and global climate projections, and child survival

• GCRF South Asia Nitrogen Hub examining the impact of nitrogen use on the environment and health in eight South Asian countries

Key publications

• The impact of environmental changes on the yield and nutritional quality of fruits, nuts and seeds: a systematic review - 2019
• The Water Footprint of Diets: A Global Systematic Review and Meta-analysis - 2019
• The effect of environmental change on yields and nutritional quality of vegetables and legumes: A systematic review and meta-analysis- 2018
•  Projected health effects of realistic dietary changes to address freshwater constraints in India: a modelling study- 2018
• Climate Change and Global Food Systems: Potential Impacts on Food Security and Undernutrition - 2017
• The potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the UK through healthy and realistic dietary change - 2015
• Health effects of adopting low greenhouse gas emission diets in the UK - 2015
• Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: food and agriculture - 2009