A significant scientific revision to one of the most impactful food and planetary health reports from the past decade is facing a pro-meat disinformation effort.
A nutritious diet, beneficial for both individuals and the environment, would involve a wider range of food optionsnut and legumes, whole grains and a large amount of fruits and vegetables, with significantlyless meat, dairy items and sweeteners.
That's the fairly simple message from the EAT-Lancet Council, an autonomous scientific organization collaborating with the renowned British medical journal. On Friday, it released a significant revision to its2019 publication regarding nutritious eating habitswhich are also beneficial to the environment, conclusions that have been broadly endorsed by international health and environmental specialists.
"Approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food systems," stated Johan Rockström, co-chair of the commission and director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, during a media briefing earlier this week.
Rockström presented new findings from over 35 countries across six continents, indicating that incorporating nutritious foods into dietary recommendations, addressing food loss and waste, opting for locally sourced items, and moving towards eco-friendly farming methods could ease environmental pressure and cut emissions by more than 50 percent — potentially preventing up to 15 million early deaths annually.
"By combining the most recent research on health and climate, it demonstrates that the food we choose can save millions of lives, reduce billions of tons of emissions, stop the decline of biodiversity, and establish a more equitable food system," he stated.
"Coordinated campaign" targeting health and sustainability research results
Although the "planetary health diet" has gained broad support — with the commission's initial report from 2019 being referenced over 10,000 times — this message has not been well received in online groups that promote meat-based diets as natural, necessary, and eco-friendly.
The initial report encountered a flood of false information on social media, including misleading or one-sided content that undermined the results. In April, the climate-focused news site DeSmog stated that it had come across a document suggesting the backlash originated from the global PR firm Red Flag, which serves the meat and dairy sector. MountainTravel reached out to Red Flag for a response, but the agency did not reply prior to the article's release.
Food is something that people have a strong connection with," said Maddy Haughton-Boakes, a senior campaigner at the Changing Markets Foundation, a Dutch non-governmental organization focused on promoting solutions that serve both society and the environment. "Everyone has a very personal relationship with food and what they consume, and people are aware of that. If you tap into that individualistic perspective, you can really provoke people and inspire them.
A recent study conducted by Changing Markets outlines how "industry-aligned scientists, doctors, health influencers, journalists, and authors" collaborated with the meat sector to engage in a "targeted and organized campaign" aimed at undermining the 2019 EAT-Lancet report and its health and sustainability studies, with detractors describing it as "hazardous, exclusive, and against scientific principles."
At that moment, much of the criticism was portrayed as genuine," Haughton-Boakes said to MountainTravel. "We now understand that it wasn't authentic.
She mentioned that their research revealed how "mis-influencers" tagged and shared each other's posts, employing similar or the same language and hashtags such as #Yes2Meat, #MeatHeals, and #ClimateFoodFacts to promote the health and environmental advantages of meat. Additionally, she noted that in light of current geopolitical tensions and rising food costs, there have been indications in recent days that this new report will encounter similar opposition.
The Changing Markets inquiry noted that several individuals involved in the 2019 campaign "remain active and continue to interact, their influence has expanded, and there is greater public support for their concepts."
"The advocacy for carnivorous diets has moved into the mainstream now," said Haughton-Boakes, emphasizing the impact ofmanospherepodcasts and the "Make America Healthy Again" initiative in the United States during President Donald Trump's administration. "Around the world, there is a surge in protein trends and the belief that consuming large quantities of meat [and] animal-based protein is essential for good health."
Social media and AI contributing to the dissemination of false information
Haughton-Boakes said the weakening of fact-checking unitsand protections against false information on social media platforms like X, Instagram andFacebookIn the past year, it has contributed to the spread of false information. The emergence of AI tools has also facilitated the distribution of fake news, as well as realistic deepfake videos and images.
Writing for the Geopolitical Studies Group based in Paris, sociologist Jose Henrique Bortoluci and Emmanuel Guerin, a researcher at the European Climate Foundation, noted that the relative openness of social media has created a setting in whichclimate disinformation has flourished.
"Cunning people exploit this setting to foster doubt and circulate false information. They have become skilled at mimicking or attacking 'expertise,' as seen in the emergence of fake experts and organizations designed to undermine climate science," they stated in July.
In a message to MountainTravel, Bortoluci emphasized that social media platforms should be controlled, similar to broadcast media and advertising.
"No single person or organization can prevent the spread of false information and the growth of misinformation efforts if the platforms are not also held accountable for addressing the issue," he stated.
Reclaiming the 'emotional story'
"We all are in the [EAT-Lancet] Commission shares the same concern regarding this resurgence of misinformation and disinformation, as well as denialism related to climate science," Rockström said to reporters earlier this week, in response to a MountainTravel question. However, he believed the new report was prepared to "counter that attack" with its "thorough" global scientific evaluation.
"We're not promoting a single, universal type of diet," he added, addressing a frequent misunderstanding about the 2019 EAT-Lancet report.
Walter C. Willett, an epidemiology and nutrition professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, noted that the planetary health diet resembles various traditional diets found globally.
Examples of this nutritious diet plan will be shown on the report website through a set of images, he stated — an obvious attempt to engage with individuals and reclaim the "emotional story" that Bortoluci and Guerin described as seized by false information.
The images show that this isn't a diet of lack," said Willett. "This is something that can be tasty, inspiring, and beneficial for health.
Edited by: Tamsin Walker
Author: Martin Kuebler
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