Overview
- The Frontiers in Science review links ultra-processed and animal-heavy diets to rising obesity and escalating environmental harm.
- It concludes that food production generates roughly 25% to 33% of global greenhouse gases and drives deforestation with major biodiversity losses.
- The authors argue that the current food system could by itself breach 1.5°C and potentially 2°C even if fossil-fuel emissions stopped today.
- Recommended actions include shifting subsidies to healthier foods, taxing and labeling high-risk products, restricting marketing to children, and promoting plant-rich diets.
- The paper says drugs and bariatric surgery cannot control obesity at population scale and urges governments to use public procurement to make healthier, lower-impact foods the default.