Nutrition for People and Planet
Meat heavy diets high in fat, sodium, and cholesterol have an outsized impact on global health, leading to unnecessary death, suffering, and burdensome healthcare costs. In total, non communicable diseases are responsible for 71% of all premature deaths globally, many of which are caused by dietary impacts. Harvard scientists estimate that shifts to plant-based diets could reduce early deaths around the world by a third, or over 13 million people annually. In the United States, 90% of the nation’s $3.5 trillion in annual health care expenditures are spent on treating chronic diseases.
Highlighted below are a few of the connections between leading causes of death and diet and health care costs.
Cancer
Worldwide, an estimated 19.3 million new cancer cases and almost 10.0 million cancer deaths occurred in 2020. Globally it is estimated that cancer treatment will cost $25 trillion over the next 30 years. Today, plant-based diets are regularly encouraged for people with cancer with studies showing that for every 10-gram increase in fiber in the diet (which are only found in plants), you improve survival after cancer diagnosis by 13%.
Kidney Disease
Over 10% of the population worldwide is affected by chronic kidney disease. In the US, treatment of chronic kidney disease is soon to exceed $48 billion per year affecting more than 1 in 7 adults. Treatment for kidney failure consumes 6.7% of the total Medicare budget to care for less than 1% of the covered population. Diet’s connection to kidney disease has long been established, with reports from as early as 1836 showing the connections between animal protein and kidney disease.
Alzhiemers
Alzhiemers is the seventh leading cause of death globally affecting 6.7 million Americans age 65 and older today with estimations showing this number could grow to 13.8 million by 2060. While over $345 billion was spent on long-term care and hospice services for people aged 65 and older in 2023, unpaid caregivers accumulated over 18 billion hours of care to people with Alzheimer's or other dementias in 2022 in America alone. Recent studies have established links between consuming a primarily plant-based diet and a lowered risk of cognitive impairment later in life.
Heart Disease
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year. Plant-based diets have been shown to have incredibly quick and effective beneficial impacts on preventing and reversing cardiovascular diseases. One in every six U.S. healthcare dollars is spent on cardiovascular disease and it is estimated that cardiovascular disease will cost over $1 trillion by 2035.
Diabetes
Over 10% of Americans suffer from diabetes while another 30% suffer from prediabetes. In total, $1 out of every $4 in US health care costs is spent on caring for people with diabetes. Diabetes is also one of the easiest treatable diseases through diet interventions, with careful medical attention required to rapidly wean patients from medications.
To learn more about the connections between diet and nutrition with personal health, we recommend The China Study: Revised and Expanded Edition: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health by Dr. T Colin Campbell and Dr. Thomas M. Campbell II.