According to the new 2025 EAT-Lancet Report, one particular diet could not only improve your health but also save the planet billions of dollars in healthcare costs, slow climate change, and prevent more than 15 million premature deaths annually. It’s also easy to integrate into your daily life.

In early October, The Lancet published the updated EAT-Lancet Commission, a report that builds on the highly popular 2019 EAT–Lancet Commission, a sweeping study that brought together scientists, nutrition experts, and environmental researchers from more than 30 countries in what they describe as the “most comprehensive global scientific evaluation of food systems to date.”

As part of their study, the researchers analyzed data from more than 200,000 people worldwide, tracked over decades, and ran computer models of the global food supply and demand. They also studied how farming practices impact everything from climate emissions to water use. Additionally, they examined food inequality, wages for food workers, and dietary differences across cultures and income levels, all in an effort to identify a diet that is healthy for people and the planet.

The researchers found that the world’s current food system is the single largest driver of environmental damage worldwide. But that’s not all. They also discovered that nearly half of the world’s population cannot afford a healthy diet.

The report wasn’t all bad news. The team also managed to identify one particular diet that, if widely adopted, could significantly impact our lives: the Planetary Health Diet, also known as PHD.

“The PHD is rich in plants: whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes comprise a large proportion of foods consumed, with only moderate or small amounts of fish, dairy, and meat recommended,” the researchers explained in their work. They added that the diet is based “entirely on the direct effects of different diets on human health, not on environmental criteria.”

And it’s really a diet that any culture, anywhere, can adapt to their tastes and local flavors. “The Planetary Health Diet isn’t a restrictive or prescriptive diet,” Tamara Lucas, consulting editor of The Lancet, shared in a video. “Understanding it as a flexitarian diet is probably the best label. It is based on less meat and dairy intake, but it also promotes more plant-based variety and a more diverse diet, being culturally adaptable to different countries and different vegetables and plants, and different tastes and different ways of eating.”

As for the diet’s name, the team shared that it arose “from the evidence suggesting that its adoption would reduce the environmental impacts and nutritional deficiencies of most current diets.” Johan Rockström, a commission co-chair and director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, provided more specific details, telling ABC News that “Transforming the food system … can cut global emissions by more than half.”

Furthermore, if a large portion of the world adopted this diet pattern, researchers estimated it could prevent up to 15 million premature deaths each year, or about 27% of all adult deaths worldwide. They also pointed out that even partial adherence to the diet could make a difference.

It could, however, require a lot to get us all there. The researchers explained in their work that “substantial financial resources” are needed, estimating that between $200 billion and $500 billion per year would be necessary “to support the transformation to healthy, sustainable, and just food systems.” This initial investment could also pay dividends, with the researchers finding that the economic benefits of a healthier planet and a healthier global society could reach approximately $5 trillion annually. However, any of these fixes, the report explained, will require fair wages for everyone (higher pay, the researchers noted, is actually more important than making food more affordable), along with equal access to nutritious food through programs like free and reduced lunchand the protection of traditional cuisine.

“The evidence laid out in our report is clear,” Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, commission co-chair and director for nutrition, health, and food security at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), said, “the world must act boldly and equitably to ensure sustainable improvements.”