Small targeted dietary changes can yield substantial gains for human health and the environment

Year Published: 2021

Nature Food

Katerina S. Stylianou, Victor L. Fulgoni III & Olivier Jolliet

This study from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences examined more than 5,850 foods based on how many minutes a person could gain or lose off their healthy life span by eating them.

Key Findings: Among the foods adding the most amount of healthy life were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (33.7 minutes), nuts and seeds (26.9 minutes per serving) and fruits (13.5 minutes per serving). In contrast, other foods were associated with costing the most healthly life, like hot dogs (35.4 minutes per serving), cured meats and poultry (25.6 minutes per serving) and egg/breakfast sandwiches (10.8 minutes per serving).