Plant-Based Diets for Reversing Disease and Saving the Planet: Past, Present, and Future

The relative contributions of meat and plants to the native human diet, and human adaptation to these dietary constituents, are a matter of debate among paleoanthropologists. Indisputable, however, is the imprint of both on the anatomy and physiology of Homo sapiens: our species is constitutionally omnivorous. That means we have choices to make. At present, we are making mostly bad ones, with poor diets of highly processed plant and animal foods alike leading contributors to chronic disease, premature death, and environmental degradation. The evidence is strong, consistent, and compelling that a diet of predominantly, or even exclusively, whole plant foods can promote health, selectively treat and reverse disease, and confer comparable benefit to the planet. Omnivores have dietary choices, but the choices of nearly 8 billion hungry Homo sapiens on a small imperiled planet have narrowed. The future of food, for the sake of people and planet alike, is plant centric.