Eating healthy and sustainable requires more than guidelines

In the past few months, the Netherlands, the United States, and the international EAT-Lancet Commission presented their updated dietary guidelines. The United States launched a contradictory recommendation: a strong focus on red meat and animal products, while at the same time aiming to limit saturated fat - a nutrient that is found in these animal products. The recommendations from the Netherlands and EAT-Lancet sound a lot more balanced.

Less red meat, more legumes, lots of vegetables and fruit. In the Netherlands, the new Dutch dietary guidelines are made concrete with recommendations such as 250 grams of legumes per week and a maximum of 200 grams of red meat per week. For the first time, this recommendation explicitly takes environmental aspects into account, in addition to public health. The EAT-Lancet Commission goes one step further and places food within global planetary boundaries in the updated Planetary Health Diet. In addition to health, this also takes into account climate, biodiversity, and social justice. The commission argues that the earth will not be able to continue to feed future generations without a significant shift to plant-based foods.

The new Dutch dietary guidelines are scientifically sound. Yet, they hardly reach the population. Governments have little control over the food supply; producers and retailers control the shelves. As long as they have insufficient incentives to focus on less processed products and promote plant-based alternatives, we still have a long way to go.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. EAT-Lancet warns that the current food system is exceeding multiple planetary boundaries and that the food security of future generations is at stake if we do not drastically change our eating habits. The Dutch Health Council also implicitly recognizes this by giving greater weight to the environmental impact of food choices than before. So it is not just a matter of healthy eating; it is a matter of a liveable future.

Yet policy remains stuck in non-binding recommendations. Guidelines without systemic change are empty shells. It is time that we not only describe what healthy and sustainable food is, but also shape what is needed to make that diet actually achievable. Think of pricing policies that make the products in the Dutch Wheel of Five structurally cheaper than less healthy products. Or clear rules that oblige food suppliers to make healthy options more accessible (cheaper, more attractive, more varied) than unhealthy ones.

As long as the government formulates dietary guidelines without intervening in the food system that determines daily eating habits, it will remain nothing more than good intentions. And given the reality of health and climate issues, we can no longer afford that. If we really want to shift towards a more plant-based diet, as recommended by both the Dutch Health Council and the EAT-Lancet Commission, this must be supported by an agricultural system that makes legumes, vegetables, and other sustainable crops attractive to farmers and affordable for consumers.

It is clear that things have to change. The question now is whether we can find the (political) will to secure the food of the future. Not just on paper, but above all in practice.