Giving Compass' Take:

• Researchers say that at US$2.84 per head per day, the 'ideal healthy diet' would be beyond reach for nearly 1.6 billion people, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

• What are the biggest barriers to spreading this diet aside from costs? How can environmental and nutrition advocates help think of other ways to feed our planet?

• Here's an article on the future of healthy eating research. 

At least one in five people could not afford science’s ‘ideal diet’ designed to feed 10 billion people without hurting the planet, according to a study published on Friday.

The EAT-Lancet report made headlines when it was unveiled in January because it proposed the first scientific targets for both a healthy diet and a sustainable food system.

It recommended people double their intake of nuts, fruit, vegetables and legumes, and eat half as much meat and sugar to prevent millions of early deaths, cut greenhouse gas emissions and preserve land, water and biodiversity.

The Global Burden of Disease study by the U.S.-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said poor diets killed 11 million people - one in five - in 2017, more than smoking, which kills about 8 million people a year.

Agriculture, forestry and other land use accounted for 23 per cent of total net man-made greenhouse gas emissions from 2007 to 2016, soaring to 37 per cent when pre- and post-production activity were factored in, according to the United Nations.

Read the full article about the cost of a healthy diet by Thomson Reuters Foundation via Eco-Business.