US mayors have been praised by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) for pledging to promote plant-based diets via a resolution created by New York City’s Eric Adams.
The resolution was introduced to address the unsustainable trajectory of lifestyle-related chronic diseases and the related fiscal burden of health care spending on these conditions, as well as climate change.
It was recently ratified by the U.S. Conference of Mayors who wanted to support a ‘plant-based approach to combat chronic disease, help mitigate the climate crisis and create a more sustainable fiscal trajectory’.
They plan to model themselves after what the City of New York is doing within its public hospital system, within its public schools and government agencies.
NYC also works in partnership with key stakeholders including ‘every public and private hospital system, health centres, smaller provider networks, community-based organisations, and student and community councils among others’.
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Eric Adams creates ‘exemplary’ model
The resolution introduced by Eric Adams notes that food we grow and consume is a primary driver of climate change, citing research from sources including the United Nations and The Lancet which show that ‘plant-based foods are both less resource intensive to produce and emit roughly half of the greenhouse gases emitted by producing most animal-based foods’.
Based on this data, the resolution suggests a number of interventions when it comes to promoting a more ‘plant-centred’ approach to health and the environment.
Notably, it focuses on a diet centered on the consumption of whole foods, including minimally processed fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole-grains, nuts, and seeds, noting that this type of eating pattern has ‘been shown to prevent, treat, and bring into remission chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension’.
The resolution notes that ‘by working to create healthier populations, we thereby lessen health care costs and their associated outsized presence on our future balance sheets’.
In a statement praising the move, ACLM President Beth Frates, MD, FACLM, DipABLM, said: “We applaud the nation’s visionary mayors, who are in unique positions to effect change through work with municipal agencies and affiliated institutions and public-private partnerships.
“The City of New York has been an exemplary model on which other cities can build, and we urge that this resolution be broadly embraced to improve our nation’s health.”
Interested to find out more? Check out how Eric Adams became New York City’s first plant-based mayor
Featured photo © Arturo Holmes / Staff via Getty Images
