Reducing "Meat Consumption" Decreases The Effects of "Global Warming"

"Cutting world meat consumption by 10 percent would significantly slow down the impact of global warming, a new research has found.

Writing in the latest edition of medical health journal The Lancet, the scientists advised people in rich countries to limit their meat consumption to the equivalent of one hamburger per person per day to help reduce global warming.

"Worldwide, agricultural activity, especially livestock production, accounts for about a fifth of total greenhouse-gas emissions, thus contributing to climate change and its adverse health consequences, including the threat to food yields in many regions," write the authors.

Researchers believe that cutting global red meat consumption from an average of 100g per person per day to 90g would cut the gases emitted by cows, sheep and goats that contribute to global warming.

"Particular policy attention should be paid to the health risks posed by the rapid worldwide growth in meat consumption, both by exacerbating climate change and by directly contributing to certain diseases," the study added.

Nearly 22 percent of the planet's total emissions of greenhouse gases come from agriculture. Livestock production, including transport of livestock and feed, account for nearly 80 percent of agricultural emissions, mainly in the form of methane, a potent heat-trapping gas.

"A substantial contract in meat consumption in high-income countries should benefit health, mainly by reducing the risk of ... heart disease... obesity, colorectal cancer and, perhaps some other cancers," the research said.

"An increase in the consumption of animal products in low-intake populations, towards the proposed global mean figure, should also benefit health," the study added."