Bad diet is the leading risk factor for early death around the world, new research has found. But it will take major changes to agriculture to change that, says a U of G expert.

Prof. Evan Fraser, director of the Arrell Food Institute and a Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security, recently spoke to NPR and told the media outlet that the entire world can’t adopt a healthy diet under the current agriculture system. Too much fat, sugar and starchy food takes up agricultural resources that could be given to growing healthier foods, he said.

Fraser co-authored a large study published last fall that made similar conclusions. The study found that if everyone followed healthy nutritional recommendations, the agri-food sector would need to produce more plants and much less meat.

Fraser studies climate change, food security, food prices and rural agricultural policy.