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Global consumption of meat must be reduced, according to a new report that warns of serious implications - both in terms of food scarcity and the wider environmental impact - if current trends continue.
The research from Cambridge and Aberdeen universities highlights a worldwide trend for American-style diets, leading to a large increase in meat and dairy consumption, the BBC reports.
Bojana Bajzelj, from the University of Cambridge, said: "There are basic laws of biophysics that we cannot evade."
"The average efficiency of livestock converting plant feed to meat is less than 3%, and as we eat more meat, more arable cultivation is turned over to producing feedstock for animals that provide meat for humans.
"The losses at each stage are large, and as humans globally eat more and more meat, conversion from plants to food becomes less and less efficient, driving agricultural expansion and releasing more greenhouse gases. Agricultural practices are not necessarily at fault here - but our choice of food is."
The study urges limiting one's consumption to two portions of meat and seven of poultry per week.
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