7 August, 2026

The Planetary Health Diet sets out scientific guidance on the recommended daily dietary intakes of different food groups to ensure the world can eat healthily without adverse impacts on climate and nature. New research shows just how off track we are.

People are eating only 40% of the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables, 18% of the suggested plant-based protein and 60% more animal protein than recommended.

But perhaps the most interesting part of the story isn’t what it says about our diets. It’s what it says about the role retailers are playing in shaping them.

For decades, healthier diets have largely been framed as the responsibility of governments, health bodies and campaigners, but supermarkets’ influence is at least as powerful as any public health campaign. They decide what appears on shelves, what sits at eye level, what gets promoted and what offers pop up in our shopping apps.

So what happens when a supermarket chooses to use that influence differently?

Lidl’s response, across its 31 markets, suggests one answer. Rather than simply encouraging customers to make different choices, they’re aligning elements of their commercial strategy with the Planetary Health Diet using promotions, in-store signposting, reformulation, rewards, partnerships and product targets to make healthier and more sustainable options more accessible, appealing and credible.

That matters because public health and sustainability are increasingly recognised as being part of the same conversation. The same dietary shifts that could improve health outcomes, such as eating more fruit, vegetables and plant-based proteins, could also reduce pressure on the environment.

As health, affordability and sustainability collide, retailers are becoming more than places to buy food. The real question is not whether supermarkets shape our diets. They already do. It’s whether they could use that power more deliberately.

By Mariama Frimpong