In the future, the current amount of land suitable for agriculture on Earth will be nowhere near enough to supply everyone with sufficient food.

Universities in the US researched which types of diets were the most sustainable, in terms of the land we currently have available.

The study made some surprising finds about veganism, vegetarianism, and meat-based diets.

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The ever-growing global population poses serious problems, one of which is agriculture. In the long term, the amount of agricultural land currently on Earth will be nowhere near enough to supply everyone with sufficient food.

It's clear that, as a result, we need to change our eating habits. If we chose to cultivate foods that required less land, we'd be able to feed more people with less land.

That's why researchers from six US universities including Cornell have developed a biophysical simulation model that represents the US as a closed food system, in order to determine the land requirements per capita of human diets and the potential population fed by the agricultural land there.

Through their research, they managed to establish which diet is most sustainable and which would most improve the prospects for sustaining human life on Earth.

While a vegan diet may be the most ethical when it comes to animal welfare, it's not the most sustainable. zjuzjaka/Shutterstock

10 diets under the microscope

Within the simulation, 10 different diet types were held up to one another, including those of vegetarians, vegans, and meat-eaters.

One would assume the vegan diet is, all-round, the best of the three but, while it may come out on top when it comes to animal rights, it's actually not as sustainable as you might think. Diets with small amounts of meat, as well as lacto-vegetarianism and ovo-lacto-vegetarianism, can feed more people, therefore making them more environmentally sustainable.

The reason for this is simple: the vegan diet leaves too many resources unused. Different crops require different types of land for an adequate yield. Very often nothing can be cultivated on standard pastureland due to the fact that the soil doesn't provide the necessary nutrients.

Currently, many crops used in vegan meal options, such as soybeans, aren't produced sustainably. Rebecca Harrington/Business Insider

Vegetarianism is more environmentally sustainable than veganism

While veganism may not be the most sustainable option, that doesn't mean rethinking your diet isn't beneficial for the environment: the widespread abandonment of animal products does, indeed, push up the number of people who can be fed on existing farmland.

The most sustainable diets according to the study were vegetarian diets, with lacto-vegetarianism occupying first place.

The researchers' overall conclusion? Altering our consumption habits as a global population will significantly improve our chances of providing future generations across the globe with adequate nutrition. While both veganism and regular, substantial meat consumption would lead to severe food shortages, a lacto-vegetarian diet may be the most efficient way to maintain sufficient nutrition across the globe in the long run.