People around the world need to radically change their diets to safeguard the planet and ensure that there is enough food to feed the world's booming population.

A report by the Lancet medical journal has called for a “Great Food Transformation” to heal the world’s “faulty food system” which sees nearly one billion people go hungry, almost two billion eat too much of the wrong type of food, and which puts unsustainable pressure on the planet.

The report, put together by 37 experts in the fields of health, agriculture and the environment from 16 countries, calls for a 50 per cent global reduction in the consumption of unhealthy food such as red meat and sugar.

And it urges a more than 100 per cent increase in the consumption of healthy food such as nuts, fruits and vegetables.

It projects that these changes will avert up to 11.6 million deaths a year, a reduction of about 23 per cent, as well as providing enough food to feed the world population, which is projected to grow to 10 billion by 2050.

The changes people would have to make to their diets depends where they live. For example, people in the United States and Canada eat almost six and a half times the recommended amount of red meat, while people in South Asia eat only half the recommended amount.