Plant-based diets are better for the environment and for you

LIFESTYLE NEWS - How do we feed our planet’s growing population in a sustainable way? As this question becomes more urgent in the wake of climate change, more people are turning to plant-based diets for their answers.

The production of animal-based foods such as meat and dairy contribute to a lot of greenhouse gas emissions. By contrast, plant-based foods produce far less carbon emissions, making this a more sustainable diet for safeguarding the future of our environment.

Plant-based diets also offer a variety of health benefits.

Comprising foods such as wholegrains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, soya, seeds, and nuts, this sort of diet encourages a low intake of refined grains, added sugars and unhealthy fats. This in turn helps to lower the risk of certain types of cancer, type-2 diabetes and heart disease.

For these reasons, we’re seeing more people shift their diets to plant-based foods. This means people have begun cutting down on their overall consumption of animal-based products, either going meat-free for a day or two each week or becoming flexitarians in general.

Are plant-based foods really healthy?
Despite the higher uptake of plant-based foods, a common misconception still exists about the nutritional value of plant-based foods. Many believe that replacing animal-based foods with plant-based alternatives in their diet may result in a decrease in beneficial nutrients while increasing the intake of sugar, sodium, and saturated fat.

This idea may be based on the fact that many plant-based products received a free pass on nutrition quality during the early stages of the trend. The novelty of being plant-based back then was sufficient and products were focused on innovative new ways to provide alternatives to animal-based foods. However, in more recent years, health and nutrition have become increasingly important for plant-based products.

Consumers may have also developed a negative perception of plant-based foods’ nutritional attributes due to the nature of how these products are formulated. In reality, a lot of consideration goes into how the ingredients are sourced for plant-based products. A good case in point can be found in the range of plant-based and vegan products manufactured by many sub-Saharan Africa plant-based food companies such Cape Town-based Herbivore Earthfoods.

How innovation is helping more people adopt plant-based diets
One of the biggest challenges in creating plant-based alternatives is how to achieve the same nutrient profile, taste, texture, appearance, aroma, and functionality of common products such as a beef patty or dairy-based yoghurt. Thanks to the emergence of new ingredients and technologies, we’re starting to see more solutions emerge as foods are created with similar attributes found in animal-based products.

That said, there are still major opportunities to move beyond ‘alternative protein offerings’ as the only benefit plant-based products are providing. For instance, pairing certain nutritional profiles of plants such as the fibre, vitamins, and minerals found in legumes and wholegrains, or finding ways to substitute in potassium, vitamin D, and calcium into plant-based dairy alternatives.

To meet consumer expectations going forward, plant-based alternatives must provide the same nutritional quality as animal-based alternatives. Innovation in this space is ongoing and will be key for the future of plant-based diets. For plant-based products to be successful alternatives, they should have consumer acceptance or adoption.

A good benchmark for this is cheese, which historically has been a difficult product to replicate however plant-based foods manufacturers have successfully developed a their own dairy-free version. In my experience, it is the closest to its animal-based counterpart in terms of taste. Along similar lines is the innovation of a vegetal yoghurt known as ‘Cashewgurt’, which replaces its dairy source with cashew milk.

Food is the building block of life itself, determining our health, and the wellbeing of the planet. Because of the well-established nexus between human and planet health, plant-based diets will help shape healthy and sustainable eating so that the world is able to grow food and feed the growing population in a sustainable way for our common future.

Arthur Ramoroka