Exploring Benefits and Barriers of Plant-Based Diets: Health, Environmental Impact, Food Accessibility and Acceptability

Abstract

Unhealthy dietary patterns are directly linked to the current Global Syndemic consisting of non-communicable diseases, undernutrition and climate change. The dietary shift towards healthier and more sustainable plant-based diets is essential. However, plant-based diets have wide intra differences; varying from vegan diets that totally exclude meat and animal products to traditional ones such as the Mediterranean diet and the new Nordic diet. It is acknowledged that plant-based diets may contribute simultaneously to improving population health as well as to decreasing the environmental impact of food systems. Evidence from cohort and randomized-controlled trials suggests that plant-based dietary patterns have beneficial effects on bodyweight control, cardiovascular health and diabetes prevention and treatment. On the other hand, micronutrient requirements may not be met, if some plant-based diets are not well-planned. Additionally, studies showed that lower consumption of meat and animal products results in lower environmental impacts. Consequently, plant-based diets could be a key factor to increase diet sustainability. This narrative review addresses the advantages of adherence to plant-based diets on human and planetary health considering strains and barriers to achieve this dietary transition, including cultural acceptability and affordability factors. Finally, potential intervention and policy recommendations are proposed, focusing on the update of current national food-based dietary guidelines.

A Narrative Review of the Significance of Popular Diets in Diabetes Mellitus Management

“…Plant-based diets (PBDs) are dietary patterns that prioritize the intake of plant-based foods and exclude most or all animal-based foods. There are various categories of PBDs: pesco-vegetarian diets, which exclude all animal products except for fish and seafood; lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets, which exclude meat and fish but allow dairy products and eggs; and vegan diets, which exclude meat and all animal-derived food products, including honey [59,60].…”

Enhancing Food and Nutrition Literacy: A Key Strategy for Reducing Food Waste and Improving Diet Quality

“…Despite these limitations, researchers and other practitioners may find the results useful in designing and implementing new actions, as well as evaluating or scaling up existing ones [84]. For example, currently, the inclusion of sustainability topics in Dietary Guidelines is in progress in several countries, in addition to nutrition and health-related issues [85]. As recently reported by James-Martin et al there are 37 countries that mention environmental sustainability in their Dietary Guidelines.…”

“…Legislation and public health initiatives have recommended changes to label characteristics to improve the understandability of nutritional information for consumers [83,88,89]. In particular, the back-of-pack nutritional information has been shown to be difficult to access, understand, and evaluate, mainly in populations at risk of limited health literacy [85].…”

“…Although consumer understanding difficulties mainly concern the interpretation of correct portion sizes, as well as recommended daily percentage values [85], information on food packaging should also include clarifications on the expiry date and preparation and storage methods. Furthermore, consumers should also be adequately informed about the fact that the consumption of canned, frozen, or deep-frozen foods can be part of a healthy diet model [66,69,87,88].…”

“…Furthermore, consumers should also be adequately informed about the fact that the consumption of canned, frozen, or deep-frozen foods can be part of a healthy diet model [66,69,87,88]. So, future dialogues between scientists, policymakers, and other stakeholders are needed to promote a common food policies framework and to provide solutions to face the planetary and people health challenge [85].…”