The Vegan Update

hile the British Nutrition Foundation’s recent metareview supported more predominantly plant-based eating, it did not propose a 100% vegan diet. Yet, with Veganuary reporting in 2021 that, of 82% of those who had pledged to go vegan at the start of last year, 30% were still fully plant-based by July, and with the campaign noting that in 2022 in excess of 629,000 new pledges had been recorded (whether helped by that Bigfoot short of theirs or not, but younger vegan novices will have been taken with it, surely) – it’s clear that a plant-based lifestyle is beneficial to the amelioration of our bodies and minds, as much as the planet as a whole in its reduction of individuals’ carbon footprint.

Nonetheless, the situation is a tentative one and the balance could go either way (humans are fickle creatures with a tendency for divisiveness). Vegconomist reported that PETA had recently felt it necessary to urge vegans not to demand separate cooking equipment. The move came at a point when vegan menu options have never been more available. However, the rub lies in the fact that the explosion of the alt protein market has not been directly marketed at those already in the plant-based pool of health: the target audience is the omnivorous public. Investments in plant-based meat (and fish) alternatives are for the benefit of restaurants and chains whose typical customer also eats animal products.

Who can forget the fiasco of Burger King’s plantbased burger release in 2019, consumers not long after discovering it was cooked on the same grill as meat products? Fast-forward to today, and Burger King has invested in separate cooking equipment. But not every eatery can afford such outlays. So it is that PETA is essentially warning “pick your battles”: better there are more vegan burgers and the like cooked alongside meat, than fewer or no such plant-based alternatives on offer or in existence at all. For a renownedly activist vegan organisation, it is admirably balanced advice. Previously, an Oxfordshire county council caused a newsworthy stir when it decided official events that provided food (of which there are six a year) would no longer be serving any animal products, as “global meat and dairy production is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation”. Fair enough, you’d think… But some councillors considered it a move that had been “rammed down the throats of vegetarians and meat eaters” (as one opposition Conservative councillor, David Bartholomew, put it).

Just Natural Health & Beauty has previously written on acceptance and finding equilibrium when it comes to matters of diet: not everyone can be fully plantbased (whether due to certain types of anaemia or Coeliac disease or similar); nor does everyone want to be vegan or believe it the best course of action for the planet. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion and freedom of (informed) choice.

Regarding such information, an Oxford University study recently published in The Lancet Planetary Health found that adoption of a fully vegan diet could “reduce food costs by one-third”, while a vegetarian diet was the second most affordable. An attractive prospect, particularly in the current financial climate with the hike in energy prices: money-saving and good for the environment? Seemingly win-win. Of course, the vegan diet used in the study was a WFPB (whole food plant-based) one. If you start including mock meats and other similar products, the costs increase considerably, but so too do the health implications from eating an excessive amount of highly processed foods.

For the NHS, though, the prospect of a (whole food) plant-based public is most appealing. Indeed, Plant Based News reported that Dr Shireen Kassam, a consultant haematologist and honorary senior lecturer at King’s College Hospital, has estimated that if the entire nation were to go vegan it would save our health services in excess of £30 billion each year (annually, the UK’s medical spending is around £225 billion).

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It is (almost) common knowledge now that diets free from animal products can help lower a person’s risk of heart disease (by about 25%, in fact), bad cholesterol levels, and reduce prevalence of obesity and the likelihood of developing Type-II diabetes by over 50%. These are all preventable chronic illnesses. Increased energy levels are often one major beneficial factor in anyone new to the vegan diet sticking to it, as well as better mood, improved skin complexion, and weight loss (a veritable holy trinity of health if ever we heard one). Indeed, some life insurance companies in the US, such as HealthIQ, are so certain of the data that they have lowered the cost of their policies for vegans. A scientific review undertaken by Unilever at the start of the year also recommends a plant-based diet “for public health and sustainability”. Drawing on 141 studies, the multinational corporation concluded that ditching animal products resulted in an increased intake of “several vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients such as fibre”. The caveat was that “proper education of consumers” was needed, for people to be fully aware of what they need to include in their diet to stay in optimum health. The review strongly urged that an improvement in fortification of certain foods with vitamin B12 be carried out. Of course, when plant-based living is promoted as an environmentally positive and healthful way forward to people and planet both, that’s not to say that “dirty veganism” is what is being promoted (sorry, Mathew Pritchard)… Don’t get us wrong, the ability to still enjoy junkier, fast food type meals from our omnivorous days without causing harm to animals is wonderful – but, this being the season to do so, think about the impact that type of living will take on your body after a while.