Modeling a sustainable plant-based healthy diet for a nutritional transition in the United States

From a recent study published in the Npj vaccines log, researchers presented intriguing perspectives on sustainable nutritional modeling and formulation in the transition from animal to plant-based diet (PBD).

Study: Modeling sustainable healthy eating for a plant-based food transition in the United States. Image credits: RONEDYA/Shutterstock.com

Background

There are varying definitions of PBDs based on social, cultural, and agricultural influences across geographic regions.

In this study, the authors followed the World Health Organization (WHO) PBD definition, which includes fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds in raw or minimally processed forms in PBDs.

There are several benefits of PBDs, such as reducing negative environmental impacts and lowering the risks of non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs), for example cancer and type 2 diabetes. PBDs are gaining popularity because of their benefits to human health and the environment.

About the study

In the current study, researchers developed three dietary models named M1, M2 and M3, which included 24 composite diet scenarios (S) using the Food4HealthyLife calculator tool, where M1 focused on the replacement of red meat, M2 on the replacement of red and white meat, and M3 focused on replacing red, white and processed meat.

They used the Health Nutritional Index (HENI) and Food Compass scoring systems (FCS) to profile the nutritional quality of all diets assessed and the midpoint impact values ​​for foods included in the What We Eat in America database to derive estimates. leading the 18 environmental impact indicators. , including global warming, water use and mineral resources.

Specifically, they adopted 46 attributes and seven domains from the slightly modified FCS method and treated red meat and processed meat as separate attributes.

The final Food Compass score was the sum of the average domain score and the sum of the scores for the food ingredients domain. The HENI tool assessed the health effects of diets using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).

In model diets from the Food4HealthyLife calculator, the “current diet” was the default diet that people adopted, but this negatively affected life expectancy, while the “optimal diet” referred to a hypothetical diet that increased life expectancy, but in real life was not feasible. , and the “feasible diet” was a midpoint between these two diets.

Additionally, the researchers created seven additional diet scenarios using arithmetic mathematical equations developed by the authors, resulting in ten hypothetical diet scenarios for each diet consumption model.

The authors used these equations to calculate the appropriate weights of the targeted food groups in each alternative diet scenario, ensuring partial replacement of meat with legumes in each scenario.

These dietary consumption models include 14 different food groups, each represented by a specific type of food, chosen based on its availability and popularity.

They used the USDA Food Availability and Consumption Database as a reference to determine the most commonly consumed foods. This database has long tracked trends in US food consumption and forms the basis for policy decisions in nutrition and public health.

The total weight of each diet scenario was 1.8 kg. Strikingly, however, none of the study’s modeling scenarios affected cooking and storage losses.

Assessment of the nutritional quality of different model diets involved determining the nutritional content per 100 calories of the model diets using an online diet analysis system called FoodStruct, and the second step involved using a scoring system called Food Compass Scoring to assess each model diet.

Furthermore, the researchers used the FoodStruct’s Diet Analysis menu to analyze the amounts of ingredients in each diet scenario, including macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, lipids and fiber) and micronutrients (nine minerals and 12 vitamins).

They also estimated the content of specific lipids, such as cholesterol, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), alpha-linolenic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

In addition, the team conducted nutritional and environmental analyzes using dual-scale data graphs and HENI and Food Compass scores, global warming, ionizing radiation and freshwater eutrophication to identify the optimal composite diet scenario.

Finally, the researchers conducted a Pearson correlation analysis to assess the correlation between calories, nutritional quality indicators and environmental impact indicators of diet scenarios.

They ranked the diets using the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test, which used the HENI scores, FCS and total damage to human health.

Results

First, the results showed that as the percentage of meat products replaced by plant-based foods increased in the model’s composite diets, a non-linear variation in nutritional, environmental and health benefits emerged, implying a varying impact of specific variables .

Six of the seven domains used in the nutritional profiling of the Food Compass contributed to the FCS scores obtained. On average, specific lipids contributed the least, and vitamins the most (0.051% and 31.41%).

Other areas that made significant contributions were nutrient ratio, minerals, food ingredients, protein and fiber, with donations of 27.36%, 10.99%, 23.19% and 6.99% respectively.

The study compared different dietary scenarios and found that the recommended regular composite diet should consist of 10% legumes, 0.11% red meat, 2.81% white meat and 0.28% processed meat. It was estimated that this would offset approximately 55% of the effects of global warming.

Additionally, it was associated with a diet quality score of 74.13 on the FCS system, indicating that this diet was relatively healthy and balanced.

Furthermore, the recommended composite diet could potentially redeem approximately 169.21 minutes of DALY.

Conclusions

The research data offers an interesting prediction of the benefits of the transition to an optimal and sustainable plant and animal diet.

This type of nutritional transition requires a more comprehensive approach that includes modeling the replacement of animal foods with plant-based alternatives so that environmental impact is minimized while maximizing nutritional and health benefits.

With this shift in diet, simply increasing the share of plant-based foods will not necessarily reduce the environmental and health damage caused by current food systems. Other factors such as quantity, type, characteristics and food sources require attention.

Importantly, a supposed sustainable shift to a plant-based diet, if not properly monitored and optimized, could inadvertently lead to negative consequences.