January is fast become the month of plant based eating as Veganuary, set up in 2014, spanning over 150 countries, encourages increasing numbers to try a plant based diet.
There is a growing trend among UK consumers to eat more plants and less meat, fish and animal products. For some this involves moving to a vegan diet although for many it entails simply a shift to more plant based foods and less meat.
Demand for meat free products increased by nearly 1000% [1] in 2017 and this shift has created a huge increase in plant based offerings in the supermarket, covering everything from plant based milks to ready meals as well as a timely reminder about the benefits of the simple fruit and vegetable aisles.
People’s motivation for moving to more plant based diets are varied but animals, health and the environment are most commonly cited. [2] In terms of the environment the sustainability benefits are clear:
- A diet which is mainly plant based reduces carbon emissions by around 40% compared to a typical UK diet as well as using less land and less water. This is partly because a high proportion of the carbon emissions from a typical UK diet come from meat, especially beef and lamb.
- It is also because land for animals and animal feed accounts for 77%[3]of all agricultural land but just 18% of the calories.
In terms of health, the benefits of a fully plant based diet are still much debated but the foundations of a healthy diet have been clearly laid out by the World Health Organisation [4] for many years. The WHO’s guidelines suggest that a healthy diet should include fruit, vegetables, legumes (e.g. lentils and beans), nuts and whole grains (e.g. oats, wheat and brown rice) as well as at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day. In short a diet high in plant based products. Guidance from the NHS[5] is also helpful in this area highlighting the need for good planning to get all the nutrients you need.
The growth in demand for plant based products is reflected among the people who use Giki. We rate over 280,000 products from major UK supermarkets and brands on sustainability, health and ethics. One of the most common requests we got from the users of our free app in 2019 was for a plant based badge to help identify plant based food in UK supermarkets. This new badge now sits alongside other environmental and ethical ratings within our app such as carbon footprint, better packaging, palm oil, animal welfare and animal testing. Increasing numbers of people are now making decisions on what they eat and buy based on beliefs and values, rather than brand and price. This trend is likely to grow as awareness increases of the impact of our buying decisions on the world we live in.
By Jo Hand, co-founder of Giki Social Enterprise. Giki’s mission is to help people cut their environmental impact. The Giki app provides accessible, independent, transparent information to help people change their habits to live more sustainably. www.gikibadges.com
[1] https://www.vegansociety.com/news/media/statistics
[3] https://ourworldindata.org/land-use
[4] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet
[5] https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/vegetarian-and-vegan-diets-q-and-a/