Plant-based alternative food consumption may have doubled in UK over ten years suggests first analysis of its kind

The proportion of UK people reporting eating and drinking plant-based alternative foods such as plant-based milk, vegan sausages and vegetable burgers nearly doubled between 2008-2011 and 2017-2019, according to a new study in Science of the Total Environment.

The study was led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), with partners the University of Oxford. It is believed to be the first analysis of plant-based alternative foods (PBAF) consumption trends in the UK.

Trends from more than 15,000 individuals aged 1.5 years and over were analysed using consumption data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2008-20191. The team found that the proportion of people that reported to eat and drink plant-based alternative foods nearly doubled over the period of the study from 6.7% to 13.1%.

The largest increases were reported among Generation Y (11-23 years old), Millennials (24-39 years old), and among those that reported low meat consumption. Women were also 46% more likely to report consumption of plant-based alternative foods than men.

The researchers say their study suggests that alternative plant-based foods are likely to play an important role in dietary change away from meat and dairy, and take a considerable place in UK diets. However, it remains unknown how healthy and sustainable these alternatives are, so the team call for urgent research to see if the shift to these foods should be strategically promoted.

Dr Pauline Scheelbeek from LSHTM and study author, said: "A global transformation towards sustainable food systems is crucial for delivering on climate change mitigation targets worldwide. In high- and middle-income settings, plant-based meat and dairy alternatives are increasingly being explored and developed as a strategy to reduce consumption of animal-sourced foods. However, the extent to which these foods play a role in dietary change remains largely understudied. This study helps fill that gap."

Evidence suggests current global food systems and patterns of consumption are unsustainable for human and planetary health. The food system is responsible for roughly 21-37% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and agriculture accounts for around 70% of freshwater use globally.

To meet the targets set out in the Paris agreements a global transition to sustainable diets is crucial and being widely promoted. Research has demonstrated that in high- and middle-income settings (with diets that are typically high in animal-sourced foods) substituting animal products with plant-based sources of food can substantially reduce impacts on the environment and improve population health.

As part of its recommendations for achieving a reduction in emissions, the UK Climate Change Committee (UKCCC) has suggested a 20% reduction in high?carbon meat and dairy products by 2030, rising to a 35% reduction by 2050, with increased consumption of plant-based products.

However, social facilitation, pleasure, and beliefs about the importance of meat in the diet are barriers for many to change diets. PBAF present a potential solution as they are designed to mimic the taste and texture of their animal-based counterparts and limit changes in meal habits and cooking skills.

Dr Scheelbeek said: "The willingness to reduce meat intake among populations in many European countries has increased rapidly over the past decade. Unfortunately, this does not always result into actual dietary change. The plant-based alternative foods could be a stepping stone for people that are willing to reduce meat consumption, but find it hard to fit this into their daily lives. This study shows that more and more people are applying this pathway to achieve their goals on more plant-based diets."

In this new study, the team examined plant-based PBAF consumption trends in the UK by analysing national representative consumption data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey for the years 2008-2019. They found that from all plant-based alternative foods, plant-based milks were most popular among the UK population with approximately 1 in 13 people (7.4%) reporting to consume plant-based milks in 2018 and 2019 as compared to 2.3% in 2008-2011.

The consumption of plant-based alternatives for other dairy products -- such as vegan cheese and yoghurt -- showed to be taking off at a slower pace, with only 1.2% of the respondents reporting to consume such products in 2018 and 2019.

As well as overall trends at population level, the researchers looked at age, socioeconomic and geographical sub-groups. Consumption of plant-based alternative foods were substantially higher among those with higher incomes, suggesting potential inequalities in affordability of the plant-based alternative foods across societal groups. Women were more likely to report plant-based alternative food consumption than men, and younger generations (13-39 years of age) more than older generations.

Evidence that plant-based alternative foods are used as a direct replacement for meat and dairy was further strengthened due to the fact that those reporting low meat consumption consumed -- on average -- triple the amount of plant-based alternative foods as compared to high meat eaters.

Professor Alan Dangour from LSHTM and a study author, said: "We are seeing a revolution in consumer patterns that could have dramatic impacts on our food systems. Our study shows just how quickly diets are changing in the UK and how willing the UK public are to adopt new foods. We must now ensure that as we transition to diets with more novel foods, the diets enhance public health and have a substantially lower impact on our planet."

The authors acknowledge limitations of their study, including that while food diaries offer an advantage of accuracy over recall dietary assessment methods, underreporting can occur. Data analysis limitations also resulted in exclusion of many food items such as desserts, baked goods and snacks; therefore, consumption of some food groups, particularly dairy products and milk, is under-estimated.

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Materials provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Supportive strategies help 'picky eaters' deal with food aversions

In a large national survey, adults who struggled with picky eating habits as children overwhelmingly said they benefitted more from positive and encouraging strategies their parents used than forceful or coercive approaches.

The research, led by a team at Duke Health, was conducted among a generation of people who struggled with food avoidance before it was identified in 2013 as a psychiatric condition called Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).

The researchers said their findings, appearing online Nov. 11 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, provide guidance for both families and behavioral health professionals for developing best practices to deal with extreme food aversions.

When picky eating is severe, it is diagnosed as ARFID. The condition is characterized by health problems such as weight loss and nutritional deficiencies and it can also lead to social and emotional problems when mealtimes become a source of shame, friction and/or conflict.

"It's not surprising that positive approaches were favored, but it is surprising how overwhelming that position was among this group of adults," said Nancy Zucker, Ph.D., professor in the Duke's Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Zucker was co-senior author on the study with Guillermo Sapiro, Ph.D., professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering.

Zucker, director of the Duke Center for Eating Disorders, said the broad consensus is validation for the current treatment approach that emphasizes positive interactions: "It is robust confirmation for what had been out there in the literature and reinforces the concept that children feeling forced or pressured to eat is not helpful."

The study was launched more than a decade ago as severe food avoidance was gaining attention and research into the disorder was limited. The online survey was aimed at adults who self-identified as current picky eaters to help understand their perceptions and experiences.

More than 19,200 people were included in the survey; 75% were female and 25% were male, and 89% were white. Respondents were asked to describe food presentation strategies used by their parents or caregivers that they found to be helpful or not helpful in increasing food variety.

Survey participants were subsequently classified as either likely having an ARFID diagnosis or not, based on their degree of impairment from food avoidance. Those who reported that eating problems led to significant weight loss, nutritional deficiency, interference with job functioning and/or interference with social relationships were categorized as likely having ARFID.

Interpreting the narrative responses from the huge cohort of participants created a logistical challenge, which was solved with the application of sophisticated artificial intelligence tools.

Using a computational tool to characterize the perceived helpfulness of parent feeding strategies, the researchers applied an algorithm to interpret the meaning and/or sentiment of survey responses to characterize them as helpful or not helpful.

"From a technical perspective, this study used an AI application that understands language, not just words and sentences, but concepts of paragraphs, which was imperative here," said J. Matías Di Martino, Ph.D., co-lead author with doctoral student Young Kyung Kim. Both are in Duke's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "By getting the positive and negative emotions, it enables us to analyze the comprehensive memories of nearly 20,000 people."

The researchers found that 39% of the themes regarding helpful strategies mention a positive emotional context, such as using food to teach cultural or nutritional lessons, being flexible about the approach to food, providing plenty of safe foods, helping with food preparation, or presenting foods from specific food groups.

Forty percent of the helpful comments noted the importance of structure around eating. Clearly defined expectations around eating were deemed to be helpful in the context of distinguishing between feeling "forced" vs. being asked to do something.

While positive and encouraging strategies were perceived as helpful in improving attitudes towards food and minimizing social discomfort around eating, many adults still struggled with a degree of avoidance/restriction. The researchers noted that parents are perceived as having a positive impact despite their children's food avoidance persisting into adulthood.

The researchers said survey participants clearly found some foods aversive, not merely unpleasant. This likely intensified their feeling of being trapped and made to do something disgusting if they were asked to eat that food.

"To our knowledge, there is no published research that identifies effective feeding strategies for those with ARFID," Zucker said. "Figuring out the best way to feed a child with severe food avoidance can be exhausting and stressful for parents, so providing guidance is essential to improve the social and emotional eating environment for their children and reduce the distress that both parents and children have at mealtimes."

In addition to Zucker, Sapiro, Di Martino and Kim, study authors include Julia Nicholas, Alannah Rivera-Cancel, Jennifer E. Wildes and Marsha D. Marcus.

The study received support from the National Institutes of Health (R01MH122370).

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Materials provided by Duke University Medical Center. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Children who eat a better diet, packed with fruit and vegetables, have better mental wellbeing

A new study published today is the first to investigate the association between fruit and vegetable intakes, breakfast and lunch choices, and mental wellbeing in UK school children.

It shows how eating more fruit and veg is linked with better wellbeing among secondary school pupils in particular. And children who consumed five or more portions of fruit and veg a day had the highest scores for mental wellbeing.

The study was led by UEA Health and Social Care Partners in collaboration with Norfolk County Council.

The research team say that public health strategies and school policies should be developed to ensure that good quality nutrition is available to all children before and during school to optimise mental wellbeing and empower children to fulfil their full potential.

Lead researcher Prof Ailsa Welch, from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said: "We know that poor mental wellbeing is a major issue for young people and is likely to have long-term negative consequences.

"The pressures of social media and modern school culture have been touted as potential reasons for a rising prevalence of low mental wellbeing in children and young people.

"And there is a growing recognition of the importance of mental health and wellbeing in early life -- not least because adolescent mental health problems often persist into adulthood, leading to poorer life outcomes and achievement.

"While the links between nutrition and physical health are well understood, until now, not much has been known about whether nutrition plays a part in children's emotional wellbeing. So, we set out to investigate the association between dietary choices and mental wellbeing among schoolchildren."

The research team studied data from almost 9,000 children in 50 schools across Norfolk (7,570 secondary and 1,253 primary school children) taken from the Norfolk children and Young People's Health and wellbeing Survey.

This survey was commissioned by the Public Health department of Norfolk County Council and the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board. It was open to all Norfolk schools during October 2017.

Children involved in the study self-reported their dietary choices and took part in age-appropriate tests of mental wellbeing that covered cheerfulness, relaxation, and having good interpersonal relationships.

Prof Welch said: "In terms of nutrition, we found that only around a quarter of secondary-school children and 28 per cent of primary-school children reported eating the recommended five-a-day fruits and vegetables. And just under one in ten children were not eating any fruits or vegetables.

"More than one in five secondary school children and one in 10 primary children didn't eat breakfast. And more than one in 10 secondary school children didn't eat lunch.

The team looked at the association between nutritional factors and mental wellbeing and took into account other factors that might have an impact -- such as adverse childhood experiences and home situations.

Dr Richard Hayhoe, also from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said: "We found that eating well was associated with better mental wellbeing in children. And that among secondary school children in particular, there was a really strong link between eating a nutritious diet, packed with fruit and vegetables, and having better mental wellbeing.

"We also found that the types of breakfast and lunch eaten by both primary and secondary school pupils were also significantly associated with wellbeing.

"Children who ate a traditional breakfast experienced better wellbeing than those who only had a snack or drink. But secondary school children who drank energy drinks for breakfast had particularly low mental wellbeing scores, even lower than for those children consuming no breakfast at all.

"According to our data, in a class of 30 secondary school pupils, around 21 will have consumed a conventional-type breakfast, and at least four will have had nothing to eat or drink before starting classes in the morning.

"Similarly, at least three pupils will go into afternoon classes without eating any lunch. This is of concern, and likely to affect not only academic performance at school but also physical growth and development.

"Another interesting thing that we found was that nutrition had as much or more of an impact on wellbeing as factors such as witnessing regular arguing or violence at home.

Prof Welch said: "As a potentially modifiable factor at an individual and societal level, nutrition represents an important public health target for strategies to address childhood mental wellbeing.

"Public health strategies and school policies should be developed to ensure that good quality nutrition is available to all children both before and during school in order to optimise mental wellbeing and empower children to fulfil their full potential.

Turning food waste back into food Fermenting used food can improve crop growth

There's a better end for used food than taking up space in landfills and contributing to global warming.

Riverside scientists have discovered fermented food waste can boost bacteria that increase crop growth, making plants more resistant to pathogens and reducing carbon emissions from farming.

"Beneficial microbes increased dramatically when we added fermented food waste to plant growing systems," said UCR microbiologist Deborah Pagliaccia, who led the research. "When there are enough of these good bacteria, they produce antimicrobial compounds and metabolites that help plants grow better and faster."

Since the plants in this experiment were grown in a greenhouse, the benefits of the waste products were preserved within a closed watering system. The plant roots received a fresh dose of the treatment each time they were watered.

"This is one of the main points of this research," Pagliaccia said. "To create a sustainable cycle where we save water by recycling it in a closed irrigation system and at the same time add a product from food waste that helps the crops with each watering cycle."

These results were recently described in a paper published in the journal Frontier in Sustainable Food Systems.

Food waste poses a serious threat to the planet. In the U.S. alone, as much as 50% of all food is thrown away. Most of this waste isn't recycled, but instead, takes up more than 20% of America's landfill volume.

This waste represents not only an economic loss, but a significant waste of freshwater resources used to produce food, and a misuse of what could otherwise feed millions of low-income people who struggle with food security.

To help combat these issues, the UCR research team looked for alternative uses for food waste. They examined the byproducts from two kinds of waste that is readily available in Southern California: beer mash -- a byproduct of beer production -- and mixed food waste discarded by grocery stores.

Both types of waste were fermented by River Road Research and then added to the irrigation system watering citrus plants in a greenhouse. Within 24 hours, the average population of beneficial bacteria were two to three orders of magnitude greater than in plants that did not receive the treatments, and this trend continued each time the researchers added treatments.

UCR environmental scientist Samantha Ying then studied nutrients such as carbon and nitrogen in the soil of the treated crops. Her analysis showed a spike in the amount of carbon after each waste product treatment, followed by a plateau, suggesting the beneficial bacteria used the available carbon to replicate.

Pagliaccia explained that this finding has an impact on the growth of the bacteria and on the crops themselves. "If waste byproducts can improve the carbon to nitrogen ratio in crops, we can leverage this information to optimize production systems," she said.

Another finding of note is that neither the beer mash nor the mixed food waste products tested positive for Salmonella or other pathogenic bacteria, suggesting they would not introduce any harmful element to food crops.

"There is a pressing need to develop novel agricultural practices," said UCR plant pathologist and study co-author Georgios Vidalakis. "California's citrus, in particular, is facing historical challenges such as Huanglongbing bacterial disease and limited water availability," said Georgios Vidalakis, a UCR plant pathologist.

The paper's results suggest using these two types of food waste byproducts in agriculture is beneficial and could complement the use synthetic chemical additives by farmers -- in some cases relieving the use of such additives altogether. Crops would in turn become less expensive.

Pagliaccia and Ying also recently received a California Department of Food and Agriculture grant to conduct similar experiments using almond shell byproducts from Corigin Solutions to augment crops. This project is also supported with funding from the California Citrus Nursery Board, Corigin Solutions, and by the California Agriculture and Food Enterprise.

"Forging interdisciplinary research collaborations and building public-private sector partnerships will help solve the challenges facing global agri-food systems," said UCR co-author Norman Ellstrand, a distinguished professor of genetics.

When companies enable growers to use food waste byproducts for agricultural purposes, it helps move society toward a more eco-friendly system of consumption.

"We must transition from our linear 'take-make-consume-dispose' economy to a circular one in which we use something and then find a new purpose for it. This process is critical to protecting our planet from constant depletion of natural resources and the threat of greenhouse gases," Pagliaccia said. "That is the story of this project."

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Materials provided by University of California - Riverside. Original written by Jules Bernstein. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Carrots are healthy, but active enzyme unlocks full benefits

Carrots are a good source of beta-carotene, which is a precursor of vitamin A. But to get the full health benefits of this superfood, you need an active enzyme to produce this vitamin.

Beta-carotene is the bioactive compound that gives carrots their orange color. Studies with humans and mice show the conversion of beta-carotene to vitamin A reduces "bad" cholesterol in the blood. Thus, beta-carotene can help protect against atherosclerosis development, which leads to the accumulation of fats and cholesterol in our arteries. Atherosclerosis cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of death worldwide, says Jaume Amengual, assistant professor of personalized nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at University of Illinois.

Amengual and his colleagues conducted two studies to further understand the effects of beta-carotene on cardiovascular health. They confirmed its importance, but identified a critical step in the process.

Beta-carotene converts to vitamin A with the help of an enzyme called beta-carotene oxygenase 1 (BCO1). A genetic variation determines if you have a more or less active version of BCO1. People with a less active enzyme could need other sources for vitamin A in their diet, Amengual says.

The first study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, analyzed blood and DNA samples from 767 healthy young adults aged 18 to 25. As expected the researchers found a correlation between BCO1 activity and bad cholesterol level.

"People who had a genetic variant associated with making the enzyme BCO1 more active had lower cholesterol in their blood. That was our first observation," Amengual notes.

To follow up on these findings, Amengual and his colleagues conducted a second study, published in the Journal of Lipid Research, using mice.

"In the human study, we saw that cholesterol was higher in people who do not produce much vitamin A. To know if that observation has an effect in the long run, we would have to wait 70 years to see if they develop cardiovascular. In real life, that is not doable. That's why we use animals for certain studies, so we can speed up the process," he explains.

"The main findings of the mice study reproduce what we found in humans. We saw that when we give beta-carotene to mice, they have lower cholesterol levels. These mice develop smaller atherosclerosis lesions, or plaques, in their arteries. This means that mice fed beta-carotene are more protected against atherosclerosis than those fed a diet without this bioactive compound," Amengual states.

In the second study, the researchers also investigated the biochemical pathways of these processes, determining where in the body the effect occurs.

"We narrow it down to the liver as the organ in charge of producing and secreting lipoproteins to the bloodstream, including those lipoproteins known as bad cholesterol. We observed that in mice with high levels of vitamin A, the secretion of lipids into the bloodstream slows down," Amengual notes.

Understanding how the BCO1 enzyme relates to cholesterol has important implications. Typically, high beta-carotene levels in the blood are associated with health benefits. But it could also be a sign of a less active BCO1 enzyme that is not converting the beta-carotene we eat into vitamin A.

Up to 50% of the population have the less-active variant of the enzyme, Amengual notes. That means their body is slower at producing vitamin A from a plant source, and they could need to get this nutrient directly from an animal source such as milk, or cheese, for example.