From vegconomist.com
The German Nutrition Society (DGE), the country’s most influential body on nutrition policy, has revised its official position on vegan nutrition and declared that a vegan diet is extremely environmentally friendly and can be beneficial to health.
In its new position on vegan nutrition, for the first time, the organisation considers the environment, animal welfare, and social issues as objectives of a more sustainable diet alongside health. This has decisive consequences: the professional organisation for nutrition, whose recommendations largely shape communal catering and nutritional advice in Germany, has moved away from its negative stance.
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“This new position ushers in a new era in nutrition policy in Germany,” comments Anna-Lena Klapp, International Nutrition and Health Lead at ProVeg.
“Together with the recently updated DGE guidelines, the new position makes it clear that the entire spectrum of plant-based eating styles, from flexitarian to vegan, contributes to solving our nutritional problems.”
What has changed in DGE’s position on vegan nutrition?
The paper states, “For the first time, all four target dimensions of a more sustainable diet (health, environment, social and animal welfare) were taken into account in the reassessment of the DGE position on vegan nutrition, focussing on the dimensions of health and environment. In the target dimension of health, the previous position papers mainly considered the supply of nutrients. Now, other health-related parameters (e.g. blood lipid levels) and the risk of diet-related diseases (e.g. cardiovascular diseases) have also been included to a greater extent in the assessment.
“Based on the current state of knowledge, the DGE has come to new assessments in its re-evaluation: for the healthy adult general population, a vegan diet, in addition to other diets, can also represent a health-promoting diet, provided that a vitamin B12 supplement is taken, a balanced, well-planned food selection is made and the intake of potentially critical nutrients is sufficient to meet requirements (possibly also through other nutrient supplements).”
Environmental & health benefits
Meat and milk are among the foods that have the greatest impact on the climate: in Germany alone, animal agriculture is responsible for around 70 percent of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. This is highly relevant in terms of nutritional policy – and for the first time, the DGE has also come to the same conclusion: it calls a vegan diet a recommendable measure to reduce the environmental impact of our food system.
“According to calculations, a vegan diet can more than halve diet-related emissions compared to a mixed diet,” explains Klapp.
According to ProVeg, numerous studies have impressively demonstrated the preventive potential of a vegan diet for healthy adults. More and more nutritional societies around the world are therefore classifying it as a healthy diet that can reduce the risk of many diseases of civilisation. “Among other things, a vegan diet can prevent widespread cardiovascular diseases and the ‘widespread disease’ of obesity,” explains Klapp. The DGE also agrees with this in its new position paper. The assessment applies to healthy adults who take vitamin B12, ensure sufficient iodine intake, and eat a balanced diet.
With regard to children, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and senior citizens, the DGE is more cautious and refers to the limited number of studies. It cannot “make a clear recommendation for or against a vegan diet”. Although numerous studies on vegan diets have been published in recent years, ProVeg also misses well-founded studies on these population groups as well as on athletes. “Competent counselling services are also needed for the relevant multipliers,” notes Klapp.
The DGE also expressly emphasises that a vegan diet is not expensive. Rather, healthy eating generally poses challenges for low-income households. This needs to change and requires political measures such as a targeted adjustment of VAT. ProVeg is also calling for this because: “When it comes to healthy, sustainable nutrition, national and international experts agree that plant-based foods should be favoured,” explains Klapp.
Communal catering
The positions of the DGE play a decisive role in communal catering in particular and are well received. Among other things, they influence menu planning in company canteens and at universities and schools. ProVeg Food Services has been running targeted training courses with kitchen teams for many years, in which the organisation communicates the potential of vegan meals for reducing emissions and preventing health problems, as well as techniques and recipes.
“I am delighted that the DGE is now also making it clear that those who opt for a plant-based meal more often are doing themselves and the environment a lot of good,” explains Katleen Haefele, Director of Corporate & Institutional Engagement at ProVeg. “Communal catering should firmly anchor well-planned plant-based meals in its range.”
ProVeg nutrition expert Anna-Lena Klapp says: “The revised position of the DGE is characterised by a much greater balance and clearly emphasises the benefits of a vegan diet, that is solution-oriented.”
Read the full statement from the DGE here: https://www.dge.de/gesunde-ernaehrung/faq/faqs-vegane-ernaerung/
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