‘You can’t build muscle as a vegan’ – and 13 other plant-based myths, busted

From theguardian.com

Veganism: boring and expensive but always the most ethical choice, right? Wrong, say our experts, who tackle misconceptions about plant-based eating 

You can’t build muscle on a vegan diet

FALSE
While plenty of vegan athletes and bodybuilders share their diets online, some elite sports people find they need to add animal products to their previously strict plant-based regimes. Venus Williams calls herself a “chegan” (cheating vegan) and Novak Djokovic reportedly started eating fish to help his muscles recover after elbow surgery.

“Protein is something vegans need to think about” says Reena Sharma, AKA the Vegan Dietitian, who has been vegan for six years. “But most people in the west, vegan or not, exceed their protein requirements anyway.” Plant-based foods don’t usually contain all nine essential amino acids – the building blocks for muscle growth, which also play a role in immune, digestion, hormone and neurological systems. “But combined with other plant foods – like a peanut butter sandwich or hummus with pitta – they can.”

                                                     Illustration by Edith Pritchett for the Guardian

Humans are designed to eat meat

TRUE
But we’re also designed to eat plants. “Humans have been omnivores since the beginning of time because we can digest both plants and animals,” says Sharma. “However, we don’t have typical carnivore features such as sharp teeth and claws, potentially indicating we are more suited to plants.”

Vegan options are always healthiest

FALSE
“Once, that probably was true,” says Dr Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop? “Now, it’s very often not. A vegan diet can be very healthy. If we compare two meals prepared in a domestic setting with fresh ingredients, the vegan one will often be healthier because it is likely to contain more vegetables and less saturated fat. But many modern vegan foods, like sausage rolls and burgers, are seen as healthier than their meat equivalent, whereas I’d say they’re just as bad. They’re high in salt, often high in sugar and fat, and contain additives that, according to some evidence, are harmful.”

Being vegan is good for the environment

TRUE
“The science is clear,” says Rob Percival, head of policy at the Soil Association and author of The Meat Paradox. “The average vegan diet does less harm to the environment than the average omnivorous diet, and will typically have a smaller land use footprint and contribute less to global heating.” What about fruits and vegetables grown on deforested land, like coconut, soy, avocados and almonds? “Fruits and vegetables can, in the wrong context, exhaust soils, exacerbate water shortages and rely on fossil energy.”

Nonetheless, most foods in the average plant-based diet will still be comparatively environmentally friendly, he says: “Two-thirds of the meat consumed in the UK is intensively farmed, where animals live in poor conditions and are fed on crops grown using industrial agrochemicals. The waste produced often contributes to nutrient pollution, killing our rivers. The miserable conditions animals endure can lead to zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial resistance.”

Vegan food is the more ethical choice

FALSE
Not necessarily, says Alicia Kennedy, author of No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating. “I think a lot about things like cashew cheese. Producing cashews often involves terrible working conditions. It’s both troubling and counterproductive that some vegans will like anything so long as it’s vegan. Human rights abuses don’t come into it.”

                                                                  Illustration by Edith Pritchett for the Guardian

Vegan food is boring

FALSE
“Plant-based eating is incredibly diverse,” says Ian Theasby, co-founder of Bosh!, a popular plant-based online channel, cookbook and food brand, who has been vegan for 10 years. “Eating out as a vegan is easier than ever – there’s been a noticeable surge in restaurants offering vegan options.”
Chef Chantelle Nicholson is famous for her plant-based cooking at Apricity in London, where menus include fig-leaf panna cotta and miso-roasted cabbage with sambal slaw. “We recently cooked at Wilderness festival”, she says. “Five of the courses in our seven-course tasting menu were totally plant-based, and I’m not sure any of the guests noticed.”

A vegan diet is bad for children

FALSE
“A well-planned vegan diet can support people at every stage of life,” says Chloe Hall of the British Dietetics Association. However, research by University College London showed that while, on average, vegan children have lower “bad” cholesterol, they are also 3-4cm shorter than their omnivorous peers, with 4-6 % lower bone density (probably due to lower calcium intake) and a higher chance of B12 deficiency.

As with all such studies, averages are useful only up to a point. Whether a child (or adult) thrives on a vegan diet is individual and contextual, depending on their openness to vegetables, legumes or tofu, and the capacity parents, carers and schools have for meal planning and prep.

Being vegan is expensive

MOSTLY FALSE
“People think eating plant-based foods means buying plant-based products, as though if you’re vegan, you have to buy Impossible burgers, Beyond sausages and vegan eggs, rather than simply eating most of the foods human beings eat anyway,” says Kennedy.

Recent research by Which? showed that many supermarkets charge a premium for their plant-based versions of ready-made foods, with vegan sausages costing up to twice as much as meat, burgers 20p-30p more per 100g and vegan mayo up to 50% more. “That does a disservice to veganism and gives it a reputation for being expensive and inaccessible.” Some vegans report needing to eat more, and more often, which can get expensive. There are dozens of Reddit threads from new vegans asking for advice on how to feel full.

Plant milks are bad for you

FALSE
“Plant milks do have a hierarchy,” says Sharma. “If you’re looking for those that most resemble cow’s milk in terms of protein, soy is the best. The level of processing varies – some are made with just water plus the bean, grain, seed or nut, but others will contain additional ingredients such as sweeteners, flavours and stabilisers. None of these is bad for you, but limit your intake of those with added sugars.”

Pets can easily be fed vegan food

UNCLEAR
While dogs are omnivores, cats are obligate carnivores: they can digest plants, but can’t get all the nutrients they need from them. “Research suggests it’s not possible to form a complete vegan or vegetarian diet for cats,” says Anna Judson, president of the British Veterinary Association.

Regulators recently gave permission for a company called Meatly to put its lab-grown meat in pet food for the first time.

Vegans need to take supplements

FALSE
“A vegan diet is likely to be low in vitamin B12, iodine and selenium, so it is important to eat foods fortified with these or to supplement in adequate amounts,” says Hall. B12 is found in fortified cereals, iodine in seaweed and selenium in brazil nuts, tofu and some legumes.

“Iron from plants is not efficiently absorbed by the body, so with a poorly planned vegan diet, a lower intake is more likely,” says Sharma. “But our bodies are good at adjusting, and the less we have stored in the body the more we can absorb from food.”

Calcium is another worry: Hall says vegans should eat plenty of “calcium-fortified plant-based dairy alternatives, calcium-set tofu, fortified breads and cereals, and vegetables like okra and watercress.”

Female vegans should be careful about soy

PROBABLY FALSE
In the late 1990s, concerns started to grow about the potential oestrogenic and anti-oestrogenic effects of soy isoflavones, particularly in relation to breast cancer and mainly after animal and in vitro studies. Studies and counter studies on humans have since looked at its effect on cholesterol, heart health, dementia, the thyroid and cancer. The consensus today is that eating soy is probably not linked to breast cancer, and may even be protective; that any hormonal impacts (which are still not well understood) depend on the amount of oestrogen already in your body, and your age; and that any impact on health will still be either positive or neutral.

“So the opposite may be true,” says Hall. “Some research that looks at soy during menopause, has indicated that it may help to reduce hot flushes and the risk of osteoporosis.”

Vegans can’t drink beer or wine

FALSE
“If this were true, I would be gutted,” says Sharma. “Fortunately, it’s not. A lot of beer, cider and wine is filtered using fish bones or swim bladders, egg whites or gelatine, but there are many vegan alcoholic drinks, and they’re getting much easier to find – thank goodness.” Vegan drinks generally say so on the label (almost all spirits are vegan).

Vegan leather is the most sustainable choice

IT’S COMPLICATED
Although vegan leather has a lower carbon footprint, it’s often made from plastics like polyurethane or PVC. Some critics say the reframing of petroleum-based materials as greener than natural ones has been one of fast fashion’s greatest achievements. That said, animal leather production has a high carbon footprint and causes water pollution, but then plastic leather doesn’t biodegrade and can release microplastics.

One solution could be plant-based leathers, made from pineapple, mango, cactus or corn, but they’re so new there’s little data on their sustainability, and they can be expensive. Better maybe to reuse (rather than recycle) existing materials: Inflatable Amnesty makes colourful totes and bumbags from pool toys and paddling pools; Crackpacs turns old tents and adventure gear into backpacks; and Elvis & Kresse uses old fire engine hoses and leather discards (from Burberry) to make high-end laptop cases, wallets and belts.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/sep/28/vegan-plant-based-myths-busted-by-experts

Is Almond Milk Bad for the Environment? And How Does It Compare to Cow’s Milk?

From vegnews.com

Actually how bad is almond milk for the environment? It turns out, it’s a complex question

Nowadays, milk can be made out of most plant-based ingredients (that’s not an exaggeration, even potato milk is a thing). And, while cow’s milk used to be most people’s go-to for cereal, coffee, and smoothies, consumers are embracing the vegan milk revolution. In fact, by 2028, the plant-based dairy market is set to exceed $31 billion in value. And in 2020, research revealed that more than 40 percent of Americans regularly purchase vegan milk.

This is all good news for the animals. After all, the dairy industry raises billions of animals, most of whom live in industrialized conditions on factory farms. But is it good news for the planet? Almond milk, in particular, has a bad reputation when it comes to environmental impact. But it’s also one of the most popular milk alternatives on the market. So what do you need to be aware of next time you’re browsing the plant-based milk selection in the grocery store? Should you still grab the almond milk? Let’s dive in.

What is almond milk?

Almond milk features a mix of ground almonds and water. It is thinner and more watery than other plant-based milks on the market (oat milk, for example, is known for being quite thick and creamy), and, as you might expect, it has quite a nutty flavour. The biggest producer of almond milk is California, which is responsible for around 80 percent of the world’s almonds and 100 percent of those exported inside the US.

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Is almond milk bad for the environment?

Over the last few years, almond milk has hit the headlines quite a few times, and not all of the coverage has been positive. Many have questioned whether the plant-based alternative is really that good for the environment, and that’s largely because almonds are a very, very thirsty crop.

Just one small almond, grown in California, has a water footprint of around 3.2 gallons, according to one 2017 study. It sounds like a lot (because it is), but it’s not unusual for nuts to need a lot of water to grow. One pistachio, for example, still needs more than a gallon. But one of the biggest issues with almonds specifically is that they are extremely high in demand, and their production is concentrated in one area: California’s Central Valley. In fact, more than 450,000 acres of the San Joaquin Valley and the Sacramento Valley are dedicated to almond cultivation.

Having such a thirsty crop in one spot in California is tricky because the state is prone to droughts. According to the National Irregated Drought Information System, more than 33 million Californians are currently affected by droughts, and last year was the driest year on record.

So to produce almonds, farmers have no choice but to find other sources of water. Like most trees, they will die without it. But this means that California’s groundwater sources are being depleted, according to World Water Reserve. But it’s difficult to estimate just how bad the problem is. “Groundwater volume is notoriously difficult to estimate,” notes the online resource, which is dedicated to helping people learn about water security. “In theory, California could have plenty of groundwater at its disposal, or it could be on the verge of completely running out.”

Another issue with almond cultivation is its impact on the bees. Almond trees rely on cross-pollination, which requires pollinators, namely bees. But the fertilizer used on the crops is extremely toxic to the insects. “The bees in the almond groves are being exploited and disrespected,” one organic beekeeper, called Patrick Pynes, told The Guardian in 2020. “They are in severe decline because our human relationship to them has become so destructive.”

All of this paints quite a bleak picture of a humble glass of almond milk. But it’s not all bad. When it comes to emissions, this plant-based beverage actually has one of the smallest footprints of the whole alternative milk industry. This is because like all trees, almond trees sequester carbon as they grow. According to the Yale School of the Environment, one kilogram of almonds emits less than one kilogram of carbon emissions. 

“Almond orchards capture and store a significant amount of carbon both above and below the surface over their 25-year lifecycle,” said Alissa Kendall, who worked on the research, which was published in Yale’s Journal of Industrial Ecology in 2015. “This carbon storage provides a climate benefit not considered in conventional carbon footprints.”

Dairy and the environment

Almonds have their issues, there is no denying it. But if you choose almond milk over dairy in the grocery store, you’re still making a better choice for the environment. And that’s because all plant-based milks, almond included, are better for the planet than cow’s milk. In fact, according to the biggest one glass of dairy milk produces three times more greenhouse house gasses than any plant-based milk, and requires nine times more land. To sustain one dairy cow for one day, it also takes between 30 to 50 gallons of milk.

In 2018, the biggest-ever food production analysis, conducted at Oxford University, concluded that giving up dairy and meat was the single biggest way a person could reduce their impact on the environment. Doing so would reduce global farmland use by 75 percent.

“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gasses, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use, and water use,” lead researcher Joseph Poore told The Guardian at the time. “It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car.”

“Agriculture is a sector that spans a multitude of environmental problems. Really it is animal products that are responsible for so much of this. Avoiding consumption of animal products delivers far better environmental benefits than trying to purchase sustainable meat and dairy,” he added.

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Can you drink almond milk sustainably?

If you really love almond milk, there are ways to improve your consumption. B Corp certifications, for example, are proof that a brand meets high standards of social and environmental performance. London plant-based milk brand Rude Health—which makes almond milk with nuts sourced from Sicily, not California—is a certified B Corp. Colorado-based vegan milk brand Silk has also received a B Corp certification.

Another option is to rotate the milk you buy, so you’re not opting for almond milk every time. Consider switching up your grocery store shop every few weeks to include oat milk, for example, which requires less water than many other plant-based milks on the market. Soy milk is another option, as it also has a lower water footprint.

But you also don’t have to buy into the almond milk market at all. If you’ve got the time, the energy, and the means, you could source some organic almonds, and make your own almond milk at home. If this sounds appealing, we’ve got the best (and easiest) almond milk recipe here. 

https://vegnews.com/vegan-news/is-almond-milk-bad-environment-compare-cow-milk

 

Vegan Diet 44 Percent Better for the Environment Than Mediterranean Diet, Study Finds

From vegnews.com

A new study found that a vegan diet is better for the environment than a Mediterranean diet—and eliminating animal products is what makes the difference

Eating a vegan diet is more beneficial for the environment than eating a Mediterranean diet, according to new research published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 

For the study, the researchers aimed to compare two well-planned diets, the Mediterranean diet and the vegan diet, both of which are considered healthy and environmentally friendly, to determine how they differ in their environmental impacts. 

They pointed out that the two diets are similar in that they both emphasize plant-based foods (vegetables, grains, legumes, fruit, nuts, and oil). The only qualitative difference between the two diets is that the animal protein foods of the Mediterranean diet are replaced with plant proteins in the vegan diet. 

How do animal products impact the environment?

For the study, the researchers used the Life Cycle Assessment, a method to evaluate the environmental footprint of a product. The two diets that were assessed shared the same macronutrient rates and covered all the nutritional recommendations. Calculations were made on the basis of a theoretical one week diet based on 2,000 calories per day. 

Unsplash/Mary West

Specifically, the researchers assessed the impact of the two selected diets based on the “farm to table” method, which includes all the processes involved in the foods’ production such as agricultural production, transport, processing, packaging, and home preparation. 

The researchers found that the vegan diet had 44 percent less total environmental impact when compared to the Mediterranean diet. The authors say that even modest consumption of animal products plays a critical role in damaging human and environmental health.

“This result clearly supports the concept that meat and dairy consumption plays a critical role, above all, in terms of damage to human health and ecosystems,” the researchers said in the study. 

The study showed that even 10 percent of calories derived from animal products were responsible for about half of the global impact of the Mediterranean diet, with meat showing the largest contribution (around 30 percent), despite the small amount included in this particular diet. 

“Our study supports the thesis that even a minimal-to-moderate content of animal foods has a consistent impact on the environmental footprint of a diet, and their reduction can elicit significant ecological benefits,” the researchers said. 

Their calculations also showed that legumes were 84 percent lower than mixed meat in terms of impact, and soy milk’s total impact was 79 percent lower than cow’s milk. 

“Diet has an impact on both health and the ecosystem. In our work, we have compared two sustainable diets with very similar nutrient compositions but with substantial differences in their total environmental impacts. The replacement of a small calorie quota (10.6 percent) represented by animal foods with plant foods showed significant improvement in the total environmental impact, especially for ecosystems and human health,” the study concluded.

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“This suggests that the more plant-based the diet is, the less it will impact the environment,” the researchers said. “This information is noteworthy in light of how many countries show a diet rich in animal foods and how much this represents a global risk to sustainability.”

Vegan diet beats out Mediterranean for weight loss

Previous research comparing the two diets also shows that a vegan diet has better outcomes than a Mediterranean diet for weight loss, insulin sensitivity, and cholesterol levels. A study published in 2021 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that a low-fat, plant-based diet is superior in achieving weight loss when compared to a standard Mediterranean diet.

The study found that participants lost an average of approximately 13 pounds on the vegan diet, compared with no mean change on the Mediterranean diet.

Adobe Stock

“While many people think of the Mediterranean diet as one of the best ways to lose weight, the diet actually crashed and burned when we put it to the test,” study author Neal Barnard, MD, president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, said in a statement at the time. 

“In a randomized, controlled trial, the Mediterranean diet caused no weight loss at all,” he said. “The problem seems to be the inclusion of fatty fish, dairy products, and oils. In contrast, a low-fat vegan diet caused significant and consistent weight loss.”

https://vegnews.com/vegan-news/environment/vegan-diet-environment-mediterranean-diet-study