Research briefing: A comparison between animal-based and plant-based foods

In this article, Researcher Network member Gurmeet Kaur Matharu makes a comparison between animal-based and plant-based foods, to conclude that plant-based foods have higher nutritional value, more dietary uses, reduced environmental impacts and are more affordable than meat-based foods.

Our food is animal-based or plant-based. Animal-based food comprises meat, fish and dairy. Of these, meat-based food is the most contentious, because red meat has an excessively high carbon footprint (Berners-Lee, 2011) and is regarded by some as unhealthy (World Cancer Research Fund, 2018). Moreover, red meat (e.g. beef, mutton, pork, lamb and goat) followed by white meat (e.g. chickens and turkeys) are thought to be the most valued centrepieces for a meal. In contrast, other animal-based foods (e.g. fish and dairy) are supposed to be less valued and central components (Grassian, 2019b). Meat-based and plant-based foods are very different in terms of their nature, nutritional characteristics, dietary uses, aspects in consumption, and production impacts. I have discussed these differences in the table below.

Table. Comparison of meat-based and plant-based foods

	Meat-based food	Plant-based food
Description	Meat is derived from the flesh of animals (Grassian, 2019a).	Foods derived from plants, including whole grains, legumes, beans, peas, nuts/seeds, fruits and vegetables (Harray, 2018)
Nutritional characteristics	provides a source of protein and essential amino acids such as valine, threonine, leucine, tryptophan and lysine and other essential nutrients such as iron, calcium, zinc, phosphorus, choline and vitamin B12 (Frank, Oytam, & Hughes, 2017) high content of cholesterol and saturated fatty acids (Adair & Bowden, 2020) meat consumers have a high level of body mass index (BMI) due to high animal fat, low dietary fibre and high alcohol (Appleby, Thorogood, Mann, & Key, 1998), which leads to obesity (Kennedy, Bowman, Spence, Freedman, & King, 2001) animal protein induces hyperfiltration, resulting in declining kidney function (Simon et al., 1998)	vegetarian diets provide all nutrients such as amino acids, iron, vitamin B12, calcium, vitamin D and zinc if diets are suitably planned (Messina & Burke, 1997) pulses (pea, chickpea, lentil and bean) provide energy, dietary fibre, proteins, vitamins and minerals (Boye, Zare, & Pletch, 2010) soybeans and other legumes have high proteins delivering energy (Sabate & Soret, 2014) plant-based diets are low in saturated fat, cholesterol and animal protein, and have a high concentration of folate (Messina & Burke, 1997) vegetarians have a lower mean body mass index, low fat level and low blood pressure (Appleby et al., 1998) whole grains are high in fibre, rich in antioxidant nutrients and phytochemicals and low in fat (Dwyer, 1999) might lead to decreased intake of vitamin B12, choline, folate and calcium (Chen, Chaudhary, & Mathys, 2019)
Dietary uses	helps manage iron deficiency and low red blood cell count, as meat such as beef, chicken liver, pork, salmon and tuna are rich in iron (Zlotkin, 2003) provides nutritious elements such as vitamins, minerals; red meat provides protein, zinc and iron (Jackson, Lee-Woolf, Higginson, Wallace, & Agathou, 2009) a diet rich in meat causes oral cancer (Campbell & Campbell, 2012) high blood pressure and hypertension (Campbell & Campbell, 2012) meat-eaters consume less dietary fibre, are more likely to be alcohol drinkers and are less likely to have a high level of exercise (Appleby et al., 1998)	prevents, treats, and in some cases, reverses many diseases such as hypertension and type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer and oral cancer (Campbell & Campbell, 2012), obesity and type 2 diabetes (Wright, Wilson, Smith, Duncan, & McHugh, 2017), coronary artery disease and gallstones, kidney stones, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcers and cataracts (Campbell, Campbell, & Hahn, 2012; Esselstyn Jr, Gendy, Doyle, Golubic, & Roizen, 2014); chronic kidney disease (Adair & Bowden, 2020), and autoimmune disease (Fuhrman, Sarter, & Calabro, 2002) helps avoid medications, facilitates achieving and maintaining a healthier weight, lowers cholesterol, lowers blood pressure, lowers blood sugar (Permanente, 2013) extends healthy life expectancy (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2016)
Other aspects of consumption	expresses masculinity (Sobal, 2005), strength, social status, prosperity and prestige, a symbol of achievement and power (Fiddles, 1991) part of family traditions and culture (Raphaely & Marinova, 2016) is becoming cheaper and more readily available in some countries (de Boer, Schösler, & Aiking, 2017) debates about meat carry more emotion than any other diet (Holm & Møhl, 2000) contributes to consumer anxiety around an increase in chronic diseases from meat consumption, as well as the release of GHGs from livestock production (Laestadius, Neff, Barry, & Frattaroli, 2013) viewed by many as essential to the contemporary western diet (Frank et al., 2017) despite the abundance of alternative food choices (Marinova & Bogueva, 2019)	is more affordable than meat (Permanente, 2013), which leads to economic savings (Chen et al., 2019) the popularity of vegan athletes such as Carl Lewis, Venus Williams and David Haye dispel the myth about meat and strength (Marinova & Bogueva, 2019)
Environmental impacts of production	causes ecosystem degradation, including acidification of soil and water, eutrophication of global ecosystems, deforestation, groundwater pollution (by nitrates), freshwater extraction and climate change (Willett et al., 2019) produces more GHGs (Sharma, Nguyen, & Grote, 2018); a high quantity of meat (>100 g per day) produces 2.5 times more GHGs than an average 2,000 kcal vegan diet (Scarborough et al., 2014); beef production is detrimental as it creates 12, 6 and 50 times more GHGs, needs 290, 295 and 117 times extra land and 8, 4 and 40 times excess water than potatoes, rice and wheat, respectively (Eshel, Shepon, Makov, & Milo, 2014) food security and food sustainability are colliding as 1 in 7 people today eat diets that lack protein and energy, and 2 in 7 suffer from micronutrient deficiency (Sabate & Soret, 2014)	reduces GHG emissions and conserves water, cropland and energy resources (Blas, Garrido, & Willaarts, 2018; Chen et al., 2019)
Other issues in production	over 90% of farmed animals live their lives on factory farmhouses where animals are kept in enclosures (Anthis, 2019), regularly harmed without anaesthetics and slaughtered painfully (Bryant, 2019) exploitation of land, water, vegetation and minerals because of longer chains through plant – animal – human rather than plant – human (Marinova & Bogueva, 2019) feed production and processing, and enteric fermentation from ruminants emit 45% and 39% emissions, respectively (Gerber et al., 2013) transportation of live animals, processed products to retailers, refrigeration during transport and manufacture of packaging (Gerber et al., 2013)	monocultures reduce biodiversity and can lead to plant pathogens and diseases, and with time, the land’s mineral value decrease (Chapagain & Riseman, 2015) genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food may pose health risks such as cancer risks due to high pesticide residues, resistance to antibiotics and the possibility of creating new allergens (Hug, 2008) GMOs in food cause environmental problems such as poisonousness of gene products can cause an adverse effect on fed animals (Bertoni & Marsan, 2005)

On the whole, plant-based foods appear to have higher nutritional value, more dietary uses, reduced environmental impacts and are more affordable than meat-based foods.

References

Adair, K. E., & Bowden, R. G. (2020). Ameliorating chronic kidney disease using a whole food plant-based diet. Nutrients, 12(4), 1007.

Anthis, K. (2019). Sentience Institute. Global Farmed Factory Farmed Animals Estimates. Retrieved from https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/global-animal-farming-estimates

Appleby, P., Thorogood, M., Mann, J., & Key, T. (1998). Low body mass index in non-meat eaters: the possible roles of animal fat, dietary fibre and alcohol. International Journal of Obesity, 22(5), 454-460.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2016). Australian Burden of Disease Study: Impact and causes of illness and death in Australia 2011. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/burden-of-disease/abds-impact-and-causes-of-illness-death-2011/contents/highli...

Berners-Lee, M. (2011). How bad are bananas?: the carbon footprint of everything: Greystone Books.

Bertoni, G., & Marsan, P. A. (2005). Safety risks for animals fed genetic modified (GM) plants. Veterinary Research Communications, 29(2), 13-18.

Blas, A., Garrido, A., & Willaarts, B. (2018). Food consumption and waste in Spanish households: Water implications within and beyond national borders. Ecological Indicators, 89, 290-300.

Boye, J., Zare, F., & Pletch, A. (2010). Pulse proteins: Processing, characterization, functional properties and applications in food and feed. Food Research International, 43(2), 414-431.

Bryant, C. J. (2019). We can’t keep meating like this: Attitudes towards vegetarian and vegan diets in the United Kingdom. Sustainability, 11(6844), 1-17.

Campbell, T., Campbell, C., & Hahn, H. (2012). The Breadth of Evidence Favoring a Whole Foods, Plant-based Diet: Part II: Malignancy and Inflammatory Diseases. Primary Care Reports, 18(3), 25-35.

Campbell, T. M., & Campbell, T. C. (2012). The breadth of evidence favoring a whole foods, plant-based diet, part I: metabolic diseases and diseases of aging. Primary Care Reports, 18(2), 13-23.

Chapagain, T., & Riseman, A. (2015). Nitrogen and carbon transformations, water use efficiency and ecosystem productivity in monocultures and wheat-bean intercropping systems. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, 101(1), 107-121.

Chen, C., Chaudhary, A., & Mathys, A. (2019). Dietary change scenarios and implications for environmental, nutrition, human health and economic dimensions of food sustainability. Nutrients, 11(856), 1-21.

de Boer, J., Schösler, H., & Aiking, H. (2017). Towards a reduced meat diet: Mindset and motivation of young vegetarians, low, medium and high meat-eaters. Appetite, 113, 387-397.

Dwyer, J. (1999). Convergence of plant-rich and plant-only diets. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 70(3), 620s-622s.

Eshel, G., Shepon, A., Makov, T., & Milo, R. (2014). Land, irrigation water, greenhouse gas, and reactive nitrogen burdens of meat, eggs, and dairy production in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(33), 11996-12001.

Esselstyn Jr, C. B., Gendy, G., Doyle, J., Golubic, M., & Roizen, M. F. (2014). A way to reverse CAD? Journal of Family Practice, 63(7), 356-364.

Fiddles, N. (1991). Meat: a natural symbol. London, UK: Routledge.

Frank, D., Oytam, Y., & Hughes, J. (2017). Sensory perceptions and new consumer attitudes to meat. In New aspects of meat quality (pp. 667-698): Elsevier.

Fuhrman, J., Sarter, B., & Calabro, D. J. (2002). Brief case reports of medically supervised, water-only fasting associated with remission of autoimmune disease. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 8(4), 111-112.

Gerber, P. J., Steinfeld, H., Henderson, B., Mottet, A., Opio, C., Dijkman, J., . . . Tempio, G. (2013). Tackling climate change through livestock: a global assessment of emissions and mitigation opportunities: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),Rome.

Grassian, D. T. (2019a). A New Way of Eating: Creating Meat Reducers, Vegetarians and Vegans. (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Thesis ). University of Kent, Canterbury.

Grassian, T. (2019b). Food policy—Where does environmental nutrition fit in? In Environmental nutrition (pp. 263-284): Elsevier.

Harray, A. J. (2018). Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Behaviours in Western Australian Adults. (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Thesis ). Curtin University, Sydney.

Holm, L., & Møhl, M. (2000). The role of meat in everyday food culture: an analysis of an interview study in Copenhagen. Appetite, 34(3), 277-283.

Hug, K. (2008). Genetically modified organisms: do the benefits outweigh the risks? Medicina, 44(2), 87-99.

Jackson, B., Lee-Woolf, C., Higginson, F., Wallace, J., & Agathou, N. (2009). Strategies for reducing the climate impacts of red meat/dairy consumption in the UK. Retrieved from https://www.fcrn.org.uk/sites/default/files/WWF_Reducing_climate_impact_of_red_meat_and_dairy_consumption.pdf

Kennedy, E., Bowman, S. A., Spence, J., Freedman, M., & King, J. (2001). Popular diets: correlation to health, nutrition, and obesity. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 101(4), 411-420.

Laestadius, L. I., Neff, R. A., Barry, C. L., & Frattaroli, S. (2013). Meat consumption and climate change: the role of non-governmental organizations. Climatic change, 120(1-2), 25-38.

Marinova, D., & Bogueva, D. (2019). Planetary health and reduction in meat consumption. Sustainable Earth, 2(3), 1-12.

Messina, V. K., & Burke, K. I. (1997). Position of the American Dietetic Association: vegetarian diets. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 97(11), 1317-1321.

Permanente, K. (2013). The plant-based diet - a healthier way to eat Retrieved from http://lanimuelrath.com/wp-content/uploads/New-Plant-Based-Booklet-1214_tcm28-7818151.pdf

Raphaely, T., & Marinova, D. (2016). Meat Myths and Marketing. In Impact of meat consumption on health and environmental sustainability. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Sabate, J., & Soret, S. (2014). Sustainability of plant-based diets: back to the future. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 100(suppl_1), 476S-482S.

Scarborough, P., Appleby, P. N., Mizdrak, A., Briggs, A. D., Travis, R. C., Bradbury, K. E., & Key, T. J. (2014). Dietary greenhouse gas emissions of meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in the UK. Climatic Change, 125(2), 179-192.

Sharma, R., Nguyen, T. T., & Grote, U. (2018). Changing consumption patterns—Drivers and the environmental impact. Sustainability, 10(4190), 1-19.

Simon, A., Lima, P., Almerinda, M., Alves, V., Bottini, P., & De Faria, J. (1998). Renal haemodynamic responses to a chicken or beef meal in normal individuals. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 13(9), 2261-2264.

Sobal, J. (2005). Men, meat, and marriage: Models of masculinity. Food and Foodways, 13(1-2), 135-158. https://doi.org/10.1080/07409710590915409

Willett, W., Rockström, J., Loken, B., Springmann, M., Lang, T., Vermeulen, S., . . . Wood, A. (2019). Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet, 393(10170), 447-492.

World Cancer Research Fund. (2018). Recommendations and Public Health and Policy Implications. Retrieved from https://www.wcrf.org/sites/default/files/Recommendations.pdf

Wright, N., Wilson, L., Smith, M., Duncan, B., & McHugh, P. (2017). The BROAD study: A randomised controlled trial using a whole food plant-based diet in the community for obesity, ischaemic heart disease or diabetes. Nutrition and Diabetes, 7(e256), 1-10.

Zlotkin, S. (2003). Clinical nutrition: 8. The role of nutrition in the prevention of iron deficiency anemia in infants, children and adolescents. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 168(1), 59-63.

The views expressed by our Research News contributors are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.

You are here

In this article, Researcher Network member Gurmeet Kaur Matharu makes a comparison between animal-based and plant-based foods, to conclude that plant-based foods have higher nutritional value, more dietary uses, reduced environmental impacts and are more affordable than meat-based foods.

References

Sign-up for our newsletter