BLUE- SKY THINKING

MUCH HOT AIR IS GENERATED IN THE DEBATE ABOUT THE FOODS THAT ARE BEST FOR HUMAN HEALTH AND THOSE BEST FOR THE PLANET. WHERE DOES SCIENCE POINT THE CARING CONSUMER?

What foods are best for human health and/or the planet? Naomi Arnold provides the answer

VEGANS GET A BAD RAP. The cyclists of the dietary world, they do good for both themselves and the rest of humanity but are met with irritation and intolerance for their choices. Less than five per cent of New Zealanders identify as vegan. But for all the mockery they receive, one would think it was a lot more.

Why do people choose veganism? Vomad’s 2019 global survey of nearly 13,000 vegans - three-quarters of whom were from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, the United States, and Canada - found the catalyst was “for the animals”. An overwhelming 68.1 per cent of respondents cited it as their main reason. The next chunk, 17.4 per cent, did it “for health”, and 9.7 per cent did it “for the environment”.

Half of the survey respondents went vegan overnight, and nearly 50 per cent of people said videos, documentaries, or social media posts first influenced their change. Netflix documentaries What the Health and Cowspiracy were the most influential. However, both have drawn criticism from scientific sceptics and nutrition experts, who have lambasted them as scare-mongering, cherry-picking polemics.

Being vegan is undeniably a better option for animals - their routine industrial exploitation is something many choose to ignore when forking up bolognese or a slice of bacon. But when it comes to those other reasons people turn vegan - environment and health - who is correct?

Veganism is touted as the healthier diet, and Kiwis are catching on; the appetite for plant-based foods, in general, is growing and has been rising steadily since 2014, according to the 2020 Colmar Brunton Better Futures report. Almost half (49 per cent) of Kiwis recognize a change in diet can impact the environment, and 15 per cent always or mostly eat plant-based meals, a 50 per cent increase on a year ago.

That’s promising, because other data shows New Zealanders have a woeful fresh produce intake, and it starts young. The 2017/18 Ministry of Health survey data reveals that for the past seven years, fruit and vegetable intake has been declining across all ages, ethnicities and socio-economic groups. Less than a third of New Zealanders eat enough fruit and vegetables (3+ servings of vegetables and 2+ servings of fruit a day). Nearly half of children aged between two and 14 aren’t eating the recommended vegetable intake. Fruit and vegetable intake also tends to be lower among older children, boys, and those living in more economically disadvantaged areas.

Although everyone in the Western world would improve health markers by eating less processed food and more vegetables, cutting out all animal products is extreme. For example, the World Health Organization says that although 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide are attributable to diets high in processed meat, more than 200,000 are due to air pollution, 600,000 to alcohol consumption, and a million because of tobacco smoking,

And just because someone identifies as a vegan doesn’t automatically mean they’re prepping and eating all their fruits and veggies, either. Vegan convenience foods can be just as highly processed as those for conventional eaters: Oreos, margarine, french fries, fake meats, and high-sugar fruit smoothies make up many a vegan’s diet.

From an environmental point of view, the case for veganism is much clearer: eating fewer animal products makes a big difference. In fact, it’s more important in terms of environmental impact than where food comes from. A massive meta-analysis of global food systems published in Science in 2018 analyzed 38,000 farms around the world and found that the greenhouse-gas emissions from food transport were a small fraction of overall emissions. In other words, eating peanuts from the other side of the world is better for the environment than eating beef from around the corner: carbon dioxide emissions from most plant-based food sources are between 10 and 50 times lower than from animal sources.

Another study that modeled food production, published in 2016, looked at 500 possible scenarios for feeding the world’s growing population without clearing more forests to create more agricultural land. All scenarios were possible if people adopted vegan diets; only 15 per cent were if the world’s population ate a Westernstyle meat-rich diet.

This is in line with studies in other major journals. Research published in Nature Sustainability in January 2020 found that the world’s current farming system can only feed 3.4 billion people sustainably. Researchers looked at how we could all eat well without compromising the Earth’s systems and concluded that it’s possible to feed the projected global population of 10 billion people by 2050 within these limitations if we change what is farmed where and ate less meat. Even the United Nations’ panel of climate change experts put out a report in 2019 urging governments to advocate for reduced meat consumption.

So, go vegan for the animals: Sure. For health? Not necessary. For the environment? Definitely. But meat can still be on the menu - irresponsible farming practices aside. A study published in the major medical journal The Lancet in 2019 calculated the ideal for good health and environmental sustainability. It involved increasing fruit and vegetable consumption twofold, mostly consuming plant-based sources of protein, and cutting meat and sugar consumption in half. It still allowed for people eating 100 grammes of red meat per week, helping to provide the B vitamins, zinc and iron that vegans have to supplement.

This is important as we consider the future of the human race and how to feed 10 billion people. Many of them will go hungry - unless it’s mostly plants on the plate.

‘From an environmental point of view, the case for veganism is much clearer: eating fewer animal products makes a big difference’