From Teri Lichtenstein, Melbourne, Australia
The plant-based meat options in our supermarkets probably aren’t marketed to be seen as healthier than the diet of nuts, vegetables and lentils that vegan pioneer Donald Watson enjoyed (30 October, p 38). But many are still preferable to the conventionally produced meat these products are designed to replace.
A report led by me and published in collaboration with Australian think tank Food Frontier shows plant-based meat tends to be lower in saturated fat and contains essential dietary fibre that animal products lack.
In addition, work by a team at Stanford University found that swapping animal-based meat for plant-based meat over an eight-week period led to weight loss and lowered cholesterol, while a study by Miguel Toribio-Mateas at London South Bank University and his colleagues concluded that replacing some meat with plant-based products promoted positive changes to the gut microbiome.
Advertisement
