Rather than just defending the plant-based diet’s ability to provide protein, for which there is an overabundance of evidence, we should also pounce on the unsuitability of animal-based foods because of the horrific, long-term negative impacts on our environment.
We have a bad habit of persistently conflating protein with animal foods.
It’s on the restaurant menus. When it’s not at the forefront of our thoughts,
it’s in the back of our minds. The idea is so deeply entrenched that one of the
first questions a non-meat-eater must confront from friends and family is,
inevitably, where will you get your protein?
The same thinking is frequently applied on a larger scale when discussing the
environmental impact of livestock-based agricultural systems. Many acknowledge
that these systems are responsible for resource depletion, habitat loss, and
greenhouse gas emissions, among other potentially existential threats, yet
repeatedly emphasize how important it is to be mindful of satisfying global
protein requirements. If we aren’t eating meat—or so the story goes—then we at
least need to plan carefully, and we might struggle.
But this story doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Protein deficiency is rare in
populations consuming a calorie-sufficient diet. According to the National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the average American adult has
consistently obtained almost 16% of their calories from protein for several
decades.[1] That’s nearly twice the required amount to meet or exceed the needs
of 97.5% of adults.
Okay, but what about those who abstain from the standard American diet’s high
level of meat consumption? In a review published in 2019, authors compared the
protein intake of meat-eaters with lacto-ovo-vegetarians and vegans using data
from the EPIC-Oxford study.[2] They found that both groups of non-meat-eaters
consumed significantly more than the RDA. The authors put it well in their
conclusion: “We recommend that further study on protein in vegetarian diets
shift away from unnecessary questions about protein adequacy, to a comparison of
overall nutrition quality and implications for long-term health.”
Numerous authoritative public health agencies have reiterated the plant-based
diet’s ability to provide more-than-adequate protein levels, including the
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND).[3] In a 2016 position statement on
vegetarian diets, AND authors cite several research studies from previous
decades, reaching the following stance:
Vegetarian, including vegan, diets typically meet or exceed recommended protein
intakes, when caloric intakes are adequate. The terms complete and incomplete
are misleading in relation to plant protein. Protein from a variety of plant
foods, eaten during the course of the day, supplies enough of all indispensable
(essential) amino acids when caloric requirements are met [. . . ] Protein needs
at all ages, including for athletes, are well achieved.
But even these relatively definitive statements understate the case for shifting
away from animal-based foods as our preferred source of protein. We need to
revise our thinking. Rather than defending the plant-based diet’s ability to
provide protein, we should pounce on the unsuitability of animal-based foods.
We only need to look at where most of the world’s protein comes from. Despite
requiring 77% of the currently available agricultural land for its production,
livestock only accounts for 37% of the world’s protein supply.[4]
That’s right—not only are livestock-based agricultural systems responsible for
resource depletion, habitat loss, and greenhouse gas emissions, among other
potentially existential threats, but they’re also less efficient.
References
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