Month: May 2021

Whole Foods published their first ever Plant_Based_Trends.

While the company has been stocking a growing number of plant based food products, conducting and publishing a study of this sort indicates the importance they are placing on the market.

The study highlighted 5 trends:

1. The growth in gourmet cheese alternatives with “more authentic textures and flavors”.
2. More alternatives for BBQs than hotdog and sausage alternatives, including jackfruit and tempeh based products.
3. Plant based foods and snacks that appeal to young kids.
4. Seafood alternatives.  Well someone must have watched Seaspiracy.
5. More dairy-free dips and spreads to choose from.

Keep your eyes open as if is getting easier and easier to follow an all or mostly plant based diet!

A new study reviewed in National Geographic, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/meat-production-leads-to-thousands-of-air-quality-related-deaths-annually, has estimated the number of deaths from air pollution caused by all agriculture is around 17,900 per year, 80% (or 16,000) caused by meat and dairy production.

The study “is the first to identify which individual foods and diets have the biggest effect on the air pollution that causes asthma, heart attacks, and strokes.”

The data analyzed for this study was from the EPA and US Dept. of Agriculture. Naturally, meat and dairy industry groups are disputing the findings, although they don’t have data of their own.

Of the possible solutions reviewed, a plant based of minimal meat diet is estimated to reduce these deaths by 10,000-13,000. Not perfect, but still one more reason to take up a plant based diet.

US News rated the Mediterranean Diet the best of over 40 diets for the 4th year in a row. See https://health.usnews.com/best-diet. The Dukin and keto diets, high in protein and fats, often animal based, were rated the worst.

Even better, also reported this week, the Mediterranean Diet appears to help reduce the chance of Dementia. See the CNN summary: https://www.cnn.com/…/mediterranean-diet…/index.html
This is not the first study to link a (mostly) plant based diet to reducing chances of cognitive loss diseases.

In the CNN article, Claire McEvoy, assistant professor at Queen’s University Belfast stated “Eating a healthy plant-based diet is associated with better cognitive function and around 30% to 35% lower risk of cognitive impairment during aging.”

CNN states that although we may associated some rich, animal based foods with Mediterranean countries, the majority of people in the area eat a heavily plant based diet, with limited meat, dairy and processed foods.

The CNN article has a link to the scientific article in Neurology magazine, but unless you need something to put you to sleep, stick with the CNN summary.