Obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and above all cancer risk… It’s been proven that reducing your meat consumption is beneficial in more ways than one for your health. However, to keep the diet balanced, the foods eaten instead of protein should also be healthy foods.
This is the observation of Gabrielle Rochefort, a doctoral student at the University of Laval in Quebec, in a study which she presented at Nutrition 2022, an event organized by theAmerican Society for Nutrition which took place online from June 14 to 16, 2022.
As part of this study, Gabrielle Rochefort compared the eating habits of 1,147 adults. First, the doctoral student divided the participants into four groups based on their daily consumption of animal protein. Those in the group that consumed the least tended to consume more plant protein, whole grains and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and less salt than those who consumed the most plant protein. On the other hand, they consumed more added sugar and foods not recommended by Canada’s Food Guide. “Eating less animal protein does not necessarily mean eating better“, concludes Gabrielle Rochefort.
Encourage consumers to consume more vegetable protein
In a second step, the doctoral student again divided the participants into four distinct groups, but this time on the basis of their daily consumption of vegetable proteins. Those who ate the most also ate more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and polyunsaturated fatty acids. They also ate less processed meat, added sugar and salt. “Their overall diet quality score was significantly higher than that of participants in the bottom quartile“, clarified Gabrielle Rochefort.
“Our results suggest that it is better adopt a positive message and encourage people to consume more vegetable proteins rather than a negative message urging them to reduce their meat consumption. This increases the chances of facilitating the transition to a healthy and sustainable diet.“, concludes the doctoral student.
Source :
- Consuming less meat does not necessarily mean eating better, Université Laval, June 16, 2022
Read also:
- Eating less meat reduces the risk of all cancers
- Whether red or white, meat is bad for cholesterol
- 5 good reasons to eat less meat
