A Perspective on the Transition to Plant-Based Diets: a Diet Change May Attenuate Climate Change, but Can It Also Attenuate Obesity and Chronic Disease Risk?
Open accessAbstract
Current dietary guidelines advocate more plant-based, sustainable diets on the basis of scientific evidence about diet-health relations but also to address environmental concerns. Here, we critically review the effects of plant-based diets on the prevalence of obesity and other health outcomes. Plant-based diets per se have limited efficacy for the prevention and treatment of obesity, but most have beneficial effects in terms of chronic disease risk. However, with the considerable possibilities of translating plant-based diets into various types of dietary patterns, our analysis suggests that potential adverse health effects should also be considered in relation to vulnerable groups of the population. A transition to more plant-based diets may exert beneficial effects on the environment, but is unlikely to affect obesity, and may also have adverse health effects if this change is made without careful consideration of the nutritional needs of the individual relative to the adequacy of the dietary intake.
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Potential differences in health benefits from different protein sources remain mainly unresolved.
“Potential differences in health benefits from different protein sources remain mainly unresolved, and little is known about the environmental footprint of increasing the production of different protein sources [85].”
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Hansen, T. T., Astrup, A., & Sjödin, A. (2021) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu13093193 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
“Potential differences in health benefits from different protein sources remain mainly unresolved, and little is known about the environmental footprint of increasing the production of different protein sources [85].”
BackgroundSelf-citation
- Authors
- Magkos, F., Tetens, I., Bügel, S. G., Felby, C., Schacht, S. R., Hill, J. O., Ravussin, E., & Astrup, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- University of Alabama at Birmingham (US)
- Corresponding author
- Magkos, Faidon
- ORCID
- Venue
- Advances in Nutrition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-01
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-9
- ISSN
- 2156-5376 (ISSN-L)
- 2161-8313
- PMC
- PMC7442415
- OpenAlex
- W2972164222
- Cited by
- 119
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 0.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Advances in Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Civil War Book Review (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (P30DK056336, P30DK079626)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Nutrition, Health, and Society Studies
- Keywords
- plant-based diet, sustainable diets, obesity, chronic disease risk, climate change mitigation, dietary guidelines, vulnerable populations, nutritional adequacy, dietary habits, environmental impact of diets
- MeSH terms
- Chronic Disease, Diet, Environment, Feeding Behavior, Food Supply, Humans, Nutritional Requirements, Obesity, Plants, Diet, Vegetarian, Nutrition Policy, Climate Change
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