Plant-Based Diets Represent 'Significant Opportunity' To Address Global Challenges, Says Study

According to experts, plant-based diets could mitigate several key, intersecting global crises.

A recent scientific journal entry by two leading plant-based healthcare professionals highlights how promoting plant-based diets could help tackle the “intertwined crises” of poor health, biodiversity loss, social injustice, and the climate crisis. However, a lack of nutrition education – particularly within medical training – hinders promotion and uptake.

“Why Is The Medical Profession Reluctant To Talk About Diet Change?” was published in the March issue of Future Healthcare, a peer-reviewed academic journal. Dr Shireem Kassam, a consultant haematologist, certified lifestyle medicine physician, and founder of Plant-Based Health Professionals UK (PBHP), and Dr Laura Jane Smith, a respiratory and internal medicine consultant at King’s College Hospital in London, wrote the journal entry.

Kassam and Smith emphasize that the current food system drives intersecting global crises. In contrast, a growing body of evidence shows how diets rich in plant-based whole foods reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), conserve biodiversity, and promote human health. Plant foods also prove that a secure and resource-efficient food system is possible.

Embracing plant-based diets is now an ethical imperative

Photo shows plant-based physician and founder of Plant Based Health Professionals (PBHP) UK, Dr Shireen Kassam — PBN The new report is authored by Dr Shireen Kassam

March saw several newly published works reinforce the potential of plant foods to promote health and mitigate chronic illness. One study found that well-balanced plant-based diets could help people with cardiometabolic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease live longer. Meanwhile, an expert policy briefing found that emphasizing plant-based meals in schools and hospitals could save the struggling NHS £54.9 million (USD $70.8 million) per year.

A recent study carried out by PBHP analyzed 36 NHS hospitals and found that their menus showed “little alignment with sustainable practices.” Less than 50 percent of NHS Trusts plan to increase the availability of plant-based options in line with broader sustainability goals.

The new journal entry from Kassam and Smith recommends that healthcare leaders support the normalization of default plant-based options rather than high-impact animal products, promote and educate on the benefits of plant-based foods, offer plant-based catering for events and meetings, endorse the Plant Based Treaty, lobby decision makers to support a plant-based food system, and divest from companies that support animal agriculture.

“Healthcare systems, such as the NHS, can lead this transition by offering plant-based meals, promoting education and advocating for policy changes,” write Kassam and Smith. “Embracing plant-based diets is now an ethical imperative, with benefits spanning individual health, environmental sustainability, equitable resource distribution and global health justice.”