It’s an issue that nutritionists and dieticians have tip-toed around for as long as I can remember: Can we really live longer by eating plant-based protein? Finally, science and history have provided a definitive answer…
Those who are already sold on the pro-position have been trying to sell it to the rest of the world for decades – at least. But there has always been a hard core of meat advocates who resist the idea that plants are better for us than animals…
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The beautiful, classic Mexican Chili
(see photo, top of page), and the hearty
Broccoli Tofu Sir-Fry (left) are proof
that veggie protein mains need not
be crazy-spicy, on the one hand,
nor bland and uninteresting,
on the other…
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No firm evidence
There’s been no firm evidence until now that either camp was right. But there has been growing circumstantial proof that plant-based protein is ultimately the way to go.
And now, researchers say they have firm, objective evidence that we can live longer, healthier lives eating plants than we can eating animals.
What they did
Dr Alistair Senior, PhD candidate Caitlin Andrews and their team at the Charles Perkins Centre, Uni-versity of Sydney (UoS) studied food supply and demographic data gathered from between 1961 and 2018 from 101 countries. They wanted to understand whether the type of protein a population con-sumes has an impact on longevity.
Their survey ‘corrected’ data to account for differences in population size and wealth, which varied widely across their huge data sample…
What they found
Contrary to intuitive expectations, the researchers found that, “countries where overall availability of plant-based proteins was higher, such as India, had relatively longer life expectancies than countries where animal-based proteins were more-readily available, such as the US.”
According to the study, plant proteins – including legumes, nuts and whole grains – are associated with a lower risk or chronic diseases and overall mortality rates.
This discovery dovetails nicely with others which have suggested that plant-based diets contribute to enhanced longevity in the most long-lived communities on the planet – Okinawa in Japan, Ikaria in Greece and Loma Linda in California. These are among the co-called Blue Zones. And they remain a focus of learned interest and study
My take
I’ve been sold on the plant-based diet concept for a while, now. Since the folks keeping track of climate change, sustainability of the global food supply and associated issues have started pre-dicting we’ll all have to segue to substantially or at least partly to plant-based eating regimes. They also emphasize, that’s going to be sooner, rather than later.
The early adopters/advocates of plant-based proteins have traditionally pointed to smaller studies or popular concepts such as the Blue Zones model, to underscore their respective propositions. But the current study is the first to bring all the available hard data together on an even playing field. And it’s comforting to know that this mega-study concurs with the findings of the vast majority of the smaller, independent ones.
It’s comforting to know we can all unite confidently in our approach to feeding ourselves in what remains – in some other respects – an uncertain future.
~ Maggie J.