Plant-Based Diet Trends in Urban Populations: Impacts on Health and Sustainability Goals
Keywords:
Plant-Based Diet, Urban Health, Sustainable Development Goals, Climate Change, Planetary Health, Nutrition Transition, Food SystemsAbstract
The global food system is a primary driver of environmental degradation and a significant contributor to the rise in non-communicable diseases. In response, a shift towards plant-based diets (PBDs) is increasingly advocated as a synergistic strategy to improve human health and promote environmental sustainability, aligning with global frameworks like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.This paper synthesizes current evidence to analyze the trends in PBD adoption within urban populations, evaluate its impacts on health outcomes, and assess its potential for achieving sustainability targets.A narrative review and synthesis of scientific literature and institutional reports were conducted. Key health outcomes were analyzed, including cardiovascular disease, cancer risk, and metabolic health. Environmental impacts were assessed through the lenses of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, land use, and planetary boundaries. Data from consumption trend studies and market analyses were integrated to evaluate urban dietary shifts.The analysis indicates a steady increase in PBD adoption in urban settings, driven by health, environmental, and ethical concerns. Health findings consistently associate well-planned PBDs with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (e.g., 16-32% lower risk in Kim et al., 2019), hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. From a sustainability perspective, PBDs offer significant advantages, with potential to reduce food-related GHG emissions by up to 29-70% compared to typical Western diets (Springmann et al., 2021; Willett et al., 2019). However, challenges related to nutritional adequacy, food processing, and consumer acceptance persist.A large-scale transition to predominantly plant-based dietary patterns in urban populations is a critical and viable pathway toward achieving public health and sustainability goals. Realizing this potential requires multi-level interventions, including public awareness campaigns, food product innovation, and supportive policies that make healthy, sustainable plant-based foods accessible and appealing.
References
Alae-Carew C., Green R., Stewart C., Cook B., Dangour A.D., Scheelbeek P.F.D. The role of plant-based alternative foods in sustainable and healthy food systems: Consumption trends in the UK. Sci. Total Environ. 2022;807:151041. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151041.
Alcorta A., Porta A., Tárrega A., Alvarez M.D., Vaquero M.P. Foods for plant-based diets: Challenges and innovations. Foods. 2021;10:293. doi: 10.3390/foods10020293.
Appleby P.N., Davey G.K., Key T.J. Hypertension and blood pressure among meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans in EPIC–Oxford. Public Health Nutr. 2002;5:645–654. doi: 10.1079/PHN2002332.
British Nutrition Foundation Plant-Based Diets. Putting It into Practice. 2019. [(accessed on 21 June 2022)]. Available online: https://www.nutrition.org.uk/putting-it-into-practice/plant-based-diets/plant-based-diets/
Bryant C.J. We can’t keep meating like this: Attitudes towards vegetarian and vegan diets in the United Kingdom. Sustainability. 2019;11:6844. doi: 10.3390/su11236844.
Center for Evidence Based Management Critical Appraisal Checklist for Cross-Sectional Study. 2014. [(accessed on 1 July 2022)]. Available online: https://www.cebma.org.
Clem J., Barthel B. A Look at Plant-Based Diets. Mo Med. 2021;118:233–238.
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme CASP (Qualitative) Checklist. [Online] 2018. [(accessed on 1 July 2022)]. Available online: https://casp-uk.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/CASP-Qualitative-Checklist-2018_fillable_form.pdf.
Department of Economic and Social Affairs The 17 Goals | Sustainable Development [Internet]. United Nations. 2019. [(accessed on 6 June 2022)]. Available online: https://sdgs.un.org/goals.
Department of Economic and Social Affairs The Partnership Platform [Internet]. United Nations. 2022. [(accessed on 6 June 2022)]. Available online: https://sdgs.un.org/partnerships.
Eat Forum The Planetary Health Diet, EAT. 2021. [(accessed on 25 June 2023)]. Available online: https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/the-planetary-health-diet-and-you/
European Commission Causes of Climate Change, Climate Action. 2020. [(accessed on 20 June 2022)]. Available online: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/climate-change/causes-climate-change_en.
Fehér A., Gazdecki M., Véha M., Szakály M., Szakály Z. A comprehensive review of the benefits of and the barriers to the switch to a plant-based diet. Sustainability. 2020;12:4136. doi: 10.3390/su12104136.
Frances Lee M., Eather R., Best T. Plant-based dietary quality and depressive symptoms in Australian vegans and vegetarians: A cross-sectional study. BMJ Nutr. Prev. Health. 2021;4:e000332. doi: 10.1136/bmjnph-2021-000332.
Fung T.T., Brown L.S. Dietary patterns and the risk of colorectal cancer. Curr. Nutr. Rep. 2012;2:48–55. doi: 10.1007/s13668-012-0031-1.
Kim H., Caulfield L.E., Garcia-Larsen V., Steffen L.M., Coresh J., Rebholz C.M. Plant-based diets are associated with a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all-cause mortality in a general population of middle-aged adults. J. Am. Heart Assoc. 2019;8:e012865. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.119.012865.
Langyan S., Yadava P., Khan F.N., Dar Z.A., Singh R., Kumar A. Sustaining protein nutrition through plant-based foods. Front. Nutr. 2022;8:772573. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.772573.
Lea E.J., Crawford D., Worsley A. Consumers’ readiness to eat a plant-based diet. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 2006;60:342–351. doi: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602320.
Leahy S., Clark H., Reisinger A. Challenges and prospects for agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation pathways consistent with the Paris Agreement. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 2020;4:69. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2020.00069.
Loeb S., Fu B.C., Bauer S.R., Pernar C.H., Chan J.M., Van Blarigan E.L., Giovannucci E.L., Kenfield S.A., Mucci L.A. Association of Plant-based Diet index with prostate cancer risk. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2021;115:662–670. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqab365.
Lynch H., Johnston C., Wharton C. Plant-based diets: Considerations for environmental impact, protein quality, and exercise performance. Nutrients. 2018;10:1841. doi: 10.3390/nu10121841.
Medawar E., Huhn S., Villringer A., Veronica Witte A. The effects of plant-based diets on the body and the brain: A systematic review. Transl. Psychiatry. 2019;9:226. doi: 10.1038/s41398-019-0552-0.
Meinshausen M., Lewis J., McGlade C., Gutschow J., Nicholls Z., Burdon R., Cozzi L., Hackman B. Realisation of Paris Agreement pledges may limit warming just below 2 °C. Nature. 2022;604:304–309. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04553-z.
Michel F., Hartmann C., Siegrist M. Consumers’ associations, perceptions and acceptance of meat and plant-based meat alternatives. Food Qual. Prefer. 2021;87:104063. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2020.104063.
Michie S., van Stralen M.M., West R. The behaviour change wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions. Implement. Sci. 2011;6:42. doi: 10.1186/1748-5908-6-42.
Michie S., Atkins L., West R. The Behaviour Change Wheel, Understanding the Wheel—The Behaviour Change Wheel Book—A Guide to Designing Interventions. 2022. [(accessed on 26 June 2022)]. Available online: http://www.behaviourchangewheel.com/about-wheel.
Rauma A.L., Mykkänen H. Antioxidant status in vegetarians versus omnivores. Nutrition. 2000;16:111–119. doi: 10.1016/S0899-9007(99)00267-1.
Romanos-Nanclares A., Willett W.C., Rosner B.A., Collins L.C., Hu F.B., Toledo E., Eliassen H. Healthful and unhealthful plant-based diets and risk of breast cancer in U.S. women: Results from the nurses’ health studies. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomark. Prev. 2021;30:1921–1931. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-21-0352.
Springmann M., Clark M.A., Rayner M., Scarborough P., Webb P. The global and regional costs of healthy and sustainable dietary patterns: A modelling study. Lancet Planet. Health. 2021;5:e797–e807. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00251-5.
Stewart C., Piernas C., Cook B., Jebb S. Trends in UK meat consumption: Analysis of data from Years 1–11 (2008–2009 to 2018–2019) of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme. Lancet Planet. Health. 2021;5:e699–e708. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00228-X.
Stoll-Kleemann S., Schmidt U.J. Reducing meat consumption in developed and transition countries to counter climate change and biodiversity loss: A review of influence factors. Reg. Environ. Chang. 2016;17:1261–1277. doi: 10.1007/s10113-016-1057-5.
Tomova A., Bukovsky I., Rembert E., Yonas W., Alwarith J., Barnard N.D., Kahleova H. The effects of vegetarian and vegan diets on gut microbiota. Front. Nutr. 2019;6:47. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2019.00047.
United Nations For a Livable Climate: Net-Zero Commitments Must Be Backed by Credible Action. [(accessed on 2 March 2024)]. Available online: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/net-zero-coalition.
West R., Michie S. Achieving Behaviour Change, Assist Publishing Service, Public Health England. 2020. [(accessed on 26 June 2022)]. Available online: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/933328/UFG_National_Guide_v04.00__1___1_.pdf.
Willett W., Rockström J., Loken B., Springmann M., Lang T., Vermeulen S., Garnett T., Tilman D., DeClerck F., Wood A., et al. Food in the anthropocene: The EAT–Lancet commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet. 2019;393:447–492. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4.
World Health Organization Plant-Based Diets and Their Impact on Health, Sustainability and the Environment: A Review of the Evidence. WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases. 2021. [(accessed on 25 June 2022)]. Available online: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/349086/WHO-EURO-2021-4007-43766-61591-eng.pdf
Downloads
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 International Journal of Engineering Science & Humanities
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
