The State of the Plant-based Food Industry
Sponsored Post:
Dropping the phrase plant-based diet is a hip when talking about nutrition these days. As opined by Lauren Manaker, RDN, based in Charleston, South Carolina, she suspects that it’s because of heightened awareness of the health and environmental benefits that come along with eating this way. Some of that could be the result of documentaries that throw shade at eating meat and other animal products. What does “plant-based diet” mean, anyway? Is it the same thing as being vegetarian or vegan? Or does this diet just mean you make an effort to pack more veggies into your meals? Technically, all of the above interpretations are correct.
The main idea is to make plant-based foods the central part of your meals. A plant-based diet emphasizes foods like fruits, vegetables, and beans, and limits foods like meats, dairy, and eggs. From there, more restrictions could be put in place depending on how strict you want to be. It might completely eliminate foods from animals or just limit intake, depending on the individual’s interpretation. That means meat and seafood don’t necessarily need to be off-limits; you might just decide to cut down on how frequently you eat those items. (1) Switching to a more plant-based diet? See for more details for making it happen.
Additionally, the plant-based space is developing not as a trend but as a movement. According to the Good Food Institute, we could see the plant-based sector see an astonishing CAGR of nearly 27% over the next 5 years. The Good Food Institute further claims that as of today, approximately 57% of North American households have acquired plant-based foods, while roughly 78% of households repeat order. With the world focused on ESG, nutrition, and health, UBS forecasts the plant-based foods space to mount from approximately $5 billion to nearly $85 billion by 2030. Bloomberg also said that plant-based meat could make up a quarter of the roughly $1.8 trillion meat market by 2040.
For years, alternative meat industries have pitched consumers by asking them to look more closely at the traditional burger and think about what comes with it: an environmentally destructive food system, a quickly advancing slide toward irreversible climate change, the evils of mass industrialized animal slaughter. The room for development is huge. Plant-based meats accounted for less than 0.5% of packaged meat markets in the U.S. last year by number, according to a report from the Plant Based Foods Association, the industry’s representative commerce organization. (2) Excited to share the love of plant based foods? Try these always vegan, always delicious dishes today.
As it prepares to go public, these plant-based foods are finding a niche by focusing on an untapped plant-based food sector: frozen, ready-to-cook comfort foods. Frozen foods have an estimated 11% CAGR through 2024, with approximately 33% of development coming from North America. Innovation and improvement are also driven by plant-based products, with a nearly 9.5% development in natural/organic preference in 2020 alone. These sectors are not a plant-based meat industry and not directly competing with others in that field. Instead, these plant-based foods focuses on the underserved frozen or ready-to-eat comfort food space with wholesome ingredients and authentic cooking.
Today, the current research says that most people who adopt this way of eating do it for the potential health benefits. There have been many cardiac benefits linked to eating this way, like reduced cholesterol, Manaker says. Some studies suggest that eating a plant-based diet might improve fertility parameters, and it also might reduce your risk of developing [type 2] diabetes. Diets rich in healthy plant foods with a significantly lower risk of heart disease and following a plant-based diet could help prevent and could treat type 2 diabetes, and it cites research that suggests this diet might help reduce the risk of other chronic illnesses, including cancer.
As a result, eating purely a plant based diet doesn’t equate to perfect health; however if it’s paired with balanced and nutrient rich meals, it could definitely lead to good health. This is seen in hundreds of studies conducted around the world, which show that, when compared with the average Western diets, an improvement to consumption of plant based foods. Following a plant-based diet could have a positive impact on emotional and physical well-being, quality of life, and general health for people living with diabetes, while also improving physical markers of the condition in this population. Try these plant based favorites are always hearty, satisfying, and made with wholesome ingredients.
Check the disclaimer on profile and landing page.
Source 1: https://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/plant-based-diet-food-list-meal-plan-benefits-more/#how-it-works
Source 2: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2021/05/14/alternative-protein-ads-funding-impossible-just.html
