Is going vegan better for you and the environment?
Chances are you've heard the arguments both for and against – can you get all the nutrients your body needs from a vegan diet? Don't plant-based alternatives use just as much water as their animal-produced counterparts?
So, should we all go vegan or will flexitarianism (casual vegetarianism that allows reduced consumption of animal-based products) do?
Australians love their meat and milk
The average Australian eats more than 89 kilograms of meat and drinks more than 95 litres of cow milk per year.
It takes a whole lot of land and water resources to produce all that meat and milk, and the animal-based food production process generates a whole lot of carbon emissions.
According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the global livestock industry accounts for 14.5 per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions – and cattle are responsible for the majority of those emissions (about 65 per cent).
Governments around the world are working with the farming industry to curb emissions.
For example, the Global Methane Pledge has 122 signatories — including Australia, the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union — working to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 per cent below 2020 levels by 2030.
In Australia, programs like the Emissions Reduction Fund and Carbon Farming Outreach Program are supporting farmers and land managers to reduce or offset their emissions.
Marco Springmann is a senior researcher at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford.
"It's clear the food system is a major driver of environmental resource use and pollution," Dr Springmann says.
Accounting for the environmental impacts of food and agriculture more broadly, the University of Oxford's Our World in Data project shows:
- Food production accounts for more than 26 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions
- Half of the world's habitable land is used for agriculture
- Seventy per cent of global freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture.
Are plant-based alternatives better for the environment?
Does a serving of beef brisket in my sandwich consume more of the earth's resources than a few slices of tofurkey?
Do cows really emit more greenhouse gases than soybeans?
The UN's climate change panel says moving towards plant-based diets provides a great opportunity to tackle climate change.
"Emerging food technologies such as cellular fermentation, cultured meat, plant-based alternatives to animal-based food products, and controlled environment agriculture, can bring substantial reduction in direct [greenhouse gas] emissions from food production," the panel's 2022 report states.
While industries do differ around the world, Dr Springmann points to an international study by his University of Oxford colleague Joseph Poore that "looked at life cycle assessments from 38,000 farms across 40 different commodities and found that livestock products are the ones that have the highest environmental impact."
Using the data from Joseph Poore and the Our World In Data website, here's a breakdown of the water footprint, carbon output and land needed to produce common meats per kilogram of food product:
- Beef – 1,451 litres, 99.48 kilograms, 326 square metres
- Pork – 1,796 litres, 12.31 kilograms, 17.36 square metres
- Chicken – 660 litres, 9.87 kilograms, 12.22 square metres
Compare that to the water footprint, carbon output and land needed to produce common plant-based protein alternatives to meat per kilogram of food product:
- Chickpeas – 161.39 litres, 1.34 kilograms, 15.57 square metres
- Lentils – 14.31 litres, 2.54 kilograms, 27.47 square metres
- Tofu – 31.18 litres, 3.16 kilograms, 3.03 square metres
Not all alternatives are created equal
Does it really matter whether I have my latte on soy, oat or almond milk?
Dr Springmann says it does.
"If we compare across food commodities, then most of the time animal source foods have a water footprint about 10 times higher than plant-based foods," he says, with some exceptions.
"Nuts, for example, use lots of water, some fruits and vegetables use lots of water, the walnuts produced in California are terribly high in water use, and avocados as well."
So, nut-based almond milk does require more water to produce than soy or oat milk – a single glass requires 74 litres of water, which is more than a typical shower.
(A typical shower in Australia is 7-8 minutes in duration on average and — when using a standard 3-star-rated showerhead — requires 50 litres of water.)
But even almond milk requires less water to produce than the typical glass of dairy milk.
On land usage though, Dr Springmann says the evidence is clear: if everyone went vegan there would be a net saving in cropland use, because one-third of the world's staple crops are currently fed to animals.
"So if you free those up, you would have plenty of land available to not only grow the increased amount of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds you should be eating, but also still land available to free up for nature conservation, or to a forest," he says.
However, in Australia, much of the land currently used for livestock would not be suitable to grow crops.
Is a vegan diet actually healthy?
Only 6.1 per cent of adults and 8.5 per cent of children eat the recommended amount of both fruit and vegetables, according to 2020-21 data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Nicole Dynan is an accredited dietitian from Dietitians Australia.
"The message of just increasing plants in whatever type of diet that you prefer is a good message," she says.
"We know that people on a vegan diet or a vegetarian diet, or a diet that's higher in plants, have a lower risk of health conditions like cholesterol, high blood pressure, the risk of chronic disease like type 2 diabetes, and improved gut function – just because they're getting more nutrients and fibre in their diet."
But Ms Dynan acknowledges that the vegan diet isn't perfect.
Animal-based food products contribute essential nutrients that are hard to find in plant-based alternatives, like, "iron, protein, zinc, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids," she says.
And she pointed out that one nutrient in particular, vitamin B12, is almost exclusively found in animal products.
"Typically, when vegans see their doctor they'll have their B12 levels checked regularly, and they may need an injection or supplements if they're not getting B12 from fortified vegan products."
Maintaining a healthy vegan diet requires planning.
"A vegan diet can be just as unhealthy as a diet that contains a lot of meat," Ms Dynan warns.
"If it's not planned well, it could be made up of a whole bunch of processed vegan foods and things like Oreos – it's not necessarily healthy just because it's vegan."
The Australian Dietary Guidelines also have recommendations for the amount of protein people should consume, whether it be via meat-based products or alternatives like beans, lentils and tofu.
For some people, going meat-free is not desirable, while for others it's not a viable option for socio-economic and cultural reasons.
"Any reduction really matters," Dr Springmann says.
"Maybe be vegetarian or vegan for most of the week and see how you can go with it."
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