Small Dietary Changes can Cut Carbon Footprint by 25%
New research published in Nature Foods assessing the diets of adults living in Canada provides compelling evidence that even partial replacement of red and processed meat with protein-rich plant foods – like nuts, seeds, legumes, tofu, and fortified soy beverages – can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Read moreA Single Plant-Based Meal Improves Arterial Function and Maximal Oxygen Uptake During Exercise
Pre-exercise consumption of a plant-based meal improves central arterial stiffness and vascular endothelial function when compared with a macronutrient-matched animal-based meal, according to a new study published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.
Read moreShifting to Plant-Based Foods Reduces Risk of All-Cause Mortality
A large review of 37 studies, published in BMC Medicine, has identified how a shift from animal-based foods – including red and processed meat, eggs, dairy, poultry and butter – to plant-based foods – such as nuts, legumes, whole grains and olive oil – is associated with significant improvements in cardiometabolic health and reductions in all-cause mortality.
Read moreReplacement of Animal Foods with Plant Foods Benefits an Array of Environmental Factors
A recent comprehensive analysis by Oxford University researchers, published in Nature, has shown that several critical aspects of environmental impact are linked with animal-based food consumption. Compared to high-meat consumption, plant-based diets were found to lead to just 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions, 25% of the land use, 46% of the water use, 27% of the eutrophication, and 34% of the biodiversity loss.
Read moreImproved Aerobic Exercise Performance on a Plant-Based Diet
As well as improving overall health, plant-based diets are linked to superior aerobic exercise performance, according to a recent meta-analysis of the literature recently published in the British Journal of Nutrition. What’s more, the study found that plant-based diets were just as effective as omnivorous diets for strength and power-based exercise, and were beneficial for lowering body mass index.
Read morePlant-Forward Diets Confer Protective Effect on Men’s Health Conditions
A systematic review of 24 peer-reviewed studies, published in the journal Urology, has found that plant-forward diets confer a protective effect on three common male-specific health conditions: prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction, and benign prostatic hyperplasia – alongside well-established benefits for common chronic conditions.
Read moreAverage Carbon Footprint of Plant-Based Foods is 89% Lower than Animal-Based Foods
Results from a recent large-scale meta-analysis, assessing greenhouse gas emissions from food production across all continents, has shown the average carbon footprint of plant-based foods amounts to just 10.7% of that from animal-based foods. The authors highlight the importance of the findings, given that the global food system accounts for 34% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
Read morePlant-Based Diets Support Same Level of Muscle Growth as Omnivorous Diets
Regular resistance training, alongside consuming enough protein, results in similar levels of growth in muscle mass and strength, regardless of whether the protein comes from animal or plant sources. This principle was confirmed once again in a recent study published in The Journal of Nutrition that compared the muscle growth of young adults eating high-protein omnivorous diets with others eating high-protein plant-based diets.
Read moreReduced Weight and Improved Body Composition with Plant-Based Diets
A large-scale umbrella review published in the journal Nutrients highlights the potential of plant-based diets to reduce weight and improve body composition. The study consolidated all the evidence to date assessing the effects of plant-based diets on anthropometric and cardiometabolic outcomes, and found that on top of reduced weight and body mass index, there were significant reductions in waist circumference – commonly used as a surrogate measure of abdominal visceral fat.
Read moreShift Towards Plant-Based Diets Can Deliver Substantial Climate and Socio-Economic Benefits
New research published in the journal Nature Food has found that a dietary shift away from animal-sourced foods could greatly reduce the ‘hidden’ costs of damage to human health and ecosystems caused by the environmental impacts of food production. The study calculated that shifting towards more plant-based diets could save up to US$7.3 trillion globally, by reducing the health burden and ecosystem degradation associated with food production.
Read moreLow Carbohydrate Availability Impairs Muscle Growth and High Intensity Performance
A new review by US military nutrition researchers highlights the evidence that restricting carbohydrate intake increases protein oxidation, which can impair muscle protein synthesis and anaerobic performance. Carbohydrates–which come almost exclusively from plant foods such as legumes, grains, fruits and starchy vegetables–have been shown to be the optimal fuel for endurance and strength exercise, and limiting intake can force the body to burn more protein as an alternative fuel source.
Read moreReplacing Saturated Fat with Unsaturated Fat and Carbohydrates Reduces Risk of Mortality
Looking to bring together the most current scientific evidence on the health effects of saturated fat, the World Health Organization recently conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of 112 publications, involving over 3.5 million participants. The findings showed that replacing saturated fat–found mostly in meat, dairy, eggs, and some tropical oils–with polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat from plant sources, or carbohydrates was associated with significant reductions in all-cause mortality and coronary heart disease incidence.
Read morePlant-Based Diet Outperforms Mediterranean Diet for Environmental Benefits
New research published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health has found that completely plant-based diets can have up to a 44% lower total environmental impact than Mediterranean diets–which are similar but contain small amounts of meat, fish and dairy. The findings led the authors to highlight how replacing animal products for plant sources of protein can be the most impactful dietary change for promoting ecological benefits.
Read moreNitrate-Rich Plant Foods Improve High-Intensity Time-Trial Performance
A recent meta-analysis published in the Journal of Exercise Science and Fitness has shown that dietary nitrates–found in plant foods like beetroots, spinach, arugula and lettuce–can improve performance of high-intensity time-trial performance ranging from 5-30 minutes. This was most pronounced in trials assessing long-term consumption, which is great news for anyone regularly consuming nitrate-rich plant foods like beets and leafy greens.
Read morePlant-Based Diets Beneficial for Gut Health
Numerous mechanisms have been identified to explain the well-documented long-term health benefits of plant-based eating patterns. A recent review study published in the top-tier journal Nutrients describes another potential mechanism: diets rich in plant foods have the ability to improve the gut microbiome–the trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms living in the gastrointestinal tract–which in turn helps to reduce inflammation and risk for obesity and type II diabetes.
Read moreNutritious Foods are More Environmentally Sustainable
A comprehensive study by Oxford University researchers has assessed the environmental impact of over 57,000 food products across four indicators: greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water stress, and eutrophication potential. The results showed that the most nutritious foods - including fruit, vegetables and cereals - also had the lowest environmental footprint, while meat, poultry, fish and dairy were the most damaging to the environment.
Read moreCarbohydrate-Rich Diets Result In Better Performance And Body Composition Measures Than Ketogenic Diets
A large review of 18 controlled trials, pitting ketogenic diets against carbohydrate-rich diets in athletes and well-trained adults, has shown that carb-rich diets result in significantly improved outcomes - not only in time trial performance, but also in one-rep max lifts and body composition measures.
Read morePlant-Based Diets Protective Against Digestive System Cancers
A large review of 49 prospective cohort and case-control studies, with a total of over 3 million participants, has shown that plant-based diets play a protective role in the risk of developing digestive system cancers, including pancreatic, colorectal, gastric and liver cancers.
Read moreShifting to Plant-Based Diets Can Lead to Substantial Double Climate Dividend
A multinational study published in the journal Nature Food has used sophisticated models to predict the impact that shifting towards a plant-based diet would have in high income nations, finding that annual agricultural production emissions would be reduced by 61%.
Read moreOptimal Protein Intakes For Strength Building
A recent meta-analysis, published in Sports Medicine Open, sheds further light on the optimal amount of protein required to develop muscle strength. The review assessed 82 randomized controlled trials and found that the strength-building benefits of increasing protein intake, alongside resistance training, plateaued at an average of 1.5g protein per kg of bodyweight daily – or 120g for an 80kg adult – with no further gains observed beyond this level. This is a far cry from the extremely high intakes often touted online or among locker room conversations as being beneficial.
Read morePlant-Based Diets Improve Cardiometabolic Health
A recent meta-analysis conducted at Copenhagen University Hospital has shown that plant-based diets reduce several cardiometabolic risk factors for adults with overweight or type-2 diabetes. These are important findings, given that 73.6% of adults in the US are classified as overweight or obese and over 11% have diabetes.
Read morePlant-Based Diets Significantly Reduce Land Use, Water Use, and GHG Emissions
Shifting towards a plant-based diet results in significant improvements to three key areas of environmental impact - land use, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions - according to a systematic review published in the journal Sustainability.
Read moreSupplemental Creatine, Not Dietary Creatine, Appears to Improve Exercise Performance
A recent review of the scientific research assessing creatine, published in the International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention, reports that while supplemental creatine can improve exercise performance, the same cannot be said for dietary creatine found in animal products, which also comes with health risks.
Read morePlant-Based Diets and Longevity
Harvard researchers have recently published findings from the Million Veterans Program, a newly launched prospective cohort study designed to examine the effects of genetics, diet and lifestyle on the health of US military veterans. Of the 300,000+ men and women who took part in the research for an average of four years, those eating the most plant-based diets were 25% less likely to die during the study period than those consuming the most animal-based diets.
Read morePlant-Based Diets for Better Air Quality and Health
Plant-based foods are better for air quality and health, according to a study evaluating nearly every food produced on American soil. The paper, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, found that shifting from meat and animal products toward plant-based foods could prevent three-quarters of agricultural air quality-related deaths each year.
Read moreLow-Carbohydrate Animal-Based, but Not Plant-Based Diets Set the Stage for Heart Disease
Long-term animal-based low-carbohydrate diets are linked to a greater risk of hardening arteries, according to a recent study that compared animal- and plant-based diets of varying carbohydrates levels. The study, which was published in the journal Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, found that animal-based but not plant-based low-carbohydrate diets, increase the risk of worsening plaque in the vessels that feed our heart by 45%.
Read moreLower Inflammatory Markers in People Eating Plant-Based
Plant-based diets are linked to lower inflammatory markers, according to a systematic review that compared these eating patterns with more conventional, meat-centered diets. The paper, published in the journal Redox Biology, found that plant-based eating patterns like the Mediterranean diet and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet were linked to lower measures of oxidative stress and inflammation.
Read morePlant-Based Beats Keto Diet for Fat Loss
Recent findings published in the top-tier journal Nature Medicine come from the very first trial to directly pit a plant-based diet against an animal-based ketogenic (“keto”) diet to shed light on how these approaches affect food intake and body composition. The results were clear: subjects who ate a carbohydrate-rich plant-based diet ate more food but lost body fat and retained their muscle, while the same people ate less food but retained body fat and lost muscle when they ate a keto diet
Read morePartnership with Green Sports Alliance
The Game Changers Institute and the Green Sports Alliance Foundation (the foundation arm of the Green Sports Alliance), have announced their partnership to help inspire a cultural shift towards plant-based eating for our planet, our communities, and the next generation of athletes around the world.
Read morePlant-Based Diet Outperforms Mediterranean Diet for Weight Loss and Cardiac Risk
Mediterranean diets, which are based predominantly on plant foods, are encouraged by healthcare professionals around the world for disease prevention. Healthier as they may be, it seems we can do even better. According to a study published last month in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, diets that encouraged people to bypass animal products and added fats completely and focus exclusively on fruits, vegetables, beans, and grains outperformed Mediterranean diets that included plants but also fish, cheese, and other animal-based foods.
Read morePopular Protein Quality Scoring System (“DIAAS”) Should be Avoided for Plant-Based Diets and Exercise
A popular protein quality scoring system commonly used to prop up animal products should not be applied to plant-based diets, according to a new scientific paper. The scholarly review, published in Current Nutrition Reports and co-authored by the GCI team, explains why this approach is poorly suited not only to those who eat plant-based diets, but to athletes as well.
Read morePlant-Based Proteins Yield Same Gains
When people lift weights and consume enough protein, regardless of whether it comes from animal or plant sources, they gain similar amounts of muscle mass and strength. This finding was confirmed in a recent study published in Sports Medicine that pitted young men eating omnivorous diets against others eating entirely plant-based diets.
Read moreBetter Endurance Exercise Performance on a Plant-Based Diet
Entirely plant-based diets were linked to superior endurance exercise performance, according to a recent study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The authors recognized that, “In the general population, there is a popular belief that a vegan diet may be associated with a lower exercise performance due to the lack of certain nutrients in vegan individuals.” Their findings, it seems, “contradict the popular belief of the general population.”
Read morePlant-Based Protein is an Environmental “Game Changer”
Replacing meat with plant-based proteins nets immense environmental savings, according to a study published in the journal Sustainability. “This is proven by the first-ever comprehensive [life cycle assessment] of a whole range of food choices that clearly shows that the highest environmental impact savings lie in the displacement of livestock by plant[s] as a source of protein.”
Read moreNormal Testosterone Levels on Plant-Based Diets
Men who eat plant-based diets have just as much testosterone as men who eat diets high in animal products, according to a study published in the World Journal of Urology. University of Miami researchers investigated the issue, arriving at a conclusion that flies in the face of a commonly held belief about nutrition science.
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