As co-founder and CMO of the UK’s fastest-growing wholefood protein brand, Better Nature Tempeh, Elin Roberts is on a mission to help people live healthier lives by making wholefood proteins the norm, not the alternative.
As a business, Better Nature claims it is on track to achieve this, with its supercharged tempeh range now available in over 1,000 supermarkets across the UK.
For the wider plant-based industry, it has been a more bumpy ride, with meat alternatives under fire amidst growing consumer concern about ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Here, Elin gives her reaction to a study that hit the headlines this month that highlighted the health risks of ultra-processed foods, creating a flurry of negative press for the plant-based sector in the process.
Why scapegoating plant-based is not the answer to tackling ultra-processed foods
By Elin Roberts
‘Fake meats and vegan food not as good for you as you might think...’ That is what media coverage of a recent study by the University of São Paulo and Imperial College London would have us believe anyway.
But not everything we read in the media should be taken at face value…
On one hand, it’s great that we’re talking more about the impact of ultra-processed foods. For a long time, food additives and industrial-level processing have increasingly become the norm, and it’s brilliant that studies are being done into the impact of this – education is key to getting people to eat a healthier diet.
At the same time, we need to be careful about how it’s being interpreted. Headlines like this run the risk of creating even more confusion and worry around food than there already is. We’re still in the early days of understanding the long-term impacts of UPFs on our health, creating a culture of fear is not the answer. And we certainly shouldn’t be associating UPFs with entire categories like plant-based.
Like any category, plant-based is hugely varied, with many different products and brands serving different needs – some for convenience, some for indulgence, and others for health. Just as it is clearly misguided to suggest all plant-based food is healthy, to imply that all plant-based food is ultra-processed is a massive oversimplification at best and intentional scapegoating at worst.
What’s conveniently left out of the headlines is the overall impact of eating more plants. The consumption of all plant-based foods together showed no association with any of the related diseases. In fact, by swapping plant-based UPFs with fruit, vegetables and other whole foods, deaths from all other cardiovascular diseases were cut by 15% and the risk of developing those diseases was cut by 7%.
As an industry, we know that eating more plants is linked to better health outcomes – lower chances of chronic health conditions and better gut health to name just a few. We also know that there are so many plant-based foods that are not ultra-processed – beans, pulses, vegetables, and nutritious wholefood proteins like tempeh (which has been a staple food in Indonesia for hundreds of years) are naturally packed with protein, fibre, and gut-friendly prebiotics.
The danger is that many shoppers don’t yet have the knowledge and understanding of nutrition to see the difference. Misleading headlines like this run the risk of associating an entire category with ultra-processed and putting shoppers off from visiting the plant-based aisle altogether.
It also shifts the focus away from ultra-processed animal products, which often have far more chemicals than they need to declare.
For the health of people, the planet and animals, this would be a travesty and one we need to work together to avoid.
What we should focus on is education to help shoppers understand the differences between ultra-processed foods and whole foods so they can make educated decisions about the foods they choose to put in their shopping baskets, in a balanced and informed way.