A cross-sectional study of the commercial plant-based landscape across the US, UK and Canada.

Guess, N.; Klatt, K.; Wei, D.; Williamson, E.; Ulgenalp, I.; Trinidade, O.; Kusaslan, E.; Yilidrim, A.; Gowers, C.; Guard, R.; Mills, C.

doi:10.1101/2022.04.08.487708

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2022.04.08.487708

A cross-sectional study of the commercial plant-based landscape across the US, UK and Canada.

Guess, N.·Klatt, K.·Wei, D.·Williamson, E.·Ulgenalp, I.·Trinidade, O.·Kusaslan, E.·Yilidrim, A.·Gowers, C.·Guard, R.·Mills, C.

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Abstract

As plant-based foods comprise an ever-increasing proportion of the diet, understanding the nutritional composition of these products is critical. In this study we assess the nutritional content of all commercial plant-based products across multiple sectors (supermarkets, fast food & sit down restaurants, food delivery companies and manufacturers) in the US, UK and Canada. We identified 3488 unique products. Across all sectors, 45% of main meals had >15g protein, 60% had <10%kcal from saturated fat; 29% had >10g fibre per meal; 86% had <1000mg sodium. At restaurants, meat-based main meals were significantly higher in protein and sodium compared to vegetarian and vegan meals. The meat-based options were also significantly higher in saturated fat than the vegan but not vegetarian options. We conclude that plant-based items tend to be lower in saturated fat and sodium than their meat-based counterparts but improvements are needed to optimise their nutritional composition.

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Guess, N., Klatt, K., Wei, D., Williamson, E., Ulgenalp, I., Trinidade, O., Kusaslan, E., Yilidrim, A., Gowers, C., Guard, R., Mills, C.. 2022-04-11. A cross-sectional study of the commercial plant-based landscape across the US, UK and Canada.. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.04.08.487708

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