Plant-based eating is cost-effective

Alpro Foundation Supported Research

Prof. Lieven Annemans, Professor of health economics - Ghent University

Billions of pounds could be saved from the UK’s and Belgium’s annual health bill if more people can be nudged to follow a plant-based diet, according to the research sponsored by Alpro Foundation and published in the Journal of Nutrition. An additional benefit is the potential for improved productivity of the nations.

There are different approaches to plant-based eating, from Mediterranean-type diets through to vegetarian and veganism and includes food-based dietary guidelines such as the UK’s Eatwell Guide. In other words, plant-based eating does not have to exclude all animal products, but places plant-based foods such as soya, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds and vegetable oils at the heart of the diet.

Research overview

The study looked at the health and economic consequences of shifting the population's current eating habits to two plant-based eating patterns: a) a plant-based diet with a daily portion of soya foods and b) a Mediterranean-style diet. The researchers calculated the impact of these plant-based food patterns on Quality Adjusted Life Years’ (QALYs), which estimate the number of expected years of good health.

To calculate disease costs, a societal perspective was taken, including direct and indirect costs. Direct costs were classified as those directly associated with the disease or related conditions including diagnosis and treatment. Indirect costs included employment related elements such as absenteeism, and productivity loss due to sickness.

Key findings

The researchers carried out an extensive review of the scientific literature and found that:

• Both plant-based and soya eating patterns reduce the risk of diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and certain cancers

• Diets containing soya demonstrated the most favourable health effects from the two evaluated plant-based food patterns

• If 10% of the total population commit to a high adherence to the Mediterranean diet, societal cost savings of €1.30 billion in Belgium and £5.21 billion in the UK are estimated over 20 years

• If 10% of the total population commit to consuming a high soya-containing diet, the corresponding estimated savings would increase to €1.53 billion and £7.54 billion for Belgium and the UK, respectively

The study demonstrates the potential for governments to significantly reduce healthcare and societal costs if they make efforts to shift their citizens towards a healthful plant-based diet.

"Our research demonstrates that increasing plant-based eating is cost-effective, reduces economic costs, such as hospital admissions and doctors’ bills, as well as increasing the number of healthy years people live, and enabling them to continue working,”

Prof. Lieven Annemans

Conclusions

Prioritising plant-based foods in the diet improves the nutritional quality of the diet and can help reduce the ever-growing incidence of non-communicable diseases which are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. As a result of improved health outcomes, following a plant-based dietary pattern, with or without soya, will reduce societal healthcare costs.

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