Barriers and facilitators towards adopting a more plant-based diet in a sample of Danish consumers

Young adults' transition to a plant-based diet as a psychosomatic process: A psychoanalytically informed perspective

This study examined transition to a plant-based diet by young adults and the challenges and conflicts this brings. Interviews were conducted with nine young adults in Sweden and the answers were analysed guided by a psychological method from descriptive phenomenology. The results indicate that the transition to a plant-based diet is a process comprising five dimensions: 1) Exploring new ways of living based on health anxieties, 2) regulating conflicting emotions through differentiation, 3) transforming traditional models into new alternatives, 4) confirming new skills and abilities and 5) integrating experiences and emotions into a whole. These five dimensions reflect how transition to a plant-based diet is experienced physically and emotionally. The results also indicate that plant-based meals and ingredients used in the new diet are loaded with symbols and conflicting emotions. Psychoanalytically informed theory, especially object relation theory, was used in discussing what can happen to the mind during the transition. In a wider perspective, this study provides insights into how a dietary transition can bring stability to the life of young adults and help them endure and master their situation. More research is needed to assess the role of mental health in transitioning to a plant-based diet and to draw more general conclusions, an area where psychodynamic theory can provide insights.

Role of Sensory Evaluation in Consumer Acceptance of Plant-Based Meat Analogs and Meat Extenders: A Scoping Review

Growing demand for sustainable food has led to the development of meat analogs to satisfy flexitarians and conscious meat-eaters. Successful combinations of functional ingredients and processing methods result in the generation of meat-like sensory attributes, which are necessary to attract non-vegetarian consumers. Sensory science is a broader research field used to measure and interpret responses to product properties, which is not limited to consumer liking. Acceptance is evaluated through hedonic tests to assess the overall liking and degree of liking for individual sensory attributes. Descriptive analysis provides both qualitative and quantitative results of the product's sensory profile. Here, original research papers are reviewed that evaluate sensory attributes of meat analogs and meat extenders through hedonic testing and/or descriptive analysis to demonstrate how these analytical approaches are important for consumer acceptance. Sensory evaluation combined with instrumental measures, such as texture and color, can be advantageous and help to improve the final product. Future applications of these methods might include integration of sensory tests during product development to better direct product processing and formulation. By conducting sensory evaluation, companies and researchers will learn valuable information regarding product attributes and overall liking that help to provide more widely accepted and sustainable foods.

Plant-based food and protein trend from a business perspective: markets, consumers, and the challenges and opportunities in the future

The food sector is increasingly turning toward sustainability issues. A sustainable food system should provide sufficient, nutritious food for all within limited natural resources. Plant-based food and proteins are a recent, growing trend setting out to contribute to this challenge. However, food industry stakeholders need to be aware of the challenges and opportunities. This paper reviews the trend from a business perspective. It outlines the global drivers, market trends, market data observations, and consumer behavior factors of relevance, and pinpoints the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) for food sector companies. Findings suggest that the policy and market context is favorable in the near future, but that consumer beliefs, perception and understanding has to change further for the business opportunity to grow on a larger scale. More innovations are needed, in particular in the direction of meat-replacements that are healthy as well as clean label.

Environmentally Sustainable Food Consumption: A Review and Research Agenda From a Goal-Directed Perspective

The challenge of convincing people to change their eating habits toward more environmentally sustainable food consumption (ESFC) patterns is becoming increasingly pressing. Food preferences, choices and eating habits are notoriously hard to change as they are a central aspect of people's lifestyles and their socio-cultural environment. Many people already hold positive attitudes toward sustainable food, but the notable gap between favorable attitudes and actual purchase and consumption of more sustainable food products remains to be bridged. The current work aims to (1) present a comprehensive theoretical framework for future research on ESFC, and (2) highlight behavioral solutions for environmental challenges in the food domain from an interdisciplinary perspective. First, starting from the premise that food consumption is deliberately or unintentionally directed at attaining goals, a goal-directed framework for understanding and influencing ESFC is built. To engage in goal-directed behavior, people typically go through a series of sequential steps. The proposed theoretical framework makes explicit the sequential steps or hurdles that need to be taken for consumers to engage in ESFC. Consumers need to positively value the environment, discern a discrepancy between the desired versus the actual state of the environment, opt for action to reduce the experienced discrepancy, intend to engage in behavior that is expected to bring them closer to the desired end state, and act in accordance with their intention. Second, a critical review of the literature on mechanisms that underlie and explain ESFC (or the lack thereof) in high-income countries is presented and integrated into the goal-directed framework. This contribution thus combines a top-down conceptualization with a bottom-up literature review; it identifies and discusses factors that might hold people back from ESFC and interventions that might promote ESFC; and it reveals knowledge gaps as well as insights on how to encourage both short- and long-term ESFC by confronting extant literature with the theoretical framework. Altogether, the analysis yields a set of 33 future research questions in the interdisciplinary food domain that deserve to be addressed with the aim of fostering ESFC in the short and long term.

Meat Reduction Practices in the Context of a Social Media Grassroots Experiment Campaign

High meat consumption appears regularly in sustainability discourses but finding practical tools for reduction has proven to be challenging. The rise of social media has opened up new pathways to structure political spaces where grassroots initiatives for experiments can take place. Our paper examines how consumer-citizens started experimenting with vegetarian foods in the context of an innovative Finnish meat reduction social media campaign called Meatless October during its kick-off year in 2013. The focus is on participants’ perceptions of the campaign and reflections of the experiment process. We analyzed participants’ blog posts by using a qualitative content analysis. Our results show that the participants were often strongly motivated by the campaign’s sustainability frame. They also saw the campaign both as a communal challenge and an opportunity for political action, sharing know-how and experiences with the other participants. In everyday life, participants’ main focus and worry were in being able to prepare tasty and healthy vegetarian foods, and they were positively surprised by their ability to learn these skills. Participants typically attributed both success and failure in experimenting to their individual capabilities. Overall, our study suggests that the campaign’s public context pushed private practices towards change by facilitating the experimenting process.

Amino Acid Composition of Novel Plant Drinks from Oat, Lentil and Pea

Plant-based drinks (PBDs) as alternatives to milk is a fast-growing market in much of the western world, with the demand increasing every year. However, most PBDs from a single plant ingredient do not have an amino acid profile that matches human needs. Therefore, this study set out to combine plant ingredients to achieve a more balanced amino acid profile of novel plant drinks, by combining a high content of oat with the pulses pea (Pisum sativum) and lentil (Lens culinaris) in a solution. After removal of the sediment, the resulting plant drinks were composed of what could be kept in suspension. The amino acid and protein composition of the plant drinks were investigated with capillary electrophoresis, to identify the amino acids, and SDS-PAGE to assess the proteins present. The amino acid profile was compared against recommended daily intake (RDI). It was determined that the plant drinks with only oat and lentil did not have a strong amino acid profile, likely due to the higher pH of the lentil concentrate affecting which proteins could be kept in solution. Plant drinks with a combination of both lentil and pea, or only pea, added to the oat drink had an improved concentration of the amino acids that were otherwise in the low end compared to RDI. This includes a high content of phenylalanine, leucine and threonine, as well as a moderate amount of isoleucine, valine and methionine, and a contribution of histidine and lysine. An assessment of stability and sensory parameters was also conducted, concluding there was an advantage of combining oat with a legume, especially pea.

An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews on Food Choice and Nutrition Published between 2017 and-2019

The objective of this umbrella review was to provide an update on the latest knowledge in the field of food choice and nutrition. Databases Scopus and ISI-Web of Science were searched for "food choice" AND nutrition. Papers were included if they were systematic reviews published between January 2017 and August 2019 on any subpopulation group. In total, 26 systematic reviews were kept. Data were extracted with a predetermined grid including first author, publication year, country, population group, explanatory constructs (intervention focus) and reported outcomes. Common indicators for outcome measures on food choice and nutrition studies are nutrition knowledge, healthy food choices, food purchases and food and nutrient intake. The most common strategy implemented to alter food choice with a nutritional aim is nutrition education, followed by provision of information through labels. Among children, parent modelling is key to achieving healthy food choices. In general, combining strategies seems to be the most effective way to achieve healthier food consumption and to maintain good nutrition in all age groups.