Meatless Monday RD Survey on Plant-Based Eating Trends

As you know, I’m a huge fan of Meatless Monday, as well as supporting my community of registered dietitians. So I was really interested to read about the new survey Meatless Monday did among dietitians exploring the plant-based trend. The survey of over 100 RDs was conducted by The Monday Campaigns, the non-profit public health organization behind the popular Meatless Monday initiative.

“Registered dietitians work with consumers day in and day out and are well-informed about their needs and attitudes,” said Diana Rice, RD, The Monday Campaigns’ associate director of nutrition communications. “To help us stay abreast of the latest plant-based eating trends, consulting with registered dietitians was the clear choice.”

The survey analyzed RDs’ insights into what consumer think about protein consumption, plant-based nutrition information on social media, and up-and-coming trends in plant-based eating. Here’s what they found.

Protein Confusion

On protein, the RDs revealed why they think the general public still consumes too much of it. Although data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) show that most Americans meet or exceed their daily protein needs, protein consumption remains an increasingly hot trend. Overwhelmingly, the RD respondents stated that confusion over how much protein is needed in the average diet (83%) as well as confusion over the quality of protein from plant-based sources (67%) are the primary reasons many consumers continue to eat so much meat for protein.

Social Media Credibility

Could consumers be garnering their misperceptions about protein from social media? The survey also revealed that dietitians are becoming increasingly concerned about where consumers are getting their information about plant-based eating. Over 90% of respondents indicated that social media is consumers’ top source of plant-based diet information, yet only 2% ranked the information that consumers receive about plant-based diets on social media as “mostly credible.”

Meaning of Plant-Based

Perhaps consumers need more guidance over what a plant-based diet is, precisely. While two out of three of the RDs responded that they believed consumers understood that the term “plant-based” diet referred to a diet consisting primarily of plant foods, the remaining third suggested that terms including “plant-centric” and “mostly vegetarian” would better convey this style of healthy eating. Some went on to suggest that “plant-based” is an adequate term, but nutrition professionals need to do more work educating consumers on what it means.

Fermented Foods: Rising Trend?

In terms of the hottest up and coming plant-based food trends, the RDs named fermented foods as the next rising trend, though seeds and aquafaba (chickpea water) placed second and third. RDs kept it conventional with their recommendations of plant-based substitutes for meat, naming beans, lentils, nuts and tofu as their top picks over meat analogues such as chick’n strips and beefless crumbles, which were selected by only 9% of respondents.

“We’re very happy to have this expert group weigh in on plant-based nutrition trends as we head into 2017,” Rice said. “We hope to use these insights to reach even more people with the benefits of Meatless Monday.”

ABOUT MEATLESS MONDAY
Meatless Monday is a nonprofit public health initiative of The Monday Campaigns, a nonprofit working in association with The Lerner Centers for Public Health Promotion at Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Syracuse universities. The campaign seeks to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer and conserve valuable environmental resources by encouraging the public to cut back on meat consumption one day a week. The campaign is founded on research that demonstrates that Monday is the day we are most primed to start and sustain a healthy new behavior. Since its launch 13 years ago, Meatless Monday has become an international movement with support from schools, celebrities, restaurants, and organizations around the world.

Image: Earthbound Farm Stand, Carmel Valley, Sharon Palmer, RDN