From milk to meat, plant-based alternatives are healthier, researchers report

Vegan ultra-processed foods, such as soya milk, plant-based meats and soft margarines, are better than the animal foods they replace, according to a new study.

The study, published in the journal Current Nutrition Reports, examined how plant-based ultra-processed foods (UPFs) compare with unprocessed animal foods in terms of their impact on cardiometabolic risk, chronic disease and mortality. They found that plant-based foods may lower cholesterol and reduce disease risk when used as replacements for meat and dairy.

Health benefits:

• replacing cow’s milk with soya milk can help lower cholesterol and is associated with a lower risk of breast cancer
• substituting meat with plant-based meat lowers cholesterol and body weight, and reduces harmful compounds (eg nitroso compounds) linked to disease
• replacing butter with margarine leads to a reduction in cholesterol, cardiovascular disease and death

In May this year, we reported how a study from Dr Michael Greger found that plant-based meats are an exception to most UPFs in that they are generally healthier than the foods they were designed to replace, with more nutrients, fewer calories and more beneficial plant compounds.

This new study adds to the growing body of evidence showing that compared with plant-based meats, conventional meat has an inferior nutrient profile, higher calorie density, more missing phytonutrients and results in less satiety (feeling full) and more weight gain, gut dysbiosis (unhealthy microbiome) and oxidative stress – which increases the risk of disease and death.

Of course, a wholefood vegan diet is best, but replacing meat and dairy with plant-based ultra-processed foods is a great way to lower your risk of disease as you transition towards a healthy vegan diet.

References:

• Del Carmen Fernández-Fígares Jiménez M and López-Moreno M. 2025. Ultra-processed plant foods: are they worse than their unprocessed animal-based counterparts? Current Nutrition Reports. 14 (1) 115.
• Greger M. 2025. Are ultra-processed plant-based meats better than the alternative? Clinical Nutrition Open Science. 61, 241-252.