An artificial controversy against healthier vegetarian and vegan products

Just as we had published a scientific report on processed plant-based products, we witnessed an almost uniformly one-sided media backlash against these foods. Convinced of the health, environmental and ethical benefits they offer when consumed in place of animal products, we propose going beyond prejudice to prioritise them.

Should we abandon the term ‘ultra-processed foods’? A necessary scientific rethink

Open letter ‘Food and nutrition science should avoid the term “ultra-processed foods” and the “NOVA classification”’, written by two leading figures in food research:

• Hannelore Daniel

  • professor emerita of human nutrition physiology at TU Munich, an expert in nutritional biochemistry and metabolism.

• Thomas Henle

  • professor of food chemistry at TU Dresden, a specialist in the physico-chemical transformation of foods and its impact on nutritional quality.

📄 https://tud.link/ra76uk
✍️ https://forms.gle/tWfh8JpseRS9sUHi6

Processed products can be better for your health

Consumers do not have a clear understanding of food classifications, particularly the distinction between processed and ultra-processed products [26]. The former have made up our daily diet for at least 500,000 years. Since then, cooking has remained the most commonplace form of processing to make food easier to digest. Many common products such as bread and yoghurt are processed foods according to the reference classifications Nova [27] and Siga [28]. Avoiding processed foods to excess can in fact backfire, because, generally speaking, diets restricted to raw products and unprocessed foods are less varied and less safe [29]. Although it is accepted that higher consumption of ultra-processed products [30] is generally more harmful, it is not unusual to find ultra-processed products with a better Nutri-Score than raw or minimally processed ones. There is nothing inconsistent about this, since the harmfulness of salt, sugar or cholesterol depends more on the quantity present than on the number of processing steps or ingredients in the food.

Animal products carry more risk than plant-based products

In a scientific study [31] published in January 2020, Sylvie Davidou and her colleagues used the Siga classification to characterise 24,932 packaged foods sold in French supermarkets (baby foods and alcohol excluded). The ultra-processed food category is divided into three sub-categories: foods with only one marker of ultra-processing that are nutritionally balanced; those with only one marker but that are unbalanced; and those with several markers of ultra-processing and/or an additive with an identified safety concern. The results show that vegetarian dishes are the least represented in the third category (59% of them end up there). By contrast, although they are not singled out for criticism and are reputed to be ‘healthy’, 78% of flavoured yoghurts and fromage frais end up there. Ready meals containing animal products and cured meats, for which plant-based specialities are an alternative, fall into this same category at rates of 88% and 92% respectively. Overall, the more ingredients of animal origin they contain, the more likely ultra-processed products are to be classed as high-risk.

Moreover, the most common additive of concern is sodium nitrite. This preservative is widely used in processed meats and various local and traditional charcuterie products [32]. Classed as a probable carcinogen, it is estimated, according to the Institut National du Cancer, to increase the risk of colorectal cancer by 18% for each additional 50g portion [33] of charcuterie eaten per day. The Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation (ANSES) recommends limiting consumption to 25 g per day [34] (the equivalent of one small slice of ham). According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), although safety levels appear sufficiently protective [35], if all dietary sources of nitrites and nitrates in a conventional diet are taken into account, the acceptable daily intakes are likely to be exceeded in all age groups of the population.

Percentage of foodstuffs by degree of processing according to the Siga classification, across six categories. A0: unprocessed, A1: minimally processed, A2: minimally processed culinary ingredients, B1: processed and nutritionally balanced, B2: processed with a high salt, sugar and/or fat content, C0.1: ultra-processed and nutritionally balanced, C0.2: ultra-processed with a high salt, sugar and/or fat content, C1: ultra-processed with several markers of ultra-processing and/or a risky additive.

Plant-based products contain the fibre we need

As well as being nitrite-free, vegetarian and vegan substitute products contain fibre. 87% of French adults and 98% of French children [36] do not get enough, even though it lowers the risk of overweight and obesity [37], factors implicated in the onset of many cancers. While 16% of adults worldwide are obese [38] (WHO, 2024), in France the proportion reaches 17% [39]. Yet fibre deficiency is also a major risk factor [37] for colorectal cancer. This cancer in particular is far from trivial, as it is the second leading cause of cancer death in France [40].

We eat too much protein

Finally, many people consume animal products every day for fear of not getting enough protein. Yet the modern Western diet contains too much [41]. In France, at an average of 0.83g of protein [42] per kilo of body mass, we consume nearly twice as much as we need [43] for a sedentary man and 2.5 times too much [43] for a sedentary woman. Overconsumption of animal products is such in our countries that a study in the scientific journal British Medical Journal concluded in 2020 [44] that adopting a flexitarian diet, corresponding to an average consumption of 300g of meat per week, would prevent 18.9% of premature deaths (while reducing diet-related greenhouse gas emissions by 74%). A vegan diet, for its part, achieves the greatest reduction in mortality and environmental impact.

The major stakes of a healthy diet

We must recognise just how major an issue a healthy diet is from a public health perspective. Unhealthy diets carry a greater risk of mortality [45] than unprotected sex, alcohol, drugs and tobacco combined. But let us not be mistaken: the main harm of a food does not come in itself from the length of its list of ingredients or the number of processing stages it has undergone. If ultra-processed foods are harmful, it is above all because of their poor nutritional balance (low in fibre, high in fat, sugar and salt). Yet the vast majority of products from the major plant-based steak brands carry a Nutri-Score of A or B. It is therefore absurd to single out these plant-based products, when they are mostly less problematic than their animal-based alternatives.

While all health authorities have been telling us for decades to eat more vegetables, pulses and wholegrain cereals, processed plant-based products have the merit of being able to replace the consumption of processed animal products without upending our taste habits. So, during the summer months, for example, instead of banning barbecue cooking, whose harmfulness we know, let us optimise its use, starting by cooking plant-based sausages on it, which contain fibre and less saturated fat!

Correction of 2 November 2026: figure for obesity worldwide updated (16% of adults in 2024 according to the WHO, instead of 13%).

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