Does ‘plant-based’ mean ‘healthy’? Harley Street nutritionist on vegan meat alternatives

If you want to remain healthy while eating a vegan diet, it’s best to stick to typical vegan foods such as pulses, beans, fruit and vegetables, a leading nutritionist has said.

Foods that are often advertised as “vegan” or “plant based” are also those that are likely to be classed as ultra-processed, according to Harley Street nutritionist Kim Pearson.

She told LondonWorld about ways in which people can shop smart while living a vegan lifestyle.

“In general I would always advise people to stick to whole vegan foods, things that aren’t necessarily marketed as vegan - pulses, beans, vegetables, fruits – because actually it is the foods that are often marketed as ‘vegan’ or ‘plant based’ that are the ultra-processed foods,” she said.

People should look out for products that contain the kind of ingredients that we would use ourselves at home when cooking, and should “make sure you know what is going into the product you’re buying”.

The nutritionist was less enthused about the rise in milk alternatives in recent years, warning that “they can vary hugely in quality”.

She added: “Some brands are literally just the main ingredients, but there are a lot of milk alternatives that are again ultra-processed foods, and might contain things like sunflower oil, emulsifiers, stabilisers.”

Pearson’s main advice the next time you stroll down the aisles of your local supermarket is to “choose food and drinks that have the least ingredients, and ingredients you actually recognise”, due to the dangers associated with diets high in ultra-processed foods.

This is because “there has been a very strong link identified between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and a lot of different diseases”.