Healthful vs. Unhealthful Plant-Based Restaurant Meal
Vegan/vegetarian (VEG) restaurants and VEG options in omnivore (OMNI) restaurants may serve
unhealthful plant-based food that may be
more harmful than a typical American diet.
Report on
Evaluated 278 VEG and 283 OMNI restaurants.
A full menu (10 or more plant-based entrées) was available in 59% of the VEG, but only 16% of the OMNI (p < 0.0001). Zero healthful options occurred in 27% of OMNI, but only
14% of VEG (p = 0.0002). The mean healthy
entrée count for all restaurants was 3.2, meaning that, on average, there were only about three healthful plant-based choices of entrées on the menu, significantly
more in VEG (4.0 vs. 2.4 p < 0.0001). The most common entrée reduction was for refined grains (e.g., white flour in veggie-burger buns or white rice in Asian entrées, n = 1408)
, followed by fried items (n = 768)
and saturated fat (n = 318). VEG restaurants had a significantly higher frequency of adequate VEG options (≥7 options, 24% vs. 13%, p = 0.0005).
Conclusions: Restaurants listed as VEG have a slightly higher number of healthful entrées than OMNI restaurants, which offer more limited vegan/vegetarian options. Given the published relationship between unhealthful dietary patterns, chronic illness, and mortality,
we propose that detailed nutrition
facts be publicly available for every restaurant
Fried Foods
The health concerns surrounding the consumption of fried food center on its markedly increasing fat content and carcinogenic potential Given these concerns and epidemic planetary levels of obesity and metabolic syndrome, the presence of fried foods in an entrée was assigned a −1 score. However, for this study, stir-fried and pan-fried were not scored as deep-fried due to the lower oil content, but “battered” and “crispy” items were considered deep-fried, unless otherwise specified on the menu.
Ref
Nutrients. 2025 Feb 20;17(5):742. doi: 10.3390/nu17050742
Healthful vs. Unhealthful Plant-Based Restaurant Meals
Kim A Williams 1,*, Amy M Horton 1, Rosella D Baldridge 2, Mashaal Ikram 3
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