German Nutrition Society endorses ‘health-promoting’ vegan diets – Vegan Food and Living
The German Nutrition Society has updated its stance on vegan diets, saying they can offer multiple benefits.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung (DGE) reassessed animal-free diets before coming to its new conclusions.
According to the organisation, it now fully endorses vegan diets for the general population, saying they as long as they are ‘well planned’, they can be ‘health promoting’.
Additionally, the German Nutrition Society now acknowledges other potential upsides of eschewing animal products.
Among them are the environmental benefits, with the Society noting that ‘compared to the mixed diet currently common in Germany, which includes a high proportion of animal foods, a vegan diet is to be considered more environmentally friendly’.
This, it explains, is mainly due to a plant-based diet‘s ‘great potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions’.
It is a far cry from the organisation’s previous stance on vegan diets, which it described as ‘not recommended’ for people it described as ‘vulnerable’ – for example, the elderly and infants among others.
German Nutrition Society and other vegan diet support
Germany has been listed as one of eight countries ‘leading the way in plant-based food policies in 2024’ by international food awareness organisation ProVeg.
The non-profit describes its aims as ‘working to transform the global food system by replacing 50 per cent of animal products globally with plant-based and cultivated foods by 2040’.
ProVeg shared a post earlier this year about which countries are ‘making significant strides in plant-based food policies’.
Speaking about Germany, it said: “In a significant move towards sustainable agriculture, the German government has earmarked €38 million in its 2024 budget for promoting plant-based, precision-fermented, and cell-cultivated proteins.
“By providing such a crucial sum for a plant-based transformation, the German government is demonstrating how important sustainability is for the future.
“This announcement came at the perfect time, as the results of a government survey showed only 20 per cent of Germans now eat meat daily, and other data published by Germany’s Federal Information Centre for Agriculture (BZL) shows a record decline in meat consumption.”
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