People who want to remove meat and dairy from their diets would be better switching to beans and peas than opting for veggie burgers and plant milks, a University of Oxford study has found.
Experts looked at several factors when considering 24 meat and milk alternatives, including their impact on health and the environment, and their cost.
They found that natural plant-based foods such as peas, soybeans and beans performed best across all three areas.
In comparison, processed foods such as veggie burgers, meat replacements tofu and tempeh, and plant milks were associated with fewer climate benefits and greater cost than unprocessed foods – although they were still better than animal products.
At the bottom of the list was lab-grown meat, which is not yet sold in many places in the world for human consumption.