Towards more plant-based diets

Many studies have recently identified sustainable diets, which are plant-based diets (especially in terms of protein intake) that are far removed from current Western diets rich in animal products. Nevertheless, it is difficult to describe the precise and orderly modalities of possible transitions towards these more vegetalized diets, as we are not able to correctly describe trajectories of change on realistic bases and to evaluate them according to different criteria.

We propose to develop a new conceptual framework, based on graph theory, to study micro-diet changes and answer the following questions:

• What are the characteristics of the different possible trajectories allowing the transition from an observed regime to a vegetated target regime?
• Do some trajectories pose a risk to nutritional security?
• Which trajectories are the most effective from the point of view of nutritional, health and environmental impacts?
• Are there or are there not conflicts between these different dimensions of sustainability?
• How do optimal trajectories vary across population groups, depending on their starting diets, food repertoires, or the extent to which certain food categories can be modified?

This is the subject of Elie Perraud's thesis (PNCA laboratory, director François Mariotti, ABIES graduate school, INRAE funding). With the help of C-BASC, the PhD student will travel to the United States (July 2023) to present his work at the American Society of Nutrition (ASN) Congress and develop collaborations with the Harvard Nutrition Laboratory.