Plant-based Policy Centre

A new report by the National Research Council of Canada shows increasing demand for plant-based foods and huge growth in the economic value of the plant-based protein industry worldwide. As indicated by the report, 40% of Canadians are incorporating more plant-based foods into their diets, and this growing demand for plant-based protein is largely driven…

More than 11,000 scientists have published a new declaration stating “clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency.” Despite decades of acknowledgements that climate trends are alarming, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rapidly rise. The authors state that “we must change how we live.” The authors propose six inter-related changes that governments,…

The Journal of the American Heart Association has published yet another study showing that plant-based diets are associated with a significant decrease in risk of cardiovascular disease and general mortality. Unlike previous studies which focused on narrower groups of people, this one was conducted with data from the general population, making its findings more applicable…

A new report by the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says strategies to mitigate climate change will fall short if they do not include near-term plans to overhaul farming practices and reduce meat consumption on a large scale. The report’s Summary for Policymakers points out that food solutions to climate change, such as…

A new study by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has found that replacing meat, dairy and eggs with healthy plant-based foods could significantly reduce our chances of developing type-2 diabetes. The meta-study reviewed evidence from nine published studies involving over 300,000 participants, and found that, in addition to reducing risk…

Dairy Farmers of Canada has removed ads falsely stating that there are no growth hormones in Canadian milk following complaints to Advertising Standards Canada—the advertising industry’s self-regulating body. The ads have been running across Canada. All dairy contains naturally occurring insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which is intended to promote rapid growth in calves. Dairy…

After years of research analysis, stakeholder and public consultation, and message testing, Health Canada has published an updated version of Canada’s Food Guide. According to the new food guide, the foundation for healthy eating is: Vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and protein foods should be consumed regularly. Among protein foods, consume plant-based more often. Foods that…

The Government of Canada has announced it will invest $153 million, matched dollar-for-dollar by the private sector, to make Canada a world leader in the growing market for plant-based proteins. The funding goes towards creating the Protein Industries Canada Supercluster, and will create more than 4,500 jobs and add more than $4.5 billion to Canada’s…

A groundbreaking new report, put together by 37 world-leading scientists over the span of three years, has found that “a radical transformation of the global food system is urgently needed.” The EAT-Lancet Commission has proposed the “planetary health diet”: an eating pattern that includes “a diversity of plant-based foods, low amounts of animal source foods,…

Health Canada is preparing to release a modernized version of Canada’s Food Guide in 2018 – the first update in more than a decade – and its preliminary Guiding Principles document signals a marked departure from previous Food Guides, which have been the target of criticism for what many describe as outdated advice based on…