Food. Health, environmental impact... why we should favor plant-based proteins

Legume cultivation (chickpeas, lentils, dried beans, etc.) must be expanded in France. This is one of the conclusions of a parliamentary report presented Wednesday. Philippe Bolo, a member of the Democratic Party (Les Démocrates) party for Maine-et-Loire, and Arnaud Bazin, a senator from Val-d'Oise, studied and compared animal and plant proteins.

From a health perspective , "it is possible to be content with a plant-based diet, as long as you have adequate supplementation with vitamin B12, calcium, iron, zinc, and sometimes iodine," Arnaud Bazin points out. Currently, only 2.4% of French people identify as vegetarians and 0.3% as vegans. "These practices are more prevalent among younger generations, which suggests that their proportion in the population is set to increase," the report predicts.

" Meat consumption should not be demonized because it has its virtues, particularly in terms of protein and micronutrient intake, and remains a pillar of gastronomy," the elected officials insist. The French diet is thus composed of two-thirds animal protein and one-third plant protein, whereas global recommendations are 50/50.

We therefore need to consume more legumes. Especially since "animal protein has a greater environmental impact overall than plant protein," adds Philippe Bolo. As a reminder, livestock farming is responsible for 60% of greenhouse gas emissions in the agricultural sector, particularly due to methane emissions from animal digestion and nitrous oxide from manure. Furthermore, animals are fed plant proteins, "whose massive imports cause deforestation," emphasizes Philippe Bolo. For example, between 2012 and 2021, France imported an average of 3.6 million tons of soybeans per year. The world's largest producers are the United States, Brazil, and Argentina, and the Mercosur countries already export them duty-free to the European Union.

Producing more of them on our soil would therefore help diversify the population's protein sources and improve the environmental impact of livestock farming. "Legumes also have an agronomic benefit, since they fix nitrogen from the air in the soil, avoiding the need for fertilizers," the report also notes. But in 2023, legumes represented less than 4% of the cultivated agricultural area in France. The parliamentarians therefore call for "setting a target of protein autonomy for livestock farming, if not in France, then at least on a European scale." They propose several avenues for this: "Deploy the CAP [Common Agricultural Policy] coupled aid to its maximum level, encourage fodder legumes, and develop varietal research, as legumes have not benefited from the same efforts from seed companies as cereals."

They also recommend continuing the experiment with vegetarian menus in school canteens and that public authorities "communicate on the importance of using varied sources of protein in the next National Nutrition and Health Plan."