Health bodies

• The WHO recommends limiting processed meat, because Red and processed meat are bad for you
• The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (US based, the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals.)
• Dutch dietary guidelines
• UK gov commissioned independent report: In 2023, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) published a position statement on processed foods and health: "analyses suggest that UPF categories, including meat and animal products and sweetened drinks, tend to be associated with an increased risk of adverse health outcomes. In contrast, UPF categories including vegetarian alternatives were not associated with adverse health outcomes."
• The Swedish dietary guidelines explicitly advocate for less meat, particularly red meat, and more legumes and vegetables
• Nordic diet recommendations
• Canada's food guide has a section on protein foods that says: "Protein foods, including plant-based protein foods, are an important part of healthy eating. Include foods such as beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, lean meats and poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, lower fat milk and lower fat dairy products."
• Brazillian Ministry of Health dietary guidelines (p31) has a whole thing about eating mainly plants, no food is complete, "in most traditional cuisines meat, fish eggs and other animal foods are consumed sparingly". They say that "Combination of a plentiful variety of foods of plant origin with small quantities of foods of animal origin results in nutritious, delicious and appropriate diets, which therefore are satisfying biologically, sensorially, and culturally."

Environmental bodies

• A Harvard study surveyed ~200 climate experts and found that most believe that livestock farming needed to stop intensifying and humans needed to eat more plant based to reach Paris targets
• The UK's independent Climate Change Committee, 2020 report says we need to reduce meat by 20% to meat our climate goals.

Intergovernmental bodies not dedicated to health or environment

• https://vegconomist.com/health/plant-based-diets-combat-the-obesity-and-climate-crises-says-top-eu-scientific-advisor/
• World Bank, 2024: “Moving from current diets to a diet that excludes animal products could reduce land use by 76%, GHG emissions by 49%, acidification by 50%, eutrophication by 49%, and freshwater withdrawals by 19%.”
• The UN naming increased demand for animal products a top driver of zoonoses.

Misc

• Behavioural Insights team, 2020: The BIT recommend pushing plant based as sustainable

Respected Celebrities and public intellectuals

• King Charles of the UK wrote a Guardian Op Ed championing small-scale farms over factory farms
• "Food Tsar" Henry Dimbleby, cofounder of Leon restaurants, who led the 2020 National Food Strategy report, has argued the UK must reduce meat intake.
  • "However, a recent surge in plant protein research has established a strong evidence base for plant protein viability for muscle and bone strength in active individuals and athletes and aging adults at risk of sarcopenia. For healthy active adults and athletes desiring gains in muscle size and/or strength, there does not appear to be a detriment to MPS nor hypertrophy and strength outcomes, when plant-protein ingestion achieves at least 1.5 g protein/kg/day.7"
  • It does not consider B-12 as a nutrition of concern in a plant-based diet, but it does state that nutrition professionals should provide guidance to avoid nutrient inadequacies.
  • "It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that, in adults, appropriately planned vegetarian and vegan dietary patterns can be nutritionally adequate and can offer long-term health benefits such as improving several health outcomes associated with cardiometabolic diseases."

Related

1 hard-hitting paragraph on why reducing meat is the best thing to do for climate