N/LAB, Nottingham University Business School, Jubilee Campus, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Division of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Biosciences, Sutton Bonington, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Sci Rep. 2024 Jan 10;14(1):1017. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-50180-7.
Plant-based product replacements are gaining popularity. However, the long-term health implications remain poorly understood, and available methods, though accurate, are expensive and burdensome, impeding the study of sufficiently large cohorts. To identify dietary transitions over time, we examine anonymised loyalty-card shopping records from Co-op Food, UK. We focus on 10,626 frequent customers who directly replaced milk with alternative milk. We then use product nutritional information to estimate weekly nutrient intake before and after the transition. 83% who converted to alternative milk saw a fall in iodine (44%), calcium (30%) and vitamin B12 (39%) consumption, with 57% reducing iodine purchase by more than 50%. The decline is even higher for those switching dairy and meat products. Our findings suggest that dietary transitions - such as replacing milk with alternative milk - could lead to nutritional deficiencies, notably iodine, which, if not addressed, may represent a significant public health concern, particularly in countries which do not mandate salt iodisation.
植物性产品替代品越来越受欢迎。然而，其长期健康影响仍知之甚少，并且现有的方法虽然准确，但昂贵且繁琐，阻碍了对足够大规模队列的研究。为了确定随时间推移的饮食变化，我们检查了英国合作社食品（Co-op Food）的匿名会员卡购物记录。我们关注的是 10626 名经常光顾的顾客，他们直接用替代牛奶替代了牛奶。然后，我们使用产品营养信息来估计转换前后的每周营养摄入量。83%改用替代牛奶的人碘（44%）、钙（30%）和维生素 B12（39%）的摄入量下降，其中 57%的人减少了超过 50%的碘购买量。对于那些切换乳制品和肉类产品的人来说，下降幅度甚至更高。我们的研究结果表明，饮食转变——例如用替代牛奶代替牛奶——可能导致营养缺乏，尤其是碘，如果不加以解决，可能会成为一个重大的公共卫生问题，特别是在那些没有强制食盐碘化的国家。
