Voinea Lelia, Badea Ana-Maria, Dina Răzvan, Popescu Dorin Vicențiu, Bucur Mihaela, Negrea Teodor Mihai
The Faculty of Business and Tourism, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 41 Dacia Blvd., Sector 1, 010404 Bucharest, Romania.
Foods. 2025 Aug 23;14(17):2942. doi: 10.3390/foods14172942.
Plant-based diets are increasingly attracting attention as they play a significant role in human health and environmental sustainability and are believed to be key components of sustainable food systems. In the present study, both pros and cons of the adoption of plant-based diets are analyzed using a bibliometric method integrated with a qualitative examination of the scientific literature. For the bibliometric study, Bibliometrix software was utilized, examining 3245 scientific articles, downloaded from the Scopus database, and printed between the years 1957 and 2025. The analyses were conducted using R software, version 4.4.1, with access to the Bibliometrix package, version 4.1. The results indicate a remarkable rise, in the last two decades, in the scholarly focus on the influence of plant-based diets on the individual's health condition as well as the environment. Keyword co-occurrence studies and international collaborations demonstrate a dominance of research focus in both the United States and Europe, with significant contributions from the Asia-Pacific region. Furthermore, the current work offers qualitative identification of the benefits of plant diets from various perspectives like nutritional, economic, ecological, and cultural. It also explores the main dissuaders from adhering to these diets, including perceived nutritional hazards, cost perceptions, low availability, and social prohibitions. Findings emphasize that, in spite of all the barriers, plant food-based diets have a wide-ranging ability to provide tangible benefits at both the individual and population levels, and documented in the scientific literature are recommendations of expert-led education programs, economic incentives, and judiciously framed public policies to overcome these barriers and to make this transition possible towards sustainable food choices. Findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the current lines of inquiry and stage the subsequent work on how to motivate sustainability among the general population.
植物性饮食因其对人类健康和环境可持续性具有重要作用，越来越受到关注，并被认为是可持续食品系统的关键组成部分。在本研究中，采用文献计量法并结合对科学文献的定性考察，分析了采用植物性饮食的利弊。对于文献计量研究，使用了Bibliometrix软件，该软件对从Scopus数据库下载的、发表于1957年至2025年的3245篇科学文章进行了考察。分析使用的是R软件4.4.1版本，并通过Bibliometrix包4.1版本进行。结果表明，在过去二十年中，学术界对植物性饮食对个人健康状况及环境影响的关注显著增加。关键词共现研究和国际合作表明，美国和欧洲在研究重点方面占据主导地位，亚太地区也有重要贡献。此外，当前的研究从营养、经济、生态和文化等多个角度对植物性饮食的益处进行了定性识别。研究还探讨了阻碍人们坚持这些饮食的主要因素，包括感知到的营养风险、成本认知、可获得性低以及社会限制。研究结果强调，尽管存在各种障碍，但以植物性食物为主的饮食在个人和群体层面都具有广泛的能力带来切实益处，科学文献中记录了由专家主导的教育项目、经济激励措施以及精心制定的公共政策建议，以克服这些障碍并实现向可持续食物选择的转变。研究结果全面展现了当前的研究方向，并为后续如何在普通人群中推动可持续发展的工作奠定了基础。
