Consumers are increasingly confronted with conflicting information surrounding how much protein they should have and which protein sources are healthiest, most sustainable, and best value for money. Cambridge research has uncovered the truth.

In a paper published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, Dr. Chris Macdonald explored the best sources of protein currently available.

To answer the question, Macdonald had to build a new holistic scoring system that combines measures of environmental impact, health, affordability and availability into a single framework.

Applying the scoring system to 20 commonly consumed protein-rich foods, the analysis found a striking pattern: every product in the highest-scoring quintile was plant-based, while every product in the lowest-scoring quintile was animal-based. Tofu ranked first overall, while cheddar cheese ranked last.

The paper argues that many existing food rating systems focus on only one aspect of a product. While useful, these single-dimension labels can obscure important trade-offs and make it difficult to compare foods comprehensively.

TOFU DOMINATION

Link to open access article https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2026.1677796/full

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
    0·
    6 days ago

    It seems that the biggest impact you can have with a diet change is to just stop eating beef.

    • Dr. Moose@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      5 days ago

      Just stop eating meat in general - it’s absurdly ridiculous middle man between us and our energy source. It’s purely a cultural relic yet people still pretend it’s not.

    • zergtoshi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      6 days ago

      Swap not just beef, but any meat for pulses and you’ve achieved a lot for yourself and the rest of the world.
      And it doesn’t have to be a “100%of the time” situation; each time you do the swap is good.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      6 days ago

      Stop eating steak, you mean. Part of that high number is that there’s only so many steaks on a steer. I mean, beef is still bad but it’s exaggerated in the chart.

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
      0·
      6 days ago

      Beef is only part of the problem, it’s rather bad but all animal products are super high emitters

      If we are concerned about the ethical side of things, swapping to other meats increases the number of animals slaughtered due to lower slaughter weights

      • Hugucinogens@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        0·
        6 days ago

        Yeah, but talking about beef is more about it being a good first step for people to take. Removing one thing from your diet that can easily be replaced, makes it easier for people to start their journey.

        Also, ethics is weird to bring and discuss in this issue, because… “What’s worse”?

        50 male chicks fed to the grinder alive at three days old, plus their 50 female cousins living in hell for 4 months until being asphyxiated alive, for meat,

        or

        four cows being chain-machine-raped, made pregnant, and having their children immediately taken away from them repeatedly, in order to keep the cows producing milk, unmoving and sick, throughout their 5 year life until slaughter?

        It’s all a criminal tragedy. I don’t think it makes sense to compare them, comparison will never make sense, it’s all arbitrary.

        What is not arbitrary, are the methods to wean people off of the habits that feed those industries, and the methods to reduce those industries’ political power.

        • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
          0·
          6 days ago

          I am doubtful advocating for switching one type of meat for another types of meat will lead towards people reducing their meat consumption in the end. I see it brought up way more often as an excuse to not reduce meat consumption

          • Hobthrob@lemmy.world
            0·
            6 days ago

            This is anecdotal of course, but that was absolutely my journey.

            I went from a meat heavy diet to not eating meat the majority of the days, and still trying to gradually lower it further.

            For some people (like me) the barrier to lowering their meat consumption has more to do with having to learn a whole new paradigm of cooking, than being super invested in meat itself.

            In case like mine it really helps to do the changes little steps at a time, where you make just one relatively small change at a time, learn how to cook with that change in mind, and then move onto the next relatively small change. It allows me some time to learn to cook with the new ingredients/new allocation of ingredients, and make food I actually want to eat in the long run, so it becomes way easier to keep it up.

            • IamMoonPie@lemmy.world
              0·
              5 days ago

              I agree, I’m Autistic and had an eating disorder as a teenager. It takes a lot for me to leave my safe foods behind. Not because I don’t sincerely care about ethics and the environment but I also need to be alive and healthy.

              And then I met my awesome partner who hates meat and we started cooking and experimenting together. It hasn’t been over night but just one meal at a time I’ve totally changed my eating habits!

              [EDITED: my partner hates meat, he doesn’t hate me— as far as I know.]

      • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
        0·
        6 days ago

        I was commenting strictly based on the charts in the article. Beef seems to be the worse, by far.