Do you know exactly what nutritional yeast is? An article in a previous issue of VRG’s Journal answers this question and also provides the following vegan recipes containing nutritional yeast:
Lemon Rice Soup
Tempeh Mushroom Casserole
Mushroom Gravy
Tofu Pimento Spread
Spicy Nacho “Cheese” Dip
Tofu Dip
Baked Lima Beans

Read the article here:
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2017issue3/2017_issue3_nutritional_yeast.php

Subscribe to Vegan Journal by visiting: https://www.vrg.org/member/

Below is a list of some of the vegan chicken-style products available today.

Alpha Foods offers Original Chik’n Nuggets Sizzlin’ Spicy Chik’n. Chick’n Strips, Crispy Chick’n Patties, and Sizzlin’ Spicy Chik’n Patties. For more details, see: https://www.eatalphafoods.com/products#NUGGETS

Better Chew offers Fried Chicken Nuggets. See: https://eatbetterchew.com/

Beyond Chicken offers Beyond Chicken Tenders, Nuggets, Fillets, and more. For details, see: https://www.beyondmeat.com/en-US/products/beyond-chicken-tenders

Daring Foods produces Plant-Based Chicken Pieces in several varieties including Original, Breaded, Cajun, and Lemon & Herb. For information, see: https://www.daring.com/

Field Roast sells Classic Nuggets and Buffalo Wings. See: https://fieldroast.com/products/#appetizers

Gardein offers Ultimate Plant-Based Chick’n Tenders, Chick’n Fillets, and Chick’n Nuggets. They also offer Crispy Chik’n Sliders, Chick’n Patties, Golden Chick’n Nuggets, Nashville Hot Chick’n Tenders, Spicy Gochujang Style Chick’n Wings, and Chipotle Georgia Style Chick’n Wings, Chick’n Strips, Teriyaki Chick’n Strips, Seven Grain Crispy Tenders, Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick’n, Sweet and Tangy Barbecue Wings, Chipotle Lime Flavored Chick’n Tenders, and Lightly Seasoned Chick’n Scallopini. For details on all these products, see: https://www.gardein.com/chickn-and-turky

Hungry Planet produces Chicken Pattie sand Chicken Chipotle Patties. Visit https://www.hungryplanetfoods.com/ for information.

 Impossible Foods sells Chicken Nuggets, Tenders, and Patties. See: https://impossiblefoods.com/products/chicken

Jack & Annie’s offers Nuggets made from Jackfruit. See: https://www.jackandannies.com/our-products/nuggets/

Lightlife produces Smart Tenders. See: https://lightlife.com/our-food/?active_filter=chicken

LikeMeat offers Chick’n Wings, Grilled Chick’n, BBQ Chick’n, Chick’n Pieces, and Chick’n Nuggets.
See: https://likemeat.com/us/products/

Lily’s Vegan Pantry offers Ginger Chicken, Chicken Bites, Gong Bao Chicken, Teriyaki Chicken, Lemon Chicken, Smoked Drumsticks, Chicken Nuggets, Whole or Half Chicken, and Chicken Legs. See: https://www.lilysveganpantry.com/Vegan_Chicken_s/1516.htm

Morning Star Farms offers MorningStar Farms® Veggie BBQ Chik’n Nuggets; MorningStar Farms® Veggie Chik’n Nuggets; MorningStar Farms® Veggie Buffalo Chik Patties®; MorningStar Farms® Veggie Original Chik Patties®; MorningStar Farms® Veggie Zesty Ranch Chik’n Nuggets; and MorningStar Farms® Veggie Sweet Mustard Chik’n Nuggets. For details on these products, see: https://www.morningstarfarms.com/en_US/products/chikn.html

Skinny Butcher offers Crazy Crispy Chick’n Tenders and Nuggets. See: https://skinnybutcher.com/

Sweet Earth sells Frozen Vegan Mindful Chik’n. See: https://www.goodnes.com/sweet-earth/products/mindful-chikn/?tag=10951&category=8381

Tofurky sells Chick’n in several flavors including Lightly Seasoned, Thai Basil, Sesame Garlic, and Barbecue. For more information, see: https://tofurky.com/what-we-make/chickn/

VFC Foods offers Chick’n Fillets, Popcorn Chick’n, and Chick’n Bites. See: https://vfcfoods.com/en-us/

Share this handy poster with family and friends. You can also print it out and post it on your refrigerator. See: https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/VeganDietsinaNutshellPoster.pdf

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Hearing loss becomes more common as people get older. Close to 80% of people in the United States age 70 and older have hearing loss in at least one ear (1). In addition to difficulty communicating, according to the National Council on Aging, hearing loss can increase the risk of dementia, depression, and falls which can negatively affect quality of life.

A specific type of hearing loss, called age-related hearing loss, is the gradual loss of hearing that is associated with aging. Most commonly, it is due to a degeneration of inner ear structures. There are many possible explanations for this deterioration including reduced blood flow due to diabetes or hypertension, inflammation, oxidative stress, and exposure to excess noise (2).

Initially, hearing loss results in difficulty hearing higher pitches and the realization that sounds are quieter and spoken words are distorted. As time goes on, hearing becomes more difficult overall (3).

Nutrition may play a role in reducing the risk of age-relating hearing loss. For example, one study found that, in women, an overall healthier diet reduced risk of hearing loss (4). I wasn’t able to find any studies that reported on age-related hearing loss in vegans; however, healthy vegan diets are likely to include many factors that are associated with a reduced risk. For example, higher intakes of fiber and nutrients found in abundance in plant foods such as beta-carotene, folate, vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium have been associated with a lower risk of hearing loss (5-8). In contrast, diets high in cholesterol have been associated with an increased risk of hearing loss (9). Diets with a high glycemic index and frequent use of sugary foods have also been associated with an increased risk of hearing loss (7,10).

Higher intakes of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA were associated with a lower risk of hearing loss (11). Vegan omega-3 fatty acid supplements derived from microalgae are available.

What can you do to reduce your risk of age-related hearing loss? We don’t know for sure but eating an overall healthy vegan diet with generous amounts of whole plant foods has many health benefits and could possibly reduce your risk. Taking a vegan omega-3 fatty acid supplement may help but more research is needed. Despite your best efforts, you may develop age-related hearing loss since other factors such as genetics, noise exposure, lack of physical activity, and chronic diseases may affect your risk (12). Still, a healthy vegan diet offers benefits for human health, for the animals, and for the environment.

References

1. Goman AM, Lin FR. Prevalence of hearing loss by severity in the United States. Am J Public Health. 2016;106:1820-1822.
2. Chen HL, Tan CT, Wu CC, Liu TC. Effects of diet and lifestyle on audio-vestibular dysfunction in the elderly: A literature review. Nutrients. 2022;14:4720.
3. Chern A, Golub JS. Age-related hearing loss and dementia. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2019;33:285-290.
4. Curhan SG, Wang M, Eavey RD, et al. Adherence to healthful dietary patterns is associated with lower risk of hearing loss in women. J Nutr. 2018;148:944-951.
5. Curhan SG, Stankovic KM, Eavey RD, et al. Carotenoids, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and folate and risk of self-reported hearing loss in women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102:1167-1175.
6. Choi YH, Miller JM, Tucker KL, et al. Antioxidant vitamins and magnesium and the risk of hearing loss in the US general population. Am J Clin Nutr. 2014;99:148-155.
7. Gopinath B, Flood VM, McMahon CM, Burlutsky G, Brand-Miller J, Mitchell P. Dietary glycemic load is a predictor of age-related hearing loss in older adults. J Nutr. 2010;140:2207-2212.
8. Lampignano L, Quaranta N, Bortone I, et al. Dietary habits and nutrient intakes are associated to age-related central auditory processing disorder in a cohort from southern Italy. Front Aging Neurosci. 2021;13:629017.
9. Gopinath B, Flood VM, Teber E, et al. Dietary intake of cholesterol is positively associated and use of cholesterol-lowering medication is negatively associated with prevalent age-related hearing loss. J Nutr. 2011;141:1355-1361.
10. Sardone R, Lampignano L, Guerra V, et al. Relationship between inflammatory food consumption and age-related hearing loss in a prospective observational cohort: Results from the Salus in Apulia Study. Nutrients. 2020;12:426.
11. Curhan SG, Eavey RD, Wang M, et al. Fish and fatty acid consumption and the risk of hearing loss in women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2014;100:1371-1377.
12. Tang D, Tran Y, Dawes P, Gopinath B. A narrative review of lifestyle risk factors and the role of oxidative stress in age-related hearing loss. Antioxidants (Basel). 2023;12:878.

The contents of this website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal and Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

photo from Marrygold Restaurant

If you happen to live on Long Island or be visiting there, you may want to check out Marrygold Restaurant in Wantagh, NY. MarryGold offers vegetarian takes on traditional Chinese dishes, such as Lo Mein, General Tso’s, Orange Plant Chicken, and Sweet & Sour Plant Protein; as well as other east Asian favorites like Edamame, Roti Canai, and Malay Curry Noodle Soup. The restaurant is located across the street from Triangle Park. For more information, visit www.marrygoldny.com

You or someone else you know may be looking to shed some pounds. With that in mind, we’re sharing an article we previously ran in VRG’s Journal that will help you lose weight on a vegan diet. Dietitians Reed Mangels, PhD, RD and Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD offer a lot of helpful advice including a chart listing lowfat vegan foods to meet your nutritional needs, a sample vegan menu, and vegan recipes. See: https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2006issue1/2006_issue1_weight.php

To subscribe to Vegan Journal please visit: https://www.vrg.org/member/

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Oldways, a food and nutrition non-profit, has partnered with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) to develop The African Heritage Power Plate. The African Heritage Power Plate was developed using Oldways’ African Heritage Diet Pyramid and PCRM’s Power Plate. The vegan African Heritage Power Plate features fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans and a source of vitamin B12. It minimizes foods with added sugar, salt, and fats. It includes foods that were staples in traditional African diets.

A downloadable African Heritage Power Plate booklet includes recipes for Jollof Rice and Beans, Hoppin’John Salad, and Yuca Fries.

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

In our recent article on the climate footprints of vegan pizza v. meat pizza, we began by noting two astounding facts about animal agriculture:

• 77% of all soybeans grown in the world is for livestock consumption.
• 74% of the global corn crop is animal feed.

Underlying these statistics is another one of even greater importance concerning land use that we didn’t touch on in our carbon footprints article:

• Livestock takes up 77% of all land suitable for agriculture on the planet. This includes grazing land plus land used to grow the crops they eat.

You may think that if livestock took up more than three quarters of the world’s agricultural land, it would at least produce the most food calories and protein available for human consumption. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth.

For all that land use, raising livestock contributes merely 18% of the world’s calories and only 37% of total protein according to an analysis by Our World in Data based on the work by Poore & Nemecek. This is a very inefficient way to feed over 8 billion people.

By contrast, if everyone in the world were vegan, we could reduce the amount of agricultural land needed to feed people a nutritious diet by 75% concludes that analysis. Since it takes almost 100 times as much land to produce a gram of protein from beef versus tofu, you can see how the land savings would quickly add up when everyone converts to veganism.

However, predicting greater meat consumption with an exploding population of nearly 10 billion by 2050, the World Resources Institute calculates feeding them will require 600 million more hectares of land for grazing and feed crops.

On an already crowded planet, where is this land supposed to come from? Deforestation.

According to the World Resources Institute, rates of primary forest loss are still increasing despite the declaration of 145 countries in 2021 to halt and reverse deforestation by the end of this decade. In 2022, 4.1 million hectares were lost. That’s the equivalent of 11 soccer fields per minute and 2.7 gigatons of carbon emissions.

Along with this habitat loss, continued deforestation plunges the world’s biodiversity further into crisis. Experts refer to the current loss as the sixth mass extinction. Currently, one million species of animals and plants are at risk of extinction in the next few decades.

Forests contain the most species diversity of any ecosystem:

• 60,000 tree species
• 80% of amphibian species
• 75% of bird species
• 68% of mammal species

Ecologists warn that the rapid loss of biodiversity is a death knell for human civilization, even more so than the climate crisis. Although the problems humanity are facing threaten human existence, system change can reverse course.

Ending animal agriculture by switching to veganism will remove the need for more deforestation to supply cropland and grazing areas necessary for livestock. Instead, the restoration of natural ecosystems (rewilding) on unused agricultural land can occur – barring more urban development. And with more intact nature, biodiversity will surely rebound.

Everyone wins in that situation.

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Thank you to more generous donors, in 2024 The Vegetarian Resource Group will be awarding $30,000 in college scholarships! Deadline is FEBRUARY 20, 2024.

We will accept applications postmarked on or before FEBRUARY 20, 2024. Early submission is encouraged.

Applicants will be judged on having shown compassion, courage, and a strong commitment to promoting a peaceful world through a vegetarian (vegan) diet/lifestyle. Payment will be made to the student’s college (U.S. based only). Winners of the scholarships give permission to release their names to the media. Applications and essays become property of The Vegetarian Resource Group. We may ask finalists for more information. Scholarship winners are contacted by e-mail or telephone. Please look at your e-mail.

If you would like to donate to additional scholarships or internships, go to www.vrg.org/donate

Applications

Please click here to download a PDF of the application. However, applicants are not required to use an application form. A neatly typed document containing the information below will also be accepted as a valid application.

Please send application and attachments to [email protected] (Scholarship application and your name in subject line) or mail to The Vegetarian Resource Group, P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203.

If emailing, please put your essay in a separate attachment with your first name and last initial. A PDF or Word document is preferred, but if you send a Google document, make sure permission is given so readers can access it. For more information call (410) 366-8343 or email [email protected].

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

Dietary Guidelines for Americans is a document that is produced every 5 years and serves as a statement of current federal policy on the role of dietary factors in health promotion and disease prevention. It is used as the foundation for federal nutrition education materials, by schools, the food industry, and many others.

In an earlier post, I stated that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans U.S.-style Dietary Pattern limits total meat, poultry, and eggs to 4 ounces per day for those with a 2200 calorie diet. This prompted a question from a reader about whether the Dietary Guidelines’ provided any similar limit on meat-like analogs. The reader explained that they meant products like Impossible burgers or other meat-like analogs that were not mainly vegetable- or grain-based.

The Dietary Guidelines identifies “core elements that make up a healthy dietary pattern” (1). One of these core elements is the so-called protein foods which includes “lean meats, poultry, and eggs, seafood, beans, peas, and lentils, and nuts, seeds, and soy products” (1). Soy includes “tofu, tempeh, and products made from soy flour, soy protein isolate, and soy concentrate” (1).

While the Dietary Guidelines suggests replacing processed or high-fat meats with beans, peas, and lentils, no suggestions are made for replacing high-fat or processed meat-like analogs. The Healthy U.S.-style Dietary Pattern suggests that those eating a 2200 calorie diet get 5-ounce equivalents a week of nuts, seeds, and soy products. An ounce-equivalent is defined as 1 Tablespoon of nut or seed butters or ½ ounce of nuts or seeds or ¼  cup of tofu. No definition is provided for an ounce-equivalent of soy products other than tofu. The Healthy Vegetarian Dietary Pattern separates their recommendations for soy products and for nuts and seeds. This pattern suggests that those eating a 2200 calorie diet get 8-ounce equivalents a week of soy products but, again, no explanation is provided of what an ounce equivalent is for anything except tofu.

With greater use of a variety of soy products, including processed meat-like analogs, additional dietary guidance is needed on recommended amounts and serving sizes of these products.

Reference

1. U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. 9th Edition. December 2020. Available at DietaryGuidelines.gov.

To read more about Dietary Guidelines in the United States see:

The Dietary Pattern in Dietary Guidelines for Americans Could Easily Be Made Vegan and Nutritionally Adequate

What Have the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Said About Vegan and Vegetarian Diets? A Look Back

2020=2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Released; Has Both Positive and Negative Features

2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines Released

2010 Dietary Guidelines Released

To read more about Dietary Guidelines in other countries see:

Do International Dietary Guidelines Promote Vegan/Vegetarian Diets?

Mexican 2023 Dietary Guidelines Recommend that 92% of our Plate Should be Plant Foods

Spain’s Dietary Recommendations: Less Meat, More Plant Foods