The future of healthcare is plant-based
The key to a healthy diet is eating a variety of whole plant foods. For decades, we’ve been told to eat our fruits and vegetables, for good reason! Diet affects nearly every aspect of health.
About PAN
The Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN) empowers health professionals, the public, and policymakers with evidence-based knowledge that whole food, plant-based nutrition promotes health and prevents and treats disease.
Effects of poor diet
In the United States:
- 74% of adults and 41% of youth are overweight or obese
- 90% of type 2 diabetics are overweight or obese
- 45% of adults and 1.3 million adolescents² have high blood pressure, a preventable risk factor for stroke and cardiovascular disease
Diet recommendations ARE plant-based
This estimate is similar to a healthy, nutritionally-adequate diet that follows the U.S. guidelines3 (when calcium-enriched soy milk replaces dairy) and many international recommendations on nutrition.4
Can you get adequate nutrition from a plant-based diet?
How does your diet impact the planet?
The most comprehensive research on human health and environmental sustainability shows a healthy diet is plant-based.¹
Eating more plants and fewer animal products – particularly meat and dairy – reduces animal suffering and use of natural resources. A plant-based diet is recommended as the best way to mitigate environmental damage and improve human health.1, 6-7
A program of the Physicians Association for Nutrition
Nutrition for Families supports health professionals and families in the development and implementation of healthful plant-based diets, particularly during the first 1,000 days – pregnancy and the first two years of life.
For Families
Support your family’s health with a plant-based diet
Nutrition for Families provides tools to help you:
- Learn how to design a diet that supplies all of your needs during pregnancy and lactation
- Gain confidence in putting together diets that support optimal growth and development throughout childhood
- Learn how to balance vegetarian and vegan diets to meet nutrient needs
- Discover ways to fine-tune plant-based diets, including strategies to promote healthful eating habits in children
- Pick up tips that will save you time and money, and ways to make healthy eating a lifestyle
- Get inspired by delicious, nutritious meals your family will want to try
- Be part of the solution to reduce our impact on the planet with more sustainable food choices, and ways to decrease food waste
For Health Professionals
Help your patients make healthy food choices for optimal growth and development
Nutrition for Families provides evidence-based resources on plant-based diets to support you and your patients. Find out about:
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- The importance of nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life and beyond
- Promoting positive health outcomes with plant-based diets from pre-conception to adulthood
- Ensuring nutritional adequacy and optimal growth and development in children being raised on plant-based diets
- Assessment and therapeutic options for key nutrients in plant-based diets
- Appropriate supplementation for those eating predominately or exclusively plant-based
- Resources to help you support patients’ dietary change for optimal health
- The latest research supporting our evidence-based recommendations
2. High Blood Pressure in Kids and Teens. Center for Disease Control. Page last reviewed: Feb 24, 2020. Accessed Sept 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/youth.htm
3. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. Available at https://DietaryGuidelines.gov.
4. Herforth et al. Am Soc Nutr. 2019;10:590-605.
5. Melina et al. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2016 Dec; 116(12):1970-1980.
6. UN Environmental Programme
7. Mekonnen et al. Ecosystems 2012;15:401-415.