The latest study by Centro Vegetariano (CV), carried out in September 2017 by AC Nielsen, allowed us also to look into the perception that Portuguese people have of vegetarianism.
When asked about the nutritional side of a plant-based food, 42% of the Portuguese agree that the latter provides us with all the necessary nutrients to stay healthy. 39% of those revealed that they know at least one person who follows a 100% plant-based diet.
Such significant results show that the population is more open to the idea of following a plant-based diet. This is consistent with the more and more usual advice to lower the intake of meat suggested by international organizations. For example, the World Health Organization recently announced that processed and red meat intake is linked with a greater risk of several types of cancer (1). The new Belgian food pyramid also advocates for a greater vegetable intake (2) and levels the nutritional value of certain types of meat with that of junk food (average pizzas or biscuits and so on).
Nielsen’s study for CV used a stratified random sample. 2000 home interviews to individuals of both sexes aged between 15 to 65 years old living in mainland Portugal were conducted with an expected maximum margin error of +/- 2.2 for a degree of confidence of 95%. Such interviews were conducted in september 2017.
Text & translation by Laura Ayuso, proof-read by Dr David Weseloh.
Insert date: 2017-11-16 Last update: 2017-11-16
