ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Nutrition and Sustainable Diets
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1578127
Popular vegetarian diets in China: A sustainable dietary option for the globe?
Provisionally accepted
- 1Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- 2Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
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Vegetarian practices have historically been ingrained in Chinese society. However, it is uncertain to what extent these practices correspond to the global concept of a sustainable diet. In this study, we aimed to identify popular vegetarian dietary patterns in China based on the most-viewed online recipes and evaluate their associated food preferences and sustainability characteristics. The results indicated the following: (1) Chinese and Western vegetarian diets differ greatly in their food preferences for starchy staples, fruits, and dairy products. Popular Chinese vegetarian diets are characterized by high grain consumption and low intake of salt and added sugars. (2) Popular Chinese vegetarian diets are rich in vitamin E (32.37-37.36 mg/d), phosphorus (1172.80-1267.20 mg/d), copper (2.21-2.56 mg/d), and manganese (5.89-6.96 mg/d), yet deficient in vitamin A (421.03-565.65 μg RE/d), calcium (438.91-693.36 mg/d), and selenium (28.06-36.90 mg/d). Additionally, there is a risk of inadequate riboflavin intake within a vegan dietary pattern. (3) Compared with Chinese omnivorous diets and Western vegetarian diets, at the 2,000 kcal/d level, popular Chinese vegetarian diets have a lower environmental footprint in terms of land use (3.44-5.95 m 2 ), greenhouse gas emissions (1.76-2.74 kgCO2eq), and freshwater withdrawals (510.87-678.34 L).Our findings serve as a valuable reference for promoting healthy dietary choices worldwide and advancing sustainable development goals related to food security and environmental conservation.
Keywords: China, Sustainable diet, vegetarian, nutrition, Environmental impact, ReCiPe
Received: 17 Feb 2025; Accepted: 02 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Du, Xiang, Ji and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaozhi Xiang, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
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