AScopingReviewoftheEnvironmentalImpacts andNutrientCompositionofPlant-BasedMilks

Abstract

Dairy milk is a ubiquitous nutrient-dense beverage and ingredient, especially in Western diets. However, consumers are increasingly seeking alternativestodairy,calledplant-basedmilks(PBMs),toavoidallergens,pursueaplant-baseddiet,orreducetheirenvironmentalimpacts.Thebase ingredients used in PBMs have a wide range of environmental impacts, which may translate to substantial variation across the impacts associated with PBMs themselves. To assess the state of the literature on this topic, we performed a scoping review of the environmental impacts of PBMs, followingtheguidelinesofthePreferredReportingItemsforSystematicReviewsandMeta-Analysesextensionforscopingreviews.Recentgrowth inthevarietyofPBMsavailablemeansthatthereisunlikelyyetenoughdataforconclusivestatementsregardingenvironmentalimpactsofallPBM types,whichmakesthistopicappropriateforascopingreview.Weincludedallrelevantdocumentsfoundthroughsearchingscholarlydatabases. Wefound20studiescovering6typesofPBMs,buttheliteraturedoesnotexaminemanyothertypesofPBMs.Allstudiesexaminedusethelifecycle assessmentmethodology.Themostdataregardingenvironmentalimpactswereavailableforsoy-andalmond-basedmilks,andthemostcommon impact quantified was greenhouse gas emissions. We also examined the nutrient composition of PBMs compared with dairy using data from the USDA. PBMs attempt to replicate the organoleptic properties of dairy but often do not exactly match the nutrient profile of dairy. We identified a needfortheapplicationofastandardizedmethodologytofacilitatemorecomprehensiveassessmentofenvironmentalimpactsofthewidevariety ofPBMsavailable,whicharepresentedasenvironmentallypreferabletodairy