Plant-Protein Diversity Is Critical to Ensuring the Nutritional Adequacy of Diets When Replacing Animal With Plant Protein: Observed and Modeled Diets of French Adults (INCA3)

There is a current trend in Western countries toward increasing the intake of plant protein. A higher plant-protein intake has been associated with nutritional and health benefits, but these may depend on the pattern of plant-protein sources. We hypothesized that the diversity of plant foods could be important to nutrient adequacy when increasing plant-protein intake in the diet. Using data on 1341 adults (aged 18–64 y) from a representative French national dietary survey conducted in 2014–2015 (the third Individual and National Study on Food Consumption Survey—INCA3), we studied the links between plant-protein intake, dietary diversity (using various dimensions), and nutrient adequacy [assessed using the PANDiet (Probability of Adequate Nutrient Intake) scoring system, comprising adequacy (AS) and moderation (MS) subscores]. We simulated substituting plant-protein foods for animal-protein foods using different models of plant-protein diversity. We found that overall diet quality was weakly associated with total and protein diversity and more strongly with plant-protein diversity. Plant-protein intake was inversely associated with animal-protein intake, and positively with the PANDiet and MS, but not with the AS. Plant-protein intake displayed little diversity, mostly taking the form of grains (61% of plant-protein intake), and this diversity was even less marked under a higher plant-protein intake. Finally, modeled substitutions showed that reducing animal-protein intake increased the MS (by 32%) in a similar manner whichever plant protein was used for substitution, whereas it decreased the AS (by 20%) unless using a highly diversified plant-protein mix. These simulated improvements in overall adequacy included marked decreases in adequacy regarding certain nutrients that are typically of animal origin. We conclude that in French adults the current pattern of plant-protein intake is hindering the nutritional benefits of a transition toward more plant protein, indicating that the consumption of plant-protein-based foods other than refined grains should be encouraged.