Determinants of real-life behavioural interventions to stimulate more plant-based and less animal-based diets: A systematic review

Facilitating a transition to more plant-based and less animal-based diets would strongly alleviate the environmental impact of food, while plant-based diets can also decrease the health risks of excess meat consumption. So far, little is known about which underlying determinants can most effectively steer consumers to more healthy and/or sustainable food consumption. Gaining more knowledge about underlying determinants gives more insight into why certain interventions are effective or not in promoting healthy and/or sustainable food consumption among consumers. In this systematic review real-life behavioural interventions are investigated that aim to promote more plant-based and/or less animal-based food consumption among consumers. The review focuses specifically on the interventions’ targeted determinants. In total, 48 articles (51 studies) are included in this review. The findings indicate that targeting individual determinants (such as increasing consumers’ level of self-regulation) or environmental determinants (such as modifying portion sizes) is relatively effective to promote more plant-based and less animal-based food consumption. Almost all included studies that aimed to increase plant-based food consumption focus on fruit and vegetables. This implies a need for future real-life intervention studies to focus on plant-based food consumption other than fruit and vegetables, such as legumes or whole grains. Also, relatively few real-life intervention studies have been conducted that focus on a decrease in animal-based food consumption, either separately or in combination with increasing plant-based food consumption. This review is registered with PROSPERO - CRD42019125314. •More plant-based food consumption has health and environmental benefits.•Insights in determinants show why behavioural interventions are effective or not.•Targeting individual or environmental determinants are most effective.•Real-life intervention studies on reducing animal-based food consumption are needed.•Real-life interventions on more diverse types of plant-based food are needed.