More people are choosing plant-based diets — eating more fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains and beans while eating less or no meat or dairy – than ever before. What’s behind the trend?

Lama Lteif, a former nutritionist who is now an assistant professor of marketing at the UNM Anderson School of Management, has devised a framework of four values that drive the trend toward plant-based eating.

Her 2023 article in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, “Plant Power: SEEDing our Future with Plant-based Eating,” shares a new way to look at why people are choosing plant-based diets and the benefits of this shift. Building on data from the 2021 Rockefeller Foundation report to explain people’s food choices, her work features a framework showing the values that drive consumers toward plant-based eating. The framework is called SEED: Sustainability, Ethics, Equity and Dining for Health.

“By understanding how these values influence decision- making, individuals and marketers alike can make better choices for themselves, inform their marketing strategies and give more attention to the issues that mean the most to them,” Lteif explained.

Those who relate to the sustainability value have growing concerns about animal farming and its role in climate change. For those whose ethics affect their eating choices, concern for animal safety and well-being drive meal choices away from meat and dairy. Food equity concerns refer to offering all people affordable access to food and the ability to cook and store the food that allows them to thrive. The dining for health value supports the connection between a plant-based diet rich in fruits and vegetables, fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, with health benefits.

Lteif likens these value-based choices to a seed’s root system, where the “SEED values connect and as a group can influence a person’s eating habits. If embraced by society as a whole, these values can transform systems to be more friendly to our environment, more fair and more nourishing.”