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VegEco

Comparisons

Comparisons

Comparison pages weigh exactly two options against the same set of criteria: nutrition, emissions, land and water use, animal welfare, cost, and practical trade-offs in everyday use. Oat milk against almond milk. Tofu against seitan. Wool against acrylic. One question, two answers, the same yardstick applied to both.

24

Comparisons

4

Themes

33

Languages

No labels

Just criteria

Food & Nutrition

Animals

Planet

Living

Nutrition & Health

Terms defined

How we define these terms →
Vitamin B12
An essential vitamin produced by bacteria; reliably supplemented or obtained from fortified foods on plant-based diets.
Omega-3 (ALA / EPA / DHA)
Essential fatty acids; ALA is found in flax, chia and walnuts. EPA/DHA can be obtained from algae oil.
Heme vs non-heme iron
Heme iron comes from animal foods; non-heme iron from plants. Absorption of non-heme iron is enhanced by vitamin C.
Complete protein
A protein source that provides all nine essential amino acids in sufficient amounts; combinations of legumes and grains achieve this over the day.

Comparison pages weigh exactly two options against the same set of criteria: nutrition, emissions, land and water use, animal welfare, cost, and practical trade-offs in everyday use. Oat milk against almond milk. Tofu against seitan. Wool against acrylic. One question, two answers, the same yardstick applied to both.

We do not declare winners. Almost every real comparison in this field depends on what you are optimising for — a plant milk with the lowest water footprint is rarely the one with the best protein figure — so each page states the criteria explicitly and lets you weigh them for your own situation.

The criteria we apply

Environmental figures come from published life-cycle assessments, and we say so when studies disagree, because they frequently do: the same crop grown in two regions can differ several-fold in water intensity. Nutrition figures come from standard composition tables rather than manufacturer marketing. Welfare assessments describe the production system, not the label on the packet.

Why context beats a verdict

A comparison that produces a single winner has usually hidden its assumptions. Water scarcity matters enormously in one region and marginally in another. Protein quality matters more for an older reader than for a young athlete with an abundant diet. Price is decisive for some households and irrelevant to others. Our pages surface those dependencies instead of averaging them away.

How to read the trade-offs

Start by deciding which one or two criteria actually govern your choice, then read only those rows carefully. If two options are close on your priority criterion, the honest conclusion is that the choice does not matter much — and the difference between either of them and the conventional animal-derived alternative is usually far larger than the difference between them.

Criteria used on every comparison page

  • Nutrition

    What it measures
    Composition per realistic serving
    Common pitfall
    Comparing fortified to unfortified

  • Emissions

    What it measures
    Greenhouse gases across the life cycle
    Common pitfall
    Ignoring land-use change

  • Water

    What it measures
    Blue and green water demand
    Common pitfall
    Averaging across very different regions

  • Land

    What it measures
    Area required per unit of output
    Common pitfall
    Omitting feed production

  • Welfare

    What it measures
    The production system involved
    Common pitfall
    Trusting a label instead of the system

  • Cost & use

    What it measures
    Price and everyday practicality
    Common pitfall
    Ignoring waste and shelf life

Questions people ask

Why don't your comparisons pick a winner?
Because the answer depends on the criterion you care about. We give you the same evidence on both options and make the trade-offs explicit rather than hiding a value judgement inside a verdict.
Where do the environmental numbers come from?
Published life-cycle assessments and national inventories, cited in the underlying articles. Where credible studies disagree, we report the range instead of picking the most convenient figure.
Do comparisons account for regional differences?
Yes, and each edition is written for its own readers, so the Spanish and Indian editions may reach different practical conclusions on the same pair because their supply chains genuinely differ.
How often are comparisons revised?
Whenever new assessments materially change a figure. The URL stays stable so links and citations continue to work.