Consumers who are vegan or vegetarian in the U.S. 2018, by age group

More and more consumers are adopting vegetarian and vegan diets in the United States. Where only 2.5 percent of Americans over the age of 50 consider themselves vegetarian, 7.5 percent of Millennials and Gen Z have given up meat. The same goes for veganism, where the younger generations have taken on the diet at nearly double the rate of older Americans. Plant-based diets A vegetarian diet is one which excludes the consumption of meat and in some cases animal-derived foods such as eggs and milk. A vegan diet is characterized by abstaining from the consumption of all animal products, which can extend to products like honey as well. People who adopt these diets do so for either ethical, dietary, environmental concerns, or a combination of all three. While there are health benefits attributed to these diets, primarily a lower incidence of heart disease, they must be carefully constructed in order to receive the nutrients that are normally ingested from animal products. A recent survey of Millennial American consumers showed that the purported health benefits of a meat-free diet was the main reason for adopting a vegetarian or vegan diet. Plant-based food sales Sales of plant-based foods experienced rapid growth in 2018. Compared to the previous year, plant-based meals sales grew by 28 percent and meat alternatives by 24 percent. The sales values of these categories were worth 210 million and 670 million dollars respectively. Milk alternatives are still the highest selling segment of plant-based foods, valued at 1.6 billion dollars in 2018.

在美国，越来越多的消费者采纳素食和纯素食饮食。仅有2.5%的50岁以上美国人自认为是素食者，而7.5%的千禧一代和Z世代已放弃肉类摄入。这一趋势同样适用于纯素食主义，年轻一代对此饮食方式的接受度几乎是年长美国人的两倍。

植物性饮食
素食饮食是指排除肉类摄入，在某些情况下还包括诸如鸡蛋和牛奶等动物来源食品的摄入。纯素食饮食则表现为完全拒绝所有动物产品，这甚至可能包括蜂蜜等商品。采纳这些饮食的人是出于道德、饮食或环境考量，或三者的结合。尽管这些饮食方式与健康益处相关，如心脏病发病率的降低，但为了获得通常从动物产品中摄入的营养素，它们必须精心构建。最近一项针对千禧一代美国消费者的调查显示，无肉饮食的所谓健康益处是采纳素食或纯素食饮食的主要原因。

植物性食品销售
植物性食品在2018年经历了快速增长。与前一年相比，植物性餐食销售额增长了28%，肉类替代品销售额增长了24%。这些类别的销售价值分别为2.1亿美元和6.7亿美元。牛奶替代品仍然是植物性食品中销售量最高的部分，在2018年的价值达到了16亿美元。