Researchers at Tufts University published a study on July 9, 2026, in BMJ Global Health. The study analyzed global consumption trends of five healthful plant-based foods among children and adolescents from 1990 to 2018. The analysis used dietary data from the Global Dietary Database, incorporating information from over 1,200 dietary surveys across 185 countries.

The study focused on the consumption of fruit, non-starchy vegetables, starchy vegetables (excluding potatoes), beans and legumes, and nuts and seeds in individuals from birth to 19 years of age. Globally, children and adolescents consumed between 1.19 servings per day for those under age one and 3.55 servings per day for those aged 15-19. There was little variation in healthy plant-based food consumption between sexes worldwide.

Healthy plant-based food intake rates were estimated to be lowest in South Asia across all ages. Countries in East and Southeast Asia had some of the highest rates of consumption across many age groups. Specifically, Vietnam, Congo, and Mexico recorded the highest rates of healthy plant-based food consumption on a per-country basis, while Spain, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom had the lowest.

From 1990 to 2018, the total intake of healthy plant-based foods increased globally and across all regions, with the exception of South Asia. In the United States, daily consumption of healthy plant-based foods decreased with age. Children younger than two in the U.S. consumed 2.7 servings per day, while youth aged 2–19 consumed 1.8 servings per day. This decrease with age in healthful plant-based food consumption was observed only in high-income countries.

Sydney Yearley, a student in the Tufts MD/PhD Clinical & Translational Science program, said, "Dietary habits established during childhood can influence health throughout life, yet we found that consumption of healthy plant-based foods remains low among youth across the globe." Cardiologist Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, said, "When children don't get enough of the right foods, it hurts their bodies and minds, limiting their energy, metabolism, learning, and mood." Mozaffarian added, "Our findings support the importance of identifying gaps and advancing solutions to advance the consumption of minimally processed, healthy plant-foods for children globally."