U.K. Coffee Shop Launched Vegan Whipped Cream in All Their Stores

The dairy-free whipped cream alternative can be added to any handmade drink at Costa Coffee. It’s confirmed as free from animal products.

 

 

 

 

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Plant-Based Meat Market to Almost Double in Value Despite Recent Drop in Sales

A report has predicted that the global plant-based meat market will grow from $7.5 billion in 2021 to $15.8 billion in 2028 — almost doubling in value.

A significant CAGR of around 15% is predicted over the forecast period, with growth said to be largely driven by concerns about the health impacts of meat. The report notes that studies have associated red and processed meat consumption with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer. However, labelling restrictions that prevent meat-like terms from being used on product packaging could restrain the plant-based meat market.

Currently, alt meat revenue is highest in North America; burgers are the leading revenue-generating products, while chicken alternatives have the largest market share. Over the past year, frozen products have been highly popular, accounting for 56.65% of revenue. Soy-based products still have the largest market share at 48%, despite an increase in the use of alternative ingredients such as pea protein.

A rise in the number of market players could help to further boost the market, along with mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and joint ventures between companies. However, there has been something of a backlash against plant-based meats due to claims that they are highly processed, so producers may need to address this challenge.

Falling sales?

These findings may be surprising to some, given the widespread reports that plant-based meat sales are falling. However, other research has made similar findings, predicting rapid market growth for alt meat products.

The market report suggests that disruption due to Covid-19 and the unavailability of raw materials may have temporarily impacted sales. Other research indicates that the cost of living crisis may in large part be responsible, with many consumers reporting that they can no longer afford meat alternatives despite wanting to purchase them. This suggests that if the crisis passes, or plant-based meat costs come down, sales are likely to pick back up again.

According to Impossible Foods, it is true that chilled plant-based meat sales have fallen, but frozen sales are still rising. The company notes that it has seen record sales every year since it launched.

Whatever the reason for the decline, it’s clear that plant-based meat is not going anywhere.

Source: Vegconomist

 

 

 

 

Vegan Lunch at the Righteous Burger in Tokyo, Japan

Righteous Cheese Burger

Jungle Fries

Chocolate Chip Cookie

The total price is 2,353 yen (tax included).

The Restaurant

 

 

 

 

Long-Term Study Supports ‘Watch and Wait’ for Most Prostate Cancers

Dennis Thompson wrote . . . . . . . . .

A man with prostate cancer who takes the “watch-and-wait” approach has the same long-term survival odds as those who undergo radiation therapy or surgery, according to a new large-scale study.

Patients had the same 97% survival rate after a decade and a half whether doctors treated their tumor or simply put it under observation, British researchers found.

“Survival from prostate cancer was high after 15 years of follow-up, whether patients received radiotherapy, prostatectomy [prostate removal] or active monitoring,” said study co-author Jenny Donovan, a professor of social medicine with the University of Bristol. “Only 3% of patients in the study died from prostate cancer.”

Researchers presented the findings last weekend at the European Association of Urology’s annual meeting, in Milan, and the results were published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine.

For the study, researchers evaluated nearly 82,500 men in the United Kingdom who underwent a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test between 1999 and 2009.

The study recruited just over 1,600 men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer as a result of their screening and randomly assigned them to one of three groups — an active monitoring group, a group that underwent surgery to remove their prostate, and a group that received radiation therapy for their cancer.

After 15 years, only 45 had died — 17 in the active monitoring group, 12 in the surgery group and 16 in the radiation therapy group.

Men on active monitoring were more likely to see their cancer progress or spread, but this didn’t reduce their chances of long-term survival.

As a result, the researchers concluded that men diagnosed with low- or moderate-risk prostate cancer don’t need to panic and rush their treatment decisions.

“Many patients with prostate cancer contained to the prostate could delay or forgo radical treatment without compromising quality of life or longevity,” Donovan said. “All men with low-risk and many with moderate-risk prostate cancer could safely choose surveillance over surgery or radiation.”

The new study adds more fuel to the ongoing controversy over the benefits and risks of prostate cancer screening.

Prostate cancer rates in the United States rose by 3% a year between 2014 and 2019 after two decades of decline, and advanced prostate cancers increased by about 5% a year, the latest American Cancer Society statistics show.

As a result, some experts are rethinking guidelines that currently leave prostate cancer screening a personal choice between a man and his doctor.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) is reevaluating its own guidelines, which recommend that doctors discuss screening at age 40 for men with a close relative who’s had prostate cancer, at 45 for men at high risk of prostate cancer, and at 50 for nearly all other men, ACS Chief Scientific Officer Dr. William Dahut said.

“I actually think having the PSA value does make it much easier to have shared decision-making,” Dahut said. “If the PSA value is very high, that puts you forward to maybe consider an MRI and then a biopsy. If it’s very low, don’t do anything about it. If it’s in the middle, then we watch it for a while. But not having that number, I do think it makes it much more difficult to really give good advice.”

However, Donovan said these new results seem to indicate that more prostate cancer screening will only lead to unnecessary medical procedures.

“Men should carefully consider all the potential consequences of having a PSA test before deciding to have one,” Donovan said. “A PSA test can be followed by a snowball of further testing, including biopsies of the prostate, and, if there is a cancer, the likelihood is that it would be of localized and low-risk. Then there will be difficult decisions to make about treatment, and a ‘healthy’ man can become a ‘cancer patient’ unnecessarily.”

Dahut did note that nearly twice as many men assigned to active monitoring had their prostate cancer spread into other parts of the body during the 15-year follow up — 51 men (9.4%) in the active-surveillance group, compared with 26 (4.7%) in the surgery group and 27 (5%) in the radiation group.

“The fact that people who could have had treatment and could have potentially never had their cancer come back instead waited until the cancer was metastatic. For me, that’s really quite concerning,” Dahut said.

Other experts take a different view, arguing that the study shows even men with metastases don’t necessarily die from their prostate cancer.

“The fact that the greater progression of disease seen under active monitoring didn’t translate into higher mortality will be both surprising and encouraging to urologists and patients,” Dr. Peter Albers, a urologist at Dusseldorf University and chair of the European Association of Urology’s Scientific Congress, said in a meeting news release.

“Active monitoring and biopsy protocols today are much more advanced than at the time this trial was conducted, so it’s possible we could improve on these outcomes still further. It’s an important message for patients that delaying treatment is safe, especially as that means delaying side effects as well,” said Albers, who was not involved in the study.

Patients from all three groups reported a similar overall quality of life, but the negative effects of treatment on urinary, bowel and sexual function persisted much longer than previously thought.

Men who underwent surgery or radiation therapy suffered from incontinence, impotence and other side effects for up to 12 years, researchers said.

“Surgery can lead to reduction in sexual function as well as urine leakage, which may require 1 in 5 men to wear pads for protection,” Donovan said. “Radiotherapy leads to a decline in sexual function, and also some fecal leakage can occur.”

The clinical trial also highlighted flaws in the screening methods used to predict which prostate cancers are likely to grow quickly and spread.

Initially, about 3 out of 4 (77%) of the participants were deemed to have low-risk cancer, but a reassessment using more modern methods showed that a far greater number would now be considered to have intermediate-risk cancer.

In fact, in about 30% of the men their cancer had already spread beyond the prostate.

Dahut noted that monitoring of diagnosed prostate cancers has vastly improved since this trial started, and is much more sophisticated these days.

“We’ve evolved a little bit from the term ‘watchful waiting’ to the term ‘active surveillance,'” Dahut said. “It’s a very active process now where you’re monitoring the cancer and if there are changes of concern, then you reassess whether intervention is needed. Today, we would monitor them more intensively, oftentimes using MRI.”

Source: HealthDay

 

 

 

 

Pasta with Spring Vegetables

Ingredients

4 oz broccoli florets
4 oz baby leeks
8 oz asparagus
1 small fennel bulb
4 oz fresh or frozen peas
3 tbsp butter
1 shallot, chopped
3 tbsp chopped fresh mixed herbs, such as parsley, thyme and sage
1-1/4 cups double cream
12 oz dried penne pasta
salt and black pepper
freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Method

1. Divide the broccoli florets into tiny sprigs. Cut the leeks and asparagus diagonally into 2-inch lengths. Trim the fennel bulb and remove any tough outer leaves. Cut into wedges, leaving the layers attached at the root ends so the pieces stay intact.
2. Cook each vegetable separately in boiling salted water until just tender use the same water for each vegetable. Drain well and keep warm.
3. Melt the butter in a separate pan, add the chopped shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, but not browned. Stir in the herbs and cream and cook for a few minutes, until slightly thickened
4. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water for 10 minutes until al dente. Drain well and add to the sauce with the vegetables. Toss gently and season with plenty of pepper.
5. Serve the pasta hot with a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan.

Makes 4 servings.

Source: Vegetarian Classics

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