Tofu: The Humble Champion of Protein

RITURAJ PHUKAN

“Tofu has beaten 19 other popular protein sources in a new scientific scoring system that considers nutrition, affordability and environmental impact.”

Every vegan has heard it. Every vegetarian has absorbed it with a patient sigh. “Where do you get your protein?” The question follows plant-based eaters like a shadow, persistent and largely misplaced. But now, a new tool from a behavioural scientist at the University of Cambridge offers a robust answer, and the results are rather remarkable. Tofu, that unassuming block of pressed soybean curd, has been crowned the best all-round source of protein in a fresh ranking that looks well beyond simple protein content.

The new Better Protein Institute Score, developed by Dr Chris Macdonald, does something that existing measures have largely failed to do. It brings the whole picture into focus. The score compared 20 popular protein-rich foods using a wide range of measures that fall into two broad categories: people and planet. Nutritional quality, affordability, greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water use were all considered. And the leaderboard tells a striking story. Tofu took the number one spot, followed by chia seeds, beans and quinoa. Every single food in the top 20 percent of the overall ranking was plant-based. At the other end sat the animal-derived proteins, with mozzarella, lamb, beef and cheddar filling the bottom four positions. Cheddar received the lowest overall score of the lot.

Why Tofu?

The work was published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems and introduces the first version of this scoring system. Macdonald argues that tools like nutritional traffic-light labels and carbon-footprint scores can be useful, but they only tell part of the story. A food might look healthy when judged on one single measure while carrying a much larger environmental footprint. The BPI Score solves this by grouping several factors into those two broad categories, and tofu came out on top in both.

The Planet Score compared emissions, water pollution, land use and freshwater use linked to producing 100 grams of protein from each food. Tofu achieved the maximum possible score of 16 out of 16. The gaps between some plant and animal proteins were genuinely dramatic.

Producing 100 grams of protein from tofu was associated with around 0.61 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. For beef, that figure was 64.19 kilograms. The land requirements were equally striking, with tofu using an estimated 2.16 square metres per 100 grams of protein against 211.38 square metres for beef. Freshwater use for tofu was relatively low at 14.23 litres per 100 grams of protein, while beans used a mere 0.07 litres and sunflower seeds 6.68 litres. Tofu, chia seeds, beans and quinoa occupied the top 20 percent of the environmental ranking, while mozzarella, pork, cheddar and beef made up the bottom 20 percent.

Nutrition and Affordability

Environmental impact was only half of the equation. The People Score looked at health-related measures including sodium, saturated fat and cholesterol, as well as whether each food provided all nine essential amino acids. This last point is especially noteworthy given the persistent myth that plant proteins are somehow nutritionally incomplete.

While not every plant food in the ranking was classed as a complete protein on its own, tofu was, providing all nine essential amino acids. It is also worth remembering that individual foods do not need to contain every essential amino acid for a healthy diet. The paper itself acknowledges that eating a varied selection of plant proteins throughout the day can supply all the amino acids the body needs.

Affordability and supermarket availability were also folded into the People Score. Lentils emerged as the cheapest protein source assessed when prices were adjusted per 100 grams of protein. When all six People Score measures were combined, plant foods again occupied every position in the top 20 percent, with tofu leading, followed by beans, lentils and chia seeds.

Plant Proteins Dominate

Combining the two scores gave tofu 36 points, the highest of the 20 foods. Plant-based foods claimed six of the top six positions and ten of the top twelve. Cheddar scored just 13 points overall after performing poorly across both categories.

Interestingly, the first version of the BPI Score does not yet factor animal welfare into the final rankings. Macdonald discusses animal ethics separately in the paper, arguing that including them in future versions could create an even greater divide between plant and animal protein sources.

He describes a lose-lose trade-off within animal agriculture, noting that giving farmed animals more space may improve some aspects of their welfare, but doing so can require more agricultural land, potentially pressuring wildlife and biodiversity. The paper also points to the scale of the industry, noting that more than 80 billion land animals are killed for meat globally each year. Future versions could incorporate factors such as antimicrobial resistance and the risk of zoonotic disease.

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The World’s Best Protein?

There are, of course, important caveats. This is the first iteration of a newly proposed scoring system rather than a definitive universal ranking. Affordability was calculated using prices from a single UK supermarket, so the results will not necessarily reflect costs elsewhere. The relatively simple points system can flatten some very large differences between foods, and the list is not exhaustive, with tempeh, seitan and many newer plant-based protein products absent.

Nevertheless, the results add to a growing body of evidence showing that choosing plant proteins can dramatically reduce the environmental footprint of our diets without compromising on protein. And for tofu fans, it is another reason to celebrate one of the most versatile foods in the vegan kitchen. As Macdonald concludes, our protein choices extend far beyond what is on our plates, reflecting the compassion we are willing to show to animals, to the planet, and to future generations.

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RITURAJ PHUKAN : Founder, Indigenous People’s Climate Justice Forum; Co-Founder, Smily Academy ;National Coordinator for Biodiversity, The Climate Reality Project India; Member, IUCN Wilderness Specialist Group; Commission Member – IUCN WCPA Climate Change, IUCN WCPA Connectivity Conservation, IUCN WCPA Indigenous People and Protected Areas Specialist Groups, IUCN WCPA South Asia Region and IUCN WCPA-SSC Invasive Alien Species Task Force; Member, International Antarctic Expedition 2013; Climate Force Arctic 2019 ; Ambassador, Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary. Rituraj Phukan is the Climate Editor, Mahabahu , Managing Editor –Mahabahu Mirror and  the Secretary cum Convenor, Mahabahu Climate Forum.

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