The term has been increasingly used in the literature, with a certain flexibility in scientific studies to also include small amounts of animal-derived products, for the purpose of comparing dietary patterns
and interventions, since from a nutritional and health perspective, small inclusions of these products may not affect the final analytical outcomes. Although the term plant-based diet was coined as a synonym of a healthy strict vegetarian diet, the food industry has incorporated this term and defined it as “foods made from plants that contain no animal-derived ingredients”. Within this concept, there is room for the production of food items devoid of fiber and phytochemicals and supplemented with hydrogenated fat, sugar and added oil, as well as dyes and other food additives. Thus, it is important, when designing a scientific study or interpreting the existing ones, to check the concept used by the researcher so as to determine more accurately the effects of the intervention against what would be expected in a typical plant-based profile. It is possible that in a near future, the term whole food plant-based diet will have to be used to remove any ambiguities about this dietary pattern.