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Why plant based diets are not able to support human health over the long term and why most adherents go back to eating meat and other animal foods within a few short years.
Sources of conventional health information seem to be trumpeting the catchphrase plant based diet. Notice the word “vegetarian” or “vegan” is not used perhaps because the vast majority of people find such a diet and its common, associative terms unappealing.
Estimates on the number of people who never eat meat varies somewhere between a paltry 3% and 6%.
Even more telling, the vast majority (75%) who identify as vegetarian end up omnivores again within a few years.
Surprisingly, the Vegetarian Resource Group estimates that only 20-30% of people are good candidates for vegetarianism. (1)
Perhaps this is the reason for this new semantic trend which attempts to repackage vegetarianism simply as “a healthy plant based diet”. Note even cow milk substitutes are now called plant based milk instead of simply dairy-free.
The best selling success of the error-ridden book Blue Zones is one commercial example fueling this semantic change.
There is no doubt that an increase in the number of folks eating a “plant based diet” would result in quite a profit boost for Big Ag and Big Food companies that deal in the various stages of production of textured vegetable soy protein (TVP) and other frankenfood substitutes for meat, dairy, and eggs.
Aside from the big profits to be had should more people embrace this manner of eating, could a “plant based diet” even be healthy?
The 2017 documentary What The Health claims plant based diets to be healthy despite being unable to name a single successful vegan population group that ever existed outside of a few small religious sects that did not reproduce.
Little to No Variety in Modern Food Plants
The reality is that the world today depends on a variety of only 150 food plants. Twenty of these account for 90% of our food. And, of these twenty, only three account for half! What are the Big Three? Rice, corn, and wheat – difficult to digest, grain based carbs that ninety percent of the people who ever lived never even ate!
Considering that there are between 30,000-80,000 edible plants in the world and that traditional cultures such as the American Indian regularly consumed about 1,100 of these, it seems virtually impossible that a “plant based diet” of today would contain enough variety to ensure health.
Surely, a modern “plant based diet” could only lead to nutritional deficiencies and ill health in the long run given these statistics. This especially if a primary source of all those veggies is a daily green smoothie.
Despite the American Indian’s consumption of a wide variety of nutritious food plants from soil that was arguably much richer and more fertile than the monocrop farms of today, guess what? They still ate meat!
What about the hunter-gatherers? They sampled between 3,000 and 5,000 plants and still consumed animal foods as well.
“Healthy Plant Based Diet” is an Oxymoron
A “healthy plant based diet” on only 150 food plants at best and less than 20 at worst? That simply doesn’t add up to anything remotely resembling health according to my logic. Not enough variety by a longshot.
Compare this to a person who consumes foods from wild and/or pastured animals. The plant variety these animals sample throughout the year is enormous, which the person eating the meat benefits from indirectly.
Another salient point is that much of the fresh produce plant based fans are eating is hydroponically grown. Hydroponics is much lower in nutrients than plants grown in rich organic soil.
This is why organizations like the Cornucopia Institute are so against the hydroponic invasion of the USDA Organic label over the past decade.
It seems that the term “healthy plant based diet” is nothing more than a semantic marketing ploy contrived for television personalities beholden to their corporate advertising sponsors to pawn off to an unsuspecting public.
Next time you hear the term “plant based diet” and “healthy” used in the same sentence, feel free to roll your eyes and press “off” on the TV remote.
References
Seeds of Change, Kenny Ausubel
Vegetarian Journal
Cornucopia Institute: Why Organics Needs to Be Rooted in Healthy Soil (NOT hydroponics)
More Information
Vegetarians Suffer from More Cavities than Meat Eaters
All Plant-based Diets a High Risk for Fractures
This is just silly meat industry propaganda. I’ve been vegetarian since 2005. I deadlift 225#. I don’t have any diseases. And I’m not responsible for the cruel and horrific practices of the meat and dairy industry (like separating male calves from their mothers after birth and shipping them off to become veal… Or crushing baby male chicks in the grinder).
Why do those who choose not to eat meat seem to always assume those of us who do eat meat buy from the conventional meat industry that “crushes baby male chicks in the grinder” ???? THERE IS A WAY TO EAT MEAT ETHICALLY…. And, you are not taking the moral high ground by not eating meat. You are just risking your health unnecessarily and buying into globalist propaganda.
I’m glad vegetarianism is working for you, but deadlifting 225 isn’t exactly a health touchpoint! LOL Had any fractures lately? https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/plant-based-diet-high-fracture-risk/
That would be a much better gauge of how things are actually going internally.
If you want to know what to eat:
102 year old Dr. Fred Kummerow Ph.D in food chemistry and professor of food science.
The man at age 102 still had a full head of hair, smooth skin, smooth voice, sharp mind, no divorces or scandals, did not lie about his age like Paul Bragg, sold no books or products to the general public and was able to get the FDA to ban trans fats from the diet.
He ate a balanced diet in all the proper food groups including 2 raw salads everyday and kept fit with strict daily exercise. Yes, he also ate a small amount of animal products 3 times a day for health reasons and longevity.
You make an excellent point … ANY diet that excludes an entire food group is too extreme for the vast majority of people (unless there is an underlying medical condition why this food group is a problem). Such unbalanced food philosophies should be avoided … NO healthy traditional society avoided all animal products. ZERO. NADA. NONE. Even the Jains in India, which vegan groups claim as their own, consume DAIRY. If you choose to be vegan, aka plant-based, you choose to be a guinea pig.
You talk about people moving to a plant-based diet would result in “a profit boost for Big Ag and Big Food” companies, but the biggest of the Big Ag and Big Food corporations are the meat, dairy and egg industries. By eating meat and animal foods we are consuming more total food, as those big ag and big food companies are selling products to the animals as feed. Plant based diets are more efficient and in the long run would cut our total reliance upon big food industries.
Disparaging plant based diets as a con to help the soy industry ignores the reality of the power of the meat and dairy industries in this country.
I am not advocating for Big Dairy and conventional meat. This is not a black and white issue. There IS A WAY to eat meat and dairy where it is healthful for you and beneficial to the environment … pastured operations that are small and typically family run as existed in this country by the millions prior to WWII. Bad news for the vegans, but the truth is that we are headed back to that as the reality is that MOST people HATE plant based eating and could never thrive on it long term.
So this is an old article but it’s been long enough for all the people with their miracles diets to feel the harsh burn of reality. I hope all the people who where following their plant based diets have smartened up. Meat is the superior vitamin and mineral source hands down. Especially when it comes to bioavailability. Literally just Google grass fed liver nutrition profile. All those plant super foods like wheat grass,can’t break down chlorophyll so useless. Chia seeds go in and come out the same. Flax, go in and come out the same and kale lol goitrogens and oxalates. Lettuce, constantly recalled for ecoli which generally are body can break down without making us sick but because of the huge amount pesticides we put on them it makes a crazy strong hybrid of the strain that can kill us and basically if your not growing your own food it’s probably pretty toxic. Convenientional farming uses pesticides like round up which cause cancer. Organic farming using been oil which can cuase infertility. So it’s like pick your poison. Growing pesticide free food is not easy for the majority of crops. Unless done in a sterile hydroponic setting. Enough of my rant though. I go to college take 5 classes work 5 days a week. My GPA is 3.892 which means my lowest grade so far was a b+ I don’t drink or smoke or anything like that and people ask me how do I do it. Most of the time I won’t just say it outright. I’ll say I eat healthy and wait for their response to see what they think is healthy and react to that accordingly, but I eat a lot of meat hands down a lot and mostly meat. Other food give me headsches. I’ve been doing so well compared to my life on a sad diet and every other diet imagineable, just to find something that didn’t make me feel aweful, that my friends have been eating more meats themselves. One of my friends was vegan for 4 or 5 years was so convince d he was right but now he’s eating meat and is feeling better. He said it was like he was fasting for that whole time until he ate meat. Just look up vegan determination videos it’s sad. Those are your healthy plants. Eat meat!!!!!!
Organic farming uses neem oil * darn autocorrect
I like to read blog comments on articles. I have noticed that there are certain types of people that go crazy when you disagree with them or point out they are not correct. Reading this blog was no different. The grass munchers never fail to fail. Go ahead and graze to your hearts content just be more like the cow ,not so aggressive .
I am 63 yr old female endurance athlete.high LDL. High calcium score.i am trying to do plant based diet with fish.i Have to get LDL down!!! I am SO confused on what to eat now!!! Plant based was not my preference but obviously what I was eating wasn’t helping me.i am not overweight at all…just needing some guidance..cardiologists are clueless on nutrition!!!
My suggestion would be to investigate eating a traditional diet based on your genetics background culturally. Here are some clues as to where to start. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/determining-the-best-traditional-diet-for-you/
If a plant-based with fish is your preference, that is something that is achievable. The most-comprehensive source I have found on vegan nutrition is veganhealth.org. It is run by registered dietitians. It goes into great detail with many citations to relevant research. Because they’re a vegan site, they don’t address fish in the diet, but that’s a good addition if your LDL is high because vegan diets tend to be high in omega-6 and low in omega-3. You can also do this by taken a vegan omega-3 supplement derived from seaweed, which is where fish get it from. They’ll also tell you what vitamins and minerals might be helpful and why. They absolutely recommend taking a B12 supplement because there are no adequate sources on a vegan diet (despite what some sites try to claim). Part of their mission is to prevent people running into health problems with a vegan diet.
Could you expound on the Blue zone diets? I’ve been told they were vegans and lived long healthy lives. All the information I found on WAPF about the Blue Zones didn’t make sense; it seemed more like it was a guessing game, which confused me even more. Thank you.
None of the Blue Zone diets were vegan. They all ate at least some animal foods.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist, thank you so much for this article. I read through the comments, and I think you are just wonderful. Thanks so much for shedding light on this topic. This is a spectacualar article and it is going to be a great reference for my school paper on why plant-based is NOT the way of the future. Thank you.
Plant based diets are not new to humanity… wow… veganism is not the cure for illness but will definitely help decrease your chances of getting a disease. Also will help save the planet and reduce unnecessary suffering of humans and animals. Factory farming is widely used in this country. There is no changing that. Being on the cardiac floor… no vegan patients so far. All meat eaters and dairy consumers… why is that animal protein cause disease and plant based diets help reverse or reduce disease in the body?… I’ll wait
Hi Tina, name ONE healthy vegan culture that was successful for multiple generations ????
There aren’t any! The so-called “vegan cultures” vegan propagandists like to point to weren’t actually even vegan. Such as the Jains … though they do not eat meat and eggs, they consume dairy.
Yes thank you. There is no money in educating people to eat healthy. Doctors study medicine not nutrition. I’ve never been healthier in my life being vegan. I’m the healthiest and strongest nurse on my floor…and the only vegan. No deficiencies… actually I’m doing better than when I ate meat.. I was anemic, my calcium and vitamin d was low.. not anymore… oh and my digestive issues all went away!
Glad you are doing well being vegan … I have yet to meet one that is healthy! I’ll bet I could shake your hand and know you are vegan, by the way. Cold fish handshake, pale face. They all look the same. So sad … most do not figure out what they are doing to themselves until the severe dental issues inevitably show up. I hope this does not happen to you! It usually presents 2-5 years in.
I am plant based and super healthy. Go watch the new documentary Game Changers which highlights high-level plant based athletes. You can easily get complete protein from plants (where do you think animals like elephants and gorillas get their protein?). Your body breaks down all proteins into amino acids and can reassemble them as needed into complete proteins.
Glad it’s working for you Brian, but nearly ALL vegetarians (75%+) return to eating meat after a few years. Why? The most often cited reason is DECLINING HEALTH. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/most-vegetarians-return-to-eating-meat/
As for me, I’ll play the odds and stick with being an omnivore!