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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
Your complaining that there is only 150 fruits and vegetables that are available and that isn’t enough variety, there for it isn’t nutrition? There are three main animals people eat on the SAD diet. Cows, pigs, and chickens. The main fruits people eat…. Apples, Oranges, Banana, Tomatoes, Watermelon, Cantelope, Peach, Pear…. oh wait, I think I just beat you in variety, and I haven’t even gotten going on the vegetable part yet…..
I find it hilarious that you think a plant based diet is a diet based on rice, corn, and wheat. You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about, since most plant based diets actually advocate against those nutrient lacking plants.
The whole principal of a plant based diet is that you eat a variety if fruits and vegetables, and through those foods get the protein and nutrients you need. In order to do that, you need to know what foods are nutrient dense and which foods aren’t – like rice, corn, and wheat.
It’s also funny you say plant based diets are a marketing ploy when that type of eating is the least lucrative for doctors and such, since they can’t control it as much as they can supplement or medicinal intake.
Also, did you know that you cannot get cholesterol from plant based foods – ONLY from animal based ones? Think about that. Where does high cholesterol come from then?
You obviously don’t have sound research to back up what you are talking about. Sad that some people are listening and believing what you say.
Cholesterol rich animal foods are necessary for good health and healthy brain/ nerve function (which facilitates an even temper and good manners … perhaps you could use some butter?)
It is oxidized cholesterol in processed foods that is the real danger. Too low blood cholesterol contributes to high cancer risk while total cholesterol makes absolutely no difference in whether someone experiences a cardiac event or not. In other words, avoiding animal foods and following a plant based diet will increase cancer risk if blood cholesterol gets too low as a result.
Did you know that your body produces all the cholesterol you need without the addition of animal foods?
Maybe it produces enough for survival but this is very different than optimal.. You are sadly mistaken … traditional cultures revered the animal foods high in cholesterol as sacred as they imparted ease of fertility, healthy children, resistance to infection and immunity from chronic illness in older people. Believing this sort of modern, cholesterol phobic propaganda will lead only to rampant chronic illness as is evident in the population today who avoid cholesterol rich foods like butter, cream, fish eggs, and liver.
Folks who follow plant based diets have big problems with fertility as cholesterol is needed for balanced hormones.
“cholesterol phobic propaganda?” Really, Sarah? You’re the one preaching against vegetables as if they’re the product of some big corporate scheme.
Eat your meat. I love it, too – but I also read enough varied sources of scientific research to know it’s silly to question a vegetarian or largely vegetarian diet. And in a few decades, the populations of the world will do best to support plant agriculture which unfortunately is the real point of the book, Seeds of Change, whose thesis you horribly misrepresent above.
Lol! Thanks for the laugh, this was hysterical. Are you kidding me?? Since switching to a vegetarian (almost vegan) diet, the variety of foods I eat has exploded! I like the term “plant based diet” because it underlines what you SHOULD be eating- PLANTS. IE- vegetables, whole grains, legumes, beans, nuts, seeds, fruits, etc! There are more than 150 types of NUTS alone! So where you’re getting that number is baffling to me.
her numbers/logic are so flawed it’s almost laughable
And your numbers are????
I was not the one writing the article 🙂
When you call someone’s evidence “laughable”, the intelligent approach is to generally produce your own set of evidence. Emotional based comments are not taken seriously by anyone.
Like I said, you do not have a clue, and it’s very sad. There are countless peer reviewed studies out there by multiple doctors. Not just one person, who you keep mentioning. Also, if your going off laymans, Chris Masterjohn and Denise Minger, then you are way off in left field.
The science is there and it’s been proven time and time again that the body can heal itself on a plant based diet. So, where’s the released medical papers of folks reversing their diseases eating the way that you describe? There is none! Period!
Your cholesterol will not only improve but your arteries will heal and open themselves up. Angiograms do not lie. Lupus just doesn’t go into remission when a person is in stage III kidney disease from it, Cancer does not just shrink and die off and ED doesn’t just go away without a pill.
Cholesterol is naturally made by the body, of course, but excess amounts along with the proteins found in animal fats, processed oils and foods damage the epithelial cells which are the magic carpet lining your arteries. Cholesterol does it’s job and plugs those holes which over time build up and can break free causing heart attacks and strokes. If you eat the things that maintain those cells then you essentially seal off your arteries, thus never harming it, and never having build up. This has been proven, time and time again.
Funny, that you try and point the finger at big AG for the plant industry. When it’s just the opposite. All the money and lobbying go to the meat and dairy industry. Their the ones who set up the entire food pyramid to line their pockets.
Your grass fed beef is still full of saturated fats no matter where you get it from.
And if you think good aerobic exercise damages your heart then you are, very far gone, and will suffer at your own hands. Very, very sad that some people are so blinded by their own stupidity.
I’m thankful that I’m open minded enough to try something out myself before I follow blindly, based on layman information and my own stupidity. Btw, Dr Price’s research has already been proven to have so many holes in it that it couldn’t hold a cup of water.
One last thing, not only do you pat yourself on the back for dropping lipid numbers from a plant based diet but you can also pat yourself for increasing your vitamin levels, calcium, dropping sugar numbers and improvement in every single other blood test. I know because I watched mine and have the results to back it up.
Wake up!!
EXCELLENT response and very well put. Maybe she needs to get a serious disease to actually start thinking about what she eats.
Wow! It is clear to see that you are following the type of diet I warn against in this article as your rude comments are indicative of frayed nerves that result from avoiding animal foods.
My nerves are fine, thank you. I was actually speaking from personal experience since I started researching and learning about all kinds of diets and foods as a way to fight the cancer I found out I have 6 months ago. Most people don’t care enough about what goes into their stomachs, and finding out I was sick made me care enough to learn about it, and yes I have found there is an incredible amount of research showing that a whole foods plant based diet can both prevent and reverse disease, and it’s a diet I now follow. It’s not vegetarianism or veganism either, it’s just making sure that the bulk of what you eat is plant based, not animal based, to keep from eating too much protein, getting too much acidity in your system, and getting the nutrients you need directly without having to take supplements, and a host of other reasons. I will occasionally eat cheese or even have a bite of steak if I want to, but I find I feel better in general not eating those things so I try to limit the times I eat them.
You can feel better for a time when your diet eliminates processed foods and you begin to consume mostly whole plant based foods, This is a detoxification effect, BUT your health will start to sharply decline after awhile if you continue to avoid animal foods and you will start to experience the effects of a low cholesterol diet devoid of true vitamin A, D, and K. This is why the vast majority of folks return to eating cholesterol rich animal foods (I have a blog about this as well) … they wake up finally as their health is in the tank.
Suggesting that someone needs to get a serious illness because you don’t agree with her perspective is indicative of someone not really in control of her emotions. You may think your nerves are fine, but your comment indicates otherwise.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Study after study has been shown to prove the benefits of a plant based diet. The cholesterol and saturated fat “myth” has been shot down. Long term high cholesterol is usually at the root cause of heart disease, not necessary end stage cholesterol, which most people focus on, thus the whole, “half of people who have heart attacks” stuff is irrelevant really. All of the blue zones (longest living people) consist of people who consume plant based, or mostly plant based diets. Those who do eat meat in those zones, literally only eat it in small amounts once or so a month. The idea that lower cholesterol is related to higher cancer rates has also been debunked, and is completely false. Chemotherapy itself lowers cholesterol, so one could say having lower cholesterol leads directly to cancer, if one did an observational study of such, bit that is bogus. There are tons of holes in Dr. Price’s studies, just as much as people try to poke holes in Dr. Campbell’s, and the China Study. There are absolutely no long term studies showing benefits of a low carb/high fat, or paleo like diet. In fact, I’ve seen plenty of testimonials on those who followed such a diet and felt terrible, seeing their health decline. There are plenty who claim great benefits, but so is the case with plant based. The only thing I haven’t seen from the paleo/low card group is any studies showing healing of heart disease, cancers, etc. Plant based has plenty showing this. There are plenty showing the benefits of a plant based diet, and it extends far beyond just eliminating processed foods. The whole “complete protein” can’t get this vitamin or that vitamin from a plant based diet has also been blown out of the water. The only true diet you can’t ideally get is B12, but that isn’t created by animals, thus proving the need for meat. It is created by bacteria, and likely used to be found in plant foods before our modern day hygiene came along, where all of our crops are dusted, and fruits/vegetables cleaned, and in some cases already sliced for you at the store. Those who grow their own gardens have been shown to get B12 from those fruits/vegetables by not washing off all of the soil, etc. Nutritional yeast (plant based) has B12, and there are plenty of supplements for it, which most meat eaters now days need to be taking as well. In addition, “Plant Based” is not a new term for vegan. People who use the term plant based do so because it is a way of eating, and for health. They typically aren’t doing it for animal/ethical reasons, which is what usually describes the term “vegan”. Also, those who don’t do well on a “vegan” diet usually don’t do so because they are eating processed vegan junk food, not any better than your typical standard American diet. A true plant based diet us completely different.
“The science is there and it’s been proven time and time again that the body can heal itself on a plant based diet”
Wrong. You are reading websites and watching videos (like Dr. Greger) that mis-quote studies. There is a bunch of bogus info online taking one or two sentences from a study out of context. If you actually read these entire studies you’d find more often than not they say nothing these people claim. I have a Master’s in Human Nutrition and can assure you we do not learn a plant-based diet is the most healthy. It’s not for most. You’d be hard pressed to find any so called nutrition “expert” who actually studied NUTRITION, and not medicine, strictly pushing plant-based eating. And by the way, currently research with the low carb diets rich in MTCs (like coconut oil) combined with a glutamine blocker, are currently being researched for cancer treatment and reversal.
The “Science for Sale” is definitely there with plant-based diets, not objective science! Unfortunately, most people are not able to discern the difference.
Sorry to see you are bought into the globalist propaganda that seeks to control how you feed yourself which, over time, leads to prescription drug dependence, lowered fertility, dental problems and more susceptibility to chronic disease.
By the way, I don’t even know who Dr. Greger is! I also don’t get my anti-plant based diet stance from propaganda websites or “health books” written by authors…designed to promote an agenda and make a quick buck off of woke health trends. I actually read textbooks and historical documents…which don’t seek to slant the science or manipulate people’s choices. You should try it sometime! 🙂
Show me one shred of evidence that eating meat has reversed heart disease, cancer, diabetes or any other disease! I can tell you first hand that it saved my life and I didn’t live off processed foods or feed lot beef, etc. I ran 30 plus miles a week and ate what was told to me as healthy! Within 6 weeks of a whole foods plant diet without processed foods or oils my cholesterol cut in half, my BP dropped to well below the normal range, my heart rate dropped to the mid 50’s, etc etc. This was without the aid of any medications.
I suggest you do your homework on all the heart patients and cancer survivors before you start spouting off about what others should do.
How about the 14 traditional cultures studied by Dr. Weston A. Price who did not suffer from any of these diseases and they ate plenty of animal foods? This seems to be quite adequate evidence to me especially since it is independent verification that omnivores are healthier than vegetarians. By the way, running 30 miles a week is not necessarily healthy for the heart. Evidence is coming in that aerobic exercise such as you’re describing actually damages and scars the heart. You may want to do YOUR homework on this one.
Oh, and you might want to quit the “I dropped my cholesterol by half” back slapping. The lower your cholesterol gets, the higher your cancer rate. Cholesterol numbers mean nothing with regard to heart disease and if your doc says it does you need a new doc as he/she is not up on the latest research. Half the folks who have heart attacks have low cholesterol which means that total cholesterol is statistically meaningless as a predictor.
Hi clabbermouth, I’m not promoting CAFO meat and milk as an alternative to the plant based diet promoted by the media talking heads. For those who eat animal foods, grassbased and sustainable from small, local farms is the way to go. This is no way would benefit Big Ag.
Ashley, here’s the brand I buy. No nasty fillers:
Do you have any suggestions on how to add meat to a university girl’s diet? The only things I have to “cook” with are a kettle and an egg steamer (and an iron, but I don’t know if that would work). We’re not allowed any other sort of heating device in our rooms, though there is a microwave in the lounge. I naturally don’t eat a lot of meat – I hardly ever have any at even one meal once a week! – but am pretty sure I should be eating more (I am gonna check how much meat my ancestors generally ate, but I’m pretty sure I need a lot more than I get). And I don’t really trust the meat in the various food outlets on campus, mainly because I’m a picky eater and don’t know what it is and how they cooked it.
Hi Ashley, try some grassfed beef or buffalo jerkey perhaps? I get a really nice buffalo jerkey at the healthfood store for my kids.
Buffalo jerkey? Now that sounds good, thanks! I’ll just have to track some down now…
do you have a good jerkey marinade recipe?
Thanks again, Sarah. I had not realized that “plant based” was just another way of saying “vegetarian,”. Shame on them!
My own diet is definitely animal based, though I do eat some good organic plants. I have never been so healthy.
Plant based Whole food differentiates from vegan/vegetarian in that it does not include processed vegan junk food, fake meats and of course dairy. A vegan diet can include oreo cookies and potato chips. Not exactly the stuff of good health. A plant based whole food diet is healthier has dropped my blood pressure and cholesterol. I’ve lost weight, feel better. Giving up dairy ended years of sinus issues. I did not feel better being a vegetarian. Vegan fake foods makes me feel ill. BUT Plant based Whole food has been life changing. That’s study enough for me.