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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
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If you take the emotions/habits/addictions i.e. fatty (oily) and sweet (aka high calorie) along with salty foods, what are you left with? Animal protein is problematic period. It’s bad for people, as the longest study ever done on nutrition and disease called “The China Study” by T. Colin Campbell, PhD; it’s bad for the environmment, producing 18% of the greenhouse gases, water and energy waste, turning our oceans into deserts and it’s really bad for sentinel animal and basically cruel beyond comprehension.
It get the bias, people natural gravitate and defend the culture that was shoved down their throats; probably why we don’t have Golden Retriever steaks and Cat Meatballs. Sounds disgusting right? Tell that to the pigs and cows and chickens then?
My mantra is if food companies got a big marketing campaign (like the meat dairy industry, Coke, McDonalds..etc), RUN AWAY!!!.
The science is clear, the evidence is unmistakable, a whole foods plant based diet will cure 75% of the chronic diseases, the obesity epidemic and help save the planet for future generations.
I would really like to see your studies that prove plant-based diets are not sustainable and unhealthy. Most people in the US eat processed food and far too many animal products, which has been directly linked to a host of diet related deseases. Also, NO ONE on a plant-based diet is sustaining themselves on rice, corn, and wheat – which shows me that you have done very little research on this topic. Likewise, how is 150 types of food not enough variety??? That is just a bonkers allegation when compared to a typical standard American diet. Also, plant-based diets do not encourage “frankenfood substitutes”, as you call them – only whole foods in their natural state. I avoid that stuff, just like people on a omnivore diet should avoid processed foods, as well. Also, nothing about a pant-based diet supports “big ag” and “big food”, as you claim. Organic, non-GMO produce is definitely not supported by the big food industry or government – quiet the opposite, in fact. Dairy and meat are at the top of the government subsidized foods in the US and GMO grains are subsidized to feed the animals and make cheap, GMO food additives. All other produce gets government pocket lint, if anything. Organic farmers have to pay our government to be allowed to use the USDA Organic Seal, which hardly encourages growth for this industry. If anything, I would say our government is ANTI-plant-based diet! Finally, I am speaking from personal experience: I have been eating a plant-based diet for a year and my bloodwork has improved in all areas – I am healthier than ever, according to my doctor. I also feel much, much better than I have in my entire life. Anyone who is thinking of trying a plant-based diet should ignore the heck out of everything written here and just try it. The proof is in the doing.
I would just like to say that using the term “Plant Based” is my way of saying that my diet is not based on an ideology as one might assume when someone states that they are vegan. I disagree that using this terminology is meant to deceive anyone and I’m a little disappointed in those that claim that they were somehow tricked by this term. I’m curious to find out what nutrients you would get from meat that you don’t from a varied plants only diet. It doesn’t sound reasonable to me that you would not be able to reach peak health without eating meat, there’s such a small variety of meat available to eat.
There are other things that are missing from this article that would be necessary to convince me that animal based products are necessary for a healthy diet but your replies to others here also seem to indicate your opinion here may have more of a socio-political reasoning behind it more than a concern for the health of others.
I would recommend to some of the others making statements on here to try to leave your emotions out of the argument. Stating that a persons opinions are stupid or using any other language that is accusatory isn’t a very effective way of getting your point across and makes it very difficult for others to get the useful information.
I would like to see a follow up article. There doesn’t seem to be enough “Meat” in this one to convince me. I’m a Texan and I’ve been on a plant-based diet since December of 2011. I am looking very hard for evidence that would justify getting some barbeque or a good Filet but I just can’t find it. This isn’t political for me, it’s just reasonable.
How much did the meat and dairy industry pay you to write this pathetic excuse of an article?? Or are you just tryig to justify your own unsustainable, destructive and cruel eating habbits??
Oh, and what was the breakdown of tumor types? Solid tumors (lung, pancreatic, breast, colorectal, prostate, etc.) versus “blood” tumors (acute or chronic leukemias, plasma cell dyscrasias, lymphomas, etc.)?
Sarah,
You cited research linking lower cholesterol levels to higher cancer risk. I’m curious as to what the median Vitamin D levels were in each group? Also, What other variables might have been at play? What percentage in each cohort were smokers? Drinkers? Any preponderance of occupational or environmental exposures documented? Family history of cancer?
Thanks.
and how is having high cholesterol healthy all of a sudden?i know lots of people who have high cholesterol and they are very sickly.
you are an idiot.when will people like you realize that animal products are not necessary for life?its been shown over and over again that plant based diets are best while there are NO studies that show that we need meat or dairy.in fact,if anything its the opposite.and who are you saying avoids cholesterol rich animal foods and suffers from illness as a result?weve got a country full of sick fat folks who eat plenty of cholesterol and animal slop.if animal foods are so healthy,why are they sick?and how can plants not maintain health when they contain all 8 essential amino acids and tons of vitamins and antioxidants?just admit it.you simply like to meat and dairy.and will do anything to justify your imaginary need for animal foods.