A vegan diet is based on plants (such as vegetables, grains, nuts, and fruits) and plant-based foods. Vegans do not eat foods that come from animals, including dairy products and eggs.
What are the benefits of a vegan diet?
While there are many reasons to adopt a vegan diet, health reasons are attracting the most scientific attention. Vegans are thinner, have lower cholesterol, and lower blood pressure, and there is some evidence that there are additional health benefits that may lead to longer lives.
Metabolism benefits
Vegetarians benefit from a high intake of vegetables, but may miss out on essential nutrients by avoiding meat and dairy. Vegan diets are generally high in fiber, magnesium, folic acid, phytochemicals, and vitamins C and E. On the other hand, they are low in calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, zinc, and vitamins. B-12 and D.
Short- and moderate-term studies have shown that a vegetarian diet can improve energy metabolism in healthy, obese individuals with type 2 diabetes. Some believe this is due to the favorable changes in the gut microbiome that a vegan diet brings, but currently, there is not enough research to confirm this. There is also some evidence that vegetarians consume more protective nutrients and phytochemicals.
Cardiovascular benefits
Diets high in fruits and vegetables, nuts, vegetable oils, and whole grains are often associated with lower rates of developing cardiovascular disease. This type of diet traditionally includes Mediterranean and Asian diets, but recently vegan diets have been proposed to have similar effects.
A lower risk of heart disease can be achieved with a vegetarian diet, which includes dairy. This appears to be primarily due to increased intake of fruits and vegetables, which contain valuable nutrients including fiber and antioxidant vitamins, and are independently associated with a lower risk of heart disease.
Although vegan diets are often viewed as low in fat content and vegans are generally thinner, the actual benefits of fat intake associated with veganism on cardiovascular disease are controversial. In general, vegetable oils are considered more beneficial than animal fats because they contain monounsaturated fats, vitamins E, and A, and linoleic acid.
Effects on cancer prevalence
A large body of evidence indicates that vegetarians and vegans have a reduced risk of various types of cancer, both directly due to nutrient intake and secondary effects. For example, obesity is a major risk factor for cancer, and because of vegans' lower BMI, they enjoy an even lower cancer risk.
Fruits and vegetables have been described as reducing the risk of lung, mouth, esophagus, and stomach cancers, and are consumed in higher amounts among vegetarians. Phytochemicals, which are abundant in vegetables and high in vegetarian diets, have antioxidant properties and disrupt cells to prevent the growth of cancer.
Although a vegan diet contains nutrients known to reduce the risk of cancer, there may be negative effects of a vegan diet on cancer risk. For example, low vitamin D is associated with an increased risk of cancer and is typically low in vegan diets. This may explain why there is not a more pronounced difference in cancer development between vegans and non-vegans. A reduction in vegans may increase risks, but increased antioxidant consumption or lower body weight may decrease risks.
Cognitive benefits
One of the less studied areas of how a vegan diet can affect an individual is neurobiology and cognitive function. Studies that have focused on this have found mild or moderate improvement when patients with migraines, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritis ate a vegan diet. These studies are confounded by not accounting for gluten content in plant-based diets and by small sample sizes.
Studies looking at specific nutrients show some signs that vegan diets may be beneficial for cognition and brain health. Intake of phytochemicals, which is high in vegetarians, has been associated with beneficial effects on mental health. In contrast, low intake of vitamin B-12, which is common among vegetarians, has been linked to harmful effects on the nervous system and cognitive health, such as stroke, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease.
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