What is a Vegan Diet?

     There is a lot of information about vegan
diets in the news.  By some it’s viewed as the
ultimate “all natural” diet.  Others question the
benefits, although perhaps agreeing it has
some advantages. To make sense of the
arguments for and against let’s first review what
a vegan diet includes and excludes.

     In general, a vegan diet includes fruits,
vegetables, grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. In
its purest form it excludes all foods from animal
sources. A strict vegan diet excludes meat
(including fish), eggs, dairy products and foods
containing them.  

     A vegan diet can be supportive of health or
not depending on how it’s managed. All “diets”
present challenges and a vegan diet is no
different.  Given that “junk” food can be made
from plants (think potato chips), a vegan diet is
not a guarantee of healthy eating.  A vegan diet
done poorly can end up being deficient in
calcium, vitamin D, iron, vitamin B12, zinc and
omega-3 fatty acids, etc.

     Is a vegan diet the best choice for your
health?  Unfortunately, a well designed study
that proves vegan diets better than other
leading diets has not been done and probably
never will be. Imagine the difficulty of comparing
different diets over a full lifetime. Know of
anyone that would volunteer?   In the absence of
absolute data that could meet the highest
standards, doctors (including me) make their
diet recommendations on the basis of
accumulating research from a large number of
limited studies.  From these studies it’s clear
the standard American diet (SAD) has
considerable room for improvement.

     Interestingly, there are compelling
arguments in favor of vegan diets that have little
to do with dietary recommendations.  For more
about the case for vegan diets, read Dr. David
L. Katz article, “The Vegan Argument.”   Is a
vegan diet the best diet for you?  As Dr. Katz
explains, that’s debatable and ultimately
depends on what you believe.

     For most, the healthiest diet will be one that
includes mostly foods from a variety of
unprocessed plant sources.  Should you be
planning to change your diet, let’s talk about it.  
Individual needs vary and what is best for you
may differ from what’s best for most.

     Nancy Neighbors, MD