 Word count - 2022 words. Read time - 6.7 minutes. Author - James Kennedy. Mailing list Sign up. Veganism for Strength Athletes? Vegan and vegetarian diets are becoming increasingly popular, due to the ethical and environmental impact of eating animal produce, as well as the health benefits of veganism. However, bro-science has argued for years that the only way to get jacked and ripped is to eat steak, with a side of eggs and a glass of milk 3-6 times a day, making a lot of strength athletes nervous about trying a vegetarian diet, despite the purported health benefits. In this article we’ll explore the health benefits of a vegan or vegetarian diet and whether strength athletes can eat a vegetarian diet and still maximise their training. Firstly, definitions. There are several types of vegetarian diets - all vegetarian diets involve some restriction on the amount of meat and animal produce consumed within the diet. The five main types of vegetarianism are, in order of flexibility:
Longevity It’s commonly claimed that vegetarians live longer than omnivores (1). This reinforces the notion that vegans or vegetarian diets are healthier - if a vegan diet is healthier, we would expect vegans to live longer. It’s true that vegan diets are associated with a range of health benefits, including lowering obesity rates, type 2 diabetes and heart disease - which are all common diseases increasing mortality rates (2). However, it’s not quite that simple. Plant based diets (i.e. flexitarian through to vegan diets) which rely on nutritious food lower your risk of heart disease by 25%. In contrast, plant based diets which are high in processed foods increase the risk of coronary heart disease by 32%! (3). Further, a recent meta-analysis (4) between vegetarians and *comparable* non-vegetarians have similar all cause mortality, with vegetarians having lower mortality rates from pancreatic and lymphatic cancers and meat-eaters having lower mortality rates from respiratory disease and all-cause mortality rates (the authors suggest more research is needed into why specific causes of death differ between the groups - though this is unnecessary. Meat eaters have lower all cause mortality because they’re less annoying than vegans, therefore they get beat to death less). The longevity impacts of a vegan diet are overstated because of a series of confounding factors. Generally, vegans or vegetarians are more health conscious than the general population, as well as being higher educated, more physically active, sleeping more and smoking and drinking less (5). These confounding factors mean that the health benefits that vegetarians enjoy could be a result of the lifestyle, with the studies focusing on comparison between vegetarians and comparable meat-eaters suggesting that the health benefits are actually from the lifestyle that vegetarians adopt, rather than the diet. So, no, a vegan or vegetarian diet will not make you live longer if you are a generally healthy person. But does it have any health benefits? Inflammation Inflammation, or chronic inflammation, has started to be blamed for a lot of disease over the past half-decade or so (6,7). Whilst some inflammation is a good thing, elevated levels of inflammation for long periods of time (chronic inflammation) can cause health issues. It has been found that adopting a vegetarian diet over an extended period (over 2 years) does reduce inflammation, however, no study has been done comparing between vegetarians and comparable non-vegetarians (8). Once again, the chronic inflammation reduction seen in vegetarians may just be a result of the lifestyle choices vegetarians make. Weight loss Yes for general population - probably not for athletes Vegan and vegetarian diets do cause more weight loss than non-vegetarian diets for the general population (9). However, no data exists on the body composition lost (fat, muscle or water), or on the impact on weight loss for vegan strength athletes. Speculatively - this is not based on any studies, just what I *think* might happen - it may be difficult to eat enough protein as a strength athlete whilst losing weight. When trying to lose weight, we should be aiming to eat around 2.2g/kg of protein. This could be challenging to achieve in a vegan diet, as most vegan protein sources also contain high levels of carbohydrates. Consequently, eating a vegan diet when cutting could make it challenging to retain muscle mass. Eating a lacto-ovo or lacto vegetarian diet may make it easier to hit their protein targets without going over their calorie or carbohydrate targets. Having established that the health benefits of vegan and vegetarian diets are overstated, with comparable people who eat omnivorous diets seeing similar health outcomes, the next step is to see if there are any impacts on athletic performance from eating vegan or vegetarian diets. Advice for athletes Athletic performance in general A systematic literature review comparing the athletic performance of vegetarians and omnivores found that, over eight short term studies (12 weeks in length) there was no difference in athletic performance between vegetarians and non-vegetarians (10). Theoretically, there could be long-term impacts on health and performance from eating a vegan diet but no empirical studies on athletes has been done (11). The impact, or potential impact, of these shortcomings can be alleviated by careful food and supplement selection by vegan athletes. The first consideration is protein. Generally, protein from plants is less well digested and lacks essential amino acids which are essential in building muscle. Whilst lacto-ovo vegetarians generally will get enough of these amino acids from dairy and eggs, vegans should make sure they eat a source of lysine (beans, legumes), leucine (soy beans and lentils) and other BCAA rich foods (seeds, tree nuts and chickpeas. To make sure that vegans are getting enough digestible protein to support muscle growth, they should also consider boosting protein intake to around 2.2g/kg. **what about whey?** **Whey protein is obviously not vegan, as it is made from dairy. However, Whey is a waste product from cheese production, with 10L of milk making 1kg of cheese and 9L of whey (think of the nursery rhyme, separating curds and whey). Whey is also an incredible environmental toxin, thought to be 175 times more toxic than human sewage (12). For environmental vegans, whey could be used as a sustainable option. Since whey protein is a by-product of the dairy industry, the environmental impact of whey is itself, small. The environmental impact of whey protein is really low; the carbon and pollution emissions occur during the cheese production process. For vegans, this may mean a cheap, higher quality protein source could be utilised.** The second potential issue to address is fats. Vegans eat less fat in general which can be linked to lower testosterone levels (note - *vegans do not have lower testosterone vs omnivores*) , so this may be a non-issue. Vegans also eat less omega-3 fatty acids, which are important for the immune system, growth and development. However, the solution is pretty simple. Eat avocados, nuts and seeds and take a micro algae or omega 3 supplement. There isn’t overwhelming evidence that any of the potential side effects of eating a vegan diet (i.e. the most restrictive vegetarian diet) has a negative impact due to low fat content. It theoretically could however, so make sure you’re still getting enough dietary fat from oil, avocado, nuts and seeds as well as taking an omega-3 supplement. Finally, we get onto micro-nutrition. Whilst this may seem counterintuitive as vegetarian diets are generally higher in fruit and vegetables, they are deficient in a few key vitamins and minerals. First up is vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is an essential mineral used in the nervous system, blood and DNA, which primarily enters the diet through animal and dairy products. A deficiency in vitamin B12 causes tiredness and lethargy in the short term and can lead to anaemia and central nervous system damage in the long term. Vegans and vegetarians are therefore commonly advised to take about 6 micrograms of vitamin B12 supplementation a day. THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE but a can of monster energy has 13 micrograms of vitamin B12 … just saying. The other major micronutrient which can be difficult for vegans to get into their diets is Calcium. Calcium is important for bone and muscle health, with vegans and vegetarians consuming less than non-vegetarians. This one does have evidence of it being a problem, with vegans having an increased risk of bone fractures and lower bone mineral density (11). The primary source of calcium in mixed diets is dairy - vegans are limited to high calcium vegetables (broccoli and kale) or calcium fortified foods. Summary So, can a vegetarian diet ever be appropriate for a strength athlete? Easily. If you’re a strength athlete, eating a flexitarian diet (i.e. not eating meat or fish 2-4 days a week), will have no noticeable impact on performance or physique goals. Pesco-vegetarianism and Lacto-ovo vegetarianism are also vegetarian diets which would reduce the ethical and environmental impact of your diet without hindering strength training outcomes. The most restrictive vegetarian diets - veganism - could, potentially, have some long-term drawbacks. These drawbacks can easily be addressed however by supplementing the diet with vitamin B12 and calcium, as well as some vegan friendly omega-3 sources. The one case where it may be difficult to maintain a vegan diet is if you are attempting to get very lean - sub 10% body fat. In this scenario, you are trying to reduce body weight and maximise muscle mass retention. Most vegan protein sources are higher in calories than their non-vegan alternatives, which could make managing a cut difficult. Overall, there is no reason why eating a vegetarian diet would have a negative impact on your strength and physique goals. If you're interested, start by going flexitarian and slowly progress through pesco-vegetarian and lacto-ovo vegetarian diets and see how it goes!!! References
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For the author, James Kennedy, you can email at - jlk@dannyleeonline.co.uk If you'd like to join the mailing list to get these articles directly to your inbox, check out this link.
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