Is a vegan diet better for your health? - BBC World Service, CrowdScience podcast

The number of vegans is on the rise across the world, with many people swearing by the health benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. But does a vegan diet really improve your health?
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This episode of CrowdScience (broadcast on radio in September 2019) explores the evidence about whether vegans are likely to live longer. With new, highly processed meat alternatives becoming increasingly available in supermarkets and restaurants menus, what effect are they having on our health? Presenter Anand Jagatia talks to the experts and joins listener Samantha in following a vegan diet.
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#Vegans #Plant-based #Veganism

[Nguyễn Hoàng Anh Thơ]

I really love these contents about foodstuff and the science behind them. Thank you for the programme!

[HappyComfort]

Years ago before people were talking so much about being vegan or vegetarian I was on the plane to New Jersey and the older lady next to me happened to mention that her son went to I believe it was Africa to do missionary work. He was at such a remote location that he had to eat what they ate, which was completely plant-based after being there for quite a few years, he came home to visit. She said all his friends had an American food party for him with things like pizza and red meat, she said it almost killed him and he ended up in the hospital for a while. also one of my own experiences was that for one month I tried going strict, vegan not eating what the vegan doctors call vegan junk food like fake meat or desserts, but being pretty strict. Eating greens and lentils etc. I did this because my doctor wanted my cholesterol reduced , well. ..After one month my cholesterol went down 79 points, so that tells you something also from being close to vegan for some months, I lost 100 pounds. Just saying….

[Kiệt Phạm]

I like how he summarizes the points after listening to the experts

[Karol Gryboś]

I appreciate this podcast. It's pleasure to hear such an interesting topics. Greetings from Poland!

[Some Guy]

I think some people benefit (health wise) by going pure vegan because it means changing your taste preferences. After a few years on a pure vegan diet, I do not miss things like cheese, which I did at first. Cheese actually contains and addictive component called casomorphins. To kick the habit, I switched to only Cheetos and ate less and less of them over time. Vegan meat alternatives are also helpful to transition, but now I only eat them as an occasional treat. Actually I do eat Tofurky smoked slices for sandwiches every few weeks. Mostly I now eat whole plant foods, but I do include tofu and tempeh. BTW there are some tasty cheese alternatives, like the Miyoko brand.

[Les Black]

@S R you like the word idiotic don't you? 😆

[Some Guy]

@S R I used to think that sort of thing. When I met my first vegan, I asked her- "Where do you get your protein?" Then I learned the facts. For example- The largest organization of nutrition professionals officially declared- "It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes. Plant-based diets are more environmentally sustainable than diets rich in animal products because they use fewer natural resources and are associated with much less environmental damage. *Vegetarians and vegans are at reduced risk of certain health conditions, including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity.* Low intake of saturated fat and high intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, soy products, nuts, and seeds (all rich in fiber and phytochemicals) are characteristics of vegetarian and vegan diets that produce lower total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and better serum glucose control. These factors contribute to reduction of chronic disease. Vegans need reliable sources of vitamin B-12, such as fortified foods or supplements." -Full abstract from the position paper as found on PubMed from the National Institutes of Health

[Tess Wall]

Thank you so much, very informative! Subscribed. 5⭐️❤️

[Tricia Akehurst]

I am trying to eat more mindfully but feeling very tired. I will explore the supplements mentioned to see if they help. Very useful well presented information. I am much better informed.

[Les Black]

@ryannn_ Ooooh, nasty too. Trolling isn't a good look Dracula 😄

[Claptrap]

The guy in program left out vitamin D: the awareness of its importance only emerged during the pandemic. If you are dark-skinned, your body will produce D more slowly, but even meat-eaters are likely to have Insufficient levels unless they eat lots of liver or take codliver oil. If you take over 4000 international units of D vitamin, you are advised to take K2 supplement, at least 100 micrograms.

[ryannn_]

Nobody asked

[Nurish Garayeva]

This was interesting and enjoyable to listen! Greetings from Azerbaijan

[sphendoozy]

In my opinion, no, there’s a plus an a minus to every diet and also genetics can come into play aswell. Whatever floats your boat and makes YOU feel good and healthy. ✌️

[Susan]

Eating balance the food is the best diet and using whole food, fresh ingredients and organic products, plus some exercises are the best way to maintain healthy.

[아이스베어]

i really like listening to this podcast while studing

[aziza.segizekova]

I loved the podcast

[Bonita Hien Hoang]

Nice work!

[Mariana Salles]

Sure it is! And look at what is happening at this moment in our 🌍 🌈💚✨🙏🏻👍🏻💚

[BBC World Service]

And if you like the programme above, you might be interested in this from our friends at BBC Future - how could a vegan diet impact your intelligence? www.bbc.com/future/article/20200127-how-a-vegan-diet-could-affect-your-intelligence

[1 3]

It seems to me that a meditteranaen diet, with fish and white meats, lots of vegetables is the way to go

[Some Guy]

You can get plenty of iodine from eating seaweed, like Nori. When you eat sushi, you are usually eating Nori. BTW sushi does not have to include fish.

[rjwaters3]

@RJJ You make me disappointed we share a name, why are they deluded? if its about the very thought of having sushi without fish, theyre really not, sushi without fish is quite common, frequently using mushrooms, cucumbers, okra, bamboo shoots, etcetera. and those are just the *common* ones.

[MaryB Caron]

Started no meat over four years ago, was told needed vein surgery both legs.. and have learned how helps environment also,,,, amazing... also believe it has improved , somehow save mental conscious ability to understand and communicate

[Ann Holland]

Follow the scientific and environmental reports all show that real plant based food is best for you, animals and the planet

[DELNA BABU]

Very helpful for my oet exam

[Sphumelele Sijadu]

I don't expect people to stick to the diet if they can't wait till it ends. Health is just not a good enough justification. Ethics make one stick to the lifestyle better so I can't say I'm surprised by the outcome.

[Josephine Nilsson]

100% this. I went vegan seven years ago after actually seeing what we subject animals too, and I couldn’t eat dairy or eggs even if I wanted to, it’s not food to me. I stopped eating meat at 12 after watching videos from slaughter houses, and after that it’s not food. It’s someone’s body parts. Someone who didn’t want to die, who absolutely suffered greatly, and who should never have been born in the first place only to live a short life of only misery. When you know how these industries work, if you have any empathy and sense of responsibility, it is no effort not to eat it. The desire goes away immediately.

[An Irish Girl Sings:]

If I ever go vegan, it will be for ethical reasons. It might happen one day. But I want to be as healthy as I can be for my children. I believe you can be a healthy vegan but it takes a lot more work and energy, especially if you have intolerances to wheat, gluten, beans etc.

[Victor De Bauwer]

​Soren88 Ridiculous response. I gave you a really good argument for why an evolutionarily consistent diet is very probably an optimal diet for most animals of a species. Would you disagree that cows should eat herbaceous plants? Would you disagree that lions should eat meat? Would you disagree that chimpanzees should eat mostly fruit and other plant matter, and supplement with insects and meat? Then why do you disagree with this about humans? Do you really think that these animals require "the data" that shows it's an optimal diet for them before they accept it, rather than just following their nature? Why do you think everyone, universally, absolutely LOVES the taste of meat. And yes, vegans do require to eat processed food, or they will never be able to get all the essential nutrients in. B12 is an example, but there's many others. You act as if an "appeal to nature" argument is a bad one. Don't forget how evolution works. We even use the mechanism of evolution for optimization problems in extremely difficult search spaces in computer science. How delusional must one be to not see that your body knows what it's supposed to eat? If you're thirsty, you know you want to drink. Well, vegans constantly run out of nutrients and desperately crave meat, but they somehow don't follow their nature in this case, and instead of simply eating meat, waht their body wants, they eat some legumes full of mineral stealing phytic acid flown over from all over the world because it won't grow and is not native to where they live. You are arguing against your nature. Are you not a man?

[Victor De Bauwer]

Soren88 What an ignorant question. If you believe in the theory of evolution (which is very obviously not a theory but a very visible, true mechanism), you know that the surviving organisms are best adapted to the environment they're put in. This includes morphology, behavior, ..., and, of course, this includes the foods they seek out. Evolution results in a local optimum of the configuration of organisms given their environment. Thus, the diet they eat is likely the optimal diet for them, because, throughout history, every animal that was related to the pertinent species, that ate differently, died. If they didn't, they would have survived, and then we would see the pertinent animals of that species eat a different diet than what we observe today. Apply this to humans. We see that hunter-gatherers get approximately 2/3 of their daily calories from meat (including offal and bone marrow; "nose to tail"), and they are very representative of how humans have eaten throughour our history. That you CAN get all of your nutrition through an artificial diet full of processed plant products and supplements that you would never find in nature in a single region, does not mean that you SHOULD. In the same way, you CAN do the dishes using only one hand, but it's still better to just use both hands. Most vegan quit veganism after a few years. This explains why. There is no argument for veganism, except an ethical one that is based upon postmodern weakness and denial of our biology as a hunting species.

[Greg Doran]

Don't know i have never eaten one 😂

[BigSpoonBear]

Whole foods plant based for Health... Vegan for the Animals.... Everything else is just about taste (although I have heard there are some people for medical reasons have to eat meat?)

[Pradeep Sachai]

Interesting content

[Sing Adventist]

Vegan is a complete diet. Don’t think that a vitamin or mineral like b12 can be found in one single vegetable. Eat a variety of veggies, fruits, nuts, grains, legumes, nutritional yeasts, etc and you’re good to go. The problem with others just stick to one or more some few varieties.

[Some Guy]

Thinner people are more prone to more fragile bones. Vegans are thinner. The vegan diet is not directly responsible. Weight bearing exercises can compensate for being thinner.

[Susan Wu]

Good info, thanks. If shows people will be more easy than Watch the circles.

[Eric Gendell]

I'm a vegan, but once I ate a whole cow in a blindfolded taste test, but I don't count that as a cheat because it wasn't intentional.

[TSquared2001]

Good discourse

[Lenny McLean]

Note it was a nutritionist and not a Dietician. Call a Dietician a Nutritionist to their face and they'll likely very quickly correct you - and for good reason. To train to become a Dietician you have to do a proper undergrad or master's degree in Dietetics. To call yourself a nutritionist, you can do an online course that might take as little as 6 hours. No Dietician I've ever talked to has ever recommended a vegan diet - quite the opposite in fact. Dieticians I've met advocate for a varied and mixed diet containing some meat, some fish and some dairy - all these things in moderation. The main focus of a healthy diet for an active person is a good amount of carbohydrates - complex carbs are easily overlooked but are contained in many pulses and beans and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Lucky me was brought up in a large family but not a rich one. We therefore didn't have lots of meat. We'd get a large chicken or a silverside beef joint a week and have Sunday roast and then use the rest of the meat to make multiple other meals during the week. We ate loads of beans, lentils and pulses in general. Being greedy with the butter got you on potwash that evening.... All I can say is, these circumstances gave me the skills to cook great tasting food with minimal meat. I eat tinned fish very regularly because it's so cheap and nutritious. I am pretty much exactly the same weight I was in my late teens. Slightly lighter actually, but that's because I've got my own family to take care of now and burn off the calories no problem. We're not rich either, but we're happy most of the time and most importantly we,'re all active and healthy, thank God.

[N P]

People don't go "vegan" for health reasons. They may go plantbased for health but veganism is an ethical philosophy against animal exploitation. People should learn more about the industries that abuse animals before labeling themselves as "vegan" or "mostly vegan". Especially on a platform like the BBC. Its a bit cringey to hear people talking about veganism like its a fad or a healthy diet choice. If you want to talk about it from a health perspective use the word plant-based. Eg. He said "Actually, for environmental reasons, I have thought about becoming a bit more vegan". Which makes it seem like veganism is a switch you turn on and off at your convenience. Just use the word flexitarian or plantbased if you mostly don't consume animal products. And also veganism is about animal rights /liberation not welfare. I'm not trying to be pedantic, it's just that it's important so that people understand veganism is a firm ethical principle and not a wishy washy flexitarian environmentalist movement where the main focus is on diet and human health.

[Amina Abboud]

Rather

[Guru]

Yes!

[Ron Bright]

@Paul MaresI get what you are saying, I am “vegan” but I just say I am plant based, I don’t buy or wear any animal products but it just saves so much conflict, people just make a judgement and of course think of militant vegans which are probably 0.01% but seem to get 99% of the negative media attention.

[Paul Mares]

@Trish K. Sure, think whatever you want. In your eyes I'm not vegan, then. Why should I care?

[Trish K.]

@Paul Mares I'm genuinely glad you're following a vegan diet, but that doesn't make you a vegan. Vegans don't wear leather, wool or silk or support any sort of animal exploitation (e.g. entertainment, experimentation, working, decoration).

[Joseph Tisdale]

This is almost like Jessica A's diet or lifestyle, which keep her slender

[Mariana Salles]

Veganism is the future 🌱🌏

[Elk Paz]

Not for the rich. They'll be getting high quality protein and micronutrients from the best grass fed meat.

[ellast1]

It's healthy for the poor animals that don't want to die or get raped.

[GoldenPhoenix101]

Documentary asks "is veganism better for your health" and immediately has a nutritionist tell you all the ways in which vegans have to monitor their diets, all the possible deficiencies they need to be careful to avoid etc. Surely this alone is proof that it's not?

[Bobby Josson]

@Steven Muschalik My god, food is not complicated. 80/20 organic veg to meat ratio, miss meals, fast, drink water, eat loads of saturated fats.

[Bobby Josson]

@Sam Lev "cholesterol, calorie, and saturated fats" have been debunked.

[sirgay meerkat]

@Dale Wainwright yeah! you can tell from the fangs in out mouths and the short intestines! all that talk of scurvy when we make vitamin c just like carnivores! right! 🙄

[Dale Wainwright]

@sirgay meerkat it wasn’t a compliment. We were designed to eat meat firstly and foremost, when meat wasn’t available to our ancestors we used vegetables , fruits and berries to survive. It’s called a choice you choose to be beta , I don’t.

[sirgay meerkat]

@Dale Wainwright carni's don't like it when the tables are turned! do they?

[Giles Mitchell]

Why did Susan point out cholesterol in meat alternatives? A vegan diet contains zero dietary cholesterol. Did she mean saturated fat?

[Elk Paz]

If the body doesn't get enough cholesterol it makes its own.

[María Pérez Riera Pérez Riera]

I would like yo cut off meet products a little. Very useful

[Sophia Bailey]

Disappointing. From the start veganism is not defined properly it is a lifestyle not a diet. It’s plant-based eating which vegans engage in that is being discussed here not veganism which about animal right. The doctor talking about complete proteins is clearly not up to date with the latest science that has debunked this idea including the scientist who came up with it. Legumes and grains provide a complete complimented of amino acids and is a reflection of how people actually eat eg. beans on toast, burrito, dhal and rice. not a big slab of tofu and nothing else. Calcium is cheap and easy to obtain from legumes and green leafy vegetables. In the Uk the government already supplement or foods. ‘Fortified flour and cereal and iodinised salt for example so it is not as if meat eats are getting the nutrients they need easily the state is facilitating this. If your body is inflamed you are going to have elevated white blood cells. They should have looked for other inflammatory markers to see if the plant-based population had a decrease in WBC’s because they diets cause less inflammation. Meat consumption illicits an inflammatory response so that coukd be the reason why but this was never discussed. Bacteria in the soil and waterways produce B12 not animals. Most animals used for food never see the light of day let alone soil so need to be supplemented with B12. It should not be a problem to bypass the slaughter and consume supplements directly. People are told to watch out on a vegan/plant-based diet but have no understanding of what they lack or the problems associated with dairy and meat consumption so this does not make it easy to make an informed choice. we are starting from a point of view that meat based diets provided everything we need. But conveniently ignore the cholesterol and excessive amounts of saturated fats that burden the NHS are the leading cause of death in the West. And living longer is not what it is about. Living better is. Medical science can stretch out your years but the condition you find yourself in during your last fews years is also important. Bed ridden and riddled with disease and pumped full of drugs vs die in your sleep? What is the difference between the two groups studied? This should have been commented on in the study because how we live is import if we are all going to die anyway.

[Susana Esteves]

Great great comment.thank you for taking the time to write all of this so people can read it !

[Moiz Khan]

Eat all things but fill 70% of your stomach in the night

[Claptrap]

With all of the commercial vegan products appearing on the market, being vegan does NOT mean that vegan diet is automatically healthy. For example, French fries (chips) which are cooked in palm oil are vegan but they are still pretty unhealthy. I don't advocate anyone to become vegan but I would recommend people eat a diet higher in vegetables (but not grain) than meat or dairy. I'm on the fence about eggs, but not because of their cholesterol: the myth of them having an affect on cholesterol levels was debunked decades ago.

[Asim Raqeeb]

vegan diet also be disadvantageous if you are only relaying on vegan products as less strength in bones and many more examples . We should find good replaceable source if we are doing this purely without any flexibility .

[Gaby Briet]

Tkx bbc for everything love u love u

[Some Guy]

Our bodies generate more white blood cells to deal with things like inflammation. A healthier diet results in less inflammation, so we make fewer while blood cells. What would be an ideal amount of white blood cells for someone eating a lot of meat dairy and eggs is different from the ideal amount for someone eating a healthier diet. Here is a link to the part of the video I am referring to. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJjNmoCfrc2SpKc

[Sophia Bailey]

So the producer is not vegan then...

[Robin Wooff]

A well balanced diet, with exercise, and a balanced mindset is healthy. Everything else is a personal choice. Pushing your personal views, and opinion on others is unhealthy.

[Carlos Seamanduras]

Murdering sentient beings isn´t a personal choice. If your choices have victims, they are not personal choices. Stop forcing non-human animals to be enslaved, tortured, tormented, mutilated, murdered for your trivial, selfish, ruthless, and bloodthirsty desires, animal abuser. If you are not vegan, you are a hypocrite. Discriminate and abuse black people, gays, women, or children isn´t a personal choice. Discriminate and abuse other animals is not a personal choice, either. They are not properties, but individuals. You have no right to take away any life, homo sapiens. Use your brain and evolve. Be smart, be fair, be vegan.

[Amit P]

Vegetarian is the best way to balance health and environment

[Carlos Seamanduras]

No, animal abuse and slavery of the innocent is not sustainable or respectful with the planet and its non-human inhabitants, human supremacist.

[Kartik Soni]

Exactly

[Some Guy]

Cattle are the most damaging to the environment of all animals exploited for animal agriculture. The methane they produce is more than 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a green house gas.

[Some Guy]

@Evan Dahlquist I agree with your comment. Cows are impregnated every year to make them produce milk, and the calf is immediately taken away to maximize yield for sale. The mothers call out for the return of their calves for days. The calf will be sold as veal if male, or raised to be a milk producer if female. The milk producers usually live about 4 years and then are slaughtered for meat. They would normally live much longer. Milk is not a victimless product.

[srz]

*JAY SHREE RAM!!*

[suzuha1729]

I'm listening to this cause I know very well that in english listening test examiners choose Britain English beacuse is way difficult to understand due to its accent specially for english learners.

[Kapil Jain]

Best veg

[sweetness n light]

Frankenstein lab grown “meat” …….yeah no thanks! Frankenfood!!

[Diwa Krish]

She speaks too fast for me to catch up with her

[Jeneesh R]

NIce one with different accents

[combatwarriorslover]

My god stop i will eat what the hell i want .

[phoenix kali]

I knew a man in the public eye, he quit smoking at 30 and consequently put on some weight. So he went vegetarian to hopefully lose those pounds but the weight piled on. He went vegan and ballooned. He died at 53 after his third heart attack. I don't advocate smoking to keep your weight down, but most of my veggie/vegan friends eat far too many carbs to substitute, and their waistline shows. I also don't advocate modern farming methods with the vaccinations and overcrowding conditions, but organic farming is the best way to go. Not everyone can afford that unfortunately, but if it became more in demand and organic farmers were given more support prices would fall for everyone to enjoy.

[Selvi C]

Good for English. Learning

[Atharey ii]

And for u😭💕

[Isaac Hicks]

Stop paying for animals to die please and thank you.

[sirgay meerkat]

@Trish K. if only! 🙏

[Trish K.]

@sirgay meerkat SO TRUE! What if governments subsidized healthy fruits and vegetables instead? Then we wouldn't need to spend so much on pharmaceuticals and hospitalizations.

[sirgay meerkat]

Pale Rider no! You eat them to be a selfish carnival!

[sirgay meerkat]

governments subsidiary to animal agriculture should be cancelled too!

[Atharey ii]

Tell me u learning English without telling me

[San souza]

She is a vegetarian not vegan

[Jill Valentin]

No. Certainly not.

[MJ]

Causes massive spike in anxiety and depression Long term - especially in young people

[굿결]

3:05

[Kartik Soni]

Tbh vegetarianism is best way!

[Kartik Soni]

@Chris Grant egg might be bad but milk not at all...importance of ghee and milk was been mentioned in vedas and ayurveda which were Indian medical science thousands of year ago and tell me one thing what to feed baby if mother can't have breast milk? Cow milk is feeded to the child.. use brain..

[Chris Grant]

Vegan or plant based is best for health, vegans have the lowest all cause mortality risk. Dairy and eggs are actually very unhealthy.

[45 241]

Three very selfish people making uninformed choices without any regard for the effect on the world or the creatures on it.

[sirgay meerkat]

@Paul Mares you crazy!

[Paul Mares]

@Carlos Seamanduras lol he mad

[Moloy Sarker]

Hi

[ARTLIX]

lol nope

[PoisonIvy]

No

[Capri]

As a vegan of 20 years, for me, definitely.

[Victor De Bauwer]

you don't know that. And it's quite probable you're worse off with what you're doing now, than what you would be if you included meat on a whole foods diet where.

[Dinsmore]

The word is "healthier" not "more healthy".

[Asim Raqeeb]

I think vegetarian is good idea but a person without meat or chicken can not live on this planet … It is dur to the addiction we had made with meat products .

[psychologyPHD]

I’m a carnivore there is zero chance of me not eating meat.

[Beatrice Gamba]

Pesto isn't vegan?? Wtf do the brits put in pesto? Pork grease? 🤔

[Alan Broadhurst-Hall]

@Lucy Stevenson Correct. Although lots of vegans replace it with nutritional yeast 🙂 Personally I don’t miss the parmesan in pesto 👍

[Lucy Stevenson]

Pesto traditionally contains parmesan I think!

[Sandeep]

Vegetarian is choose to lead happy life . Sorry, Not vegan .

[Chris Schepper]

@Carlos Seamanduras I’m getting some high value entertainment from you tonight. Tyvm.

[Paul Mares]

Reading that sentence gave me brain-aneurysm.

[Avi Psycho]

Don't wanna talk about it anymore, its getting annoying. I can't even have an opinion now.

[Avi Psycho]

@Some Guy everyone has their own beliefs, i said mine, now shush.

[Alan Broadhurst-Hall]

Not more plant based bullshit 😡 “I’m vegan except for dairy” 🙄 So, you’re not vegan. ‘Plant based’ is just people trying to quiet their conscience. You’re either vegan or you’re not. I wish people would stop calling themselves “mostly vegan”. You’re not vegan.

[David Mowbray]

Why are you transphobic? I'm vegan and eat a steak 5 days a week.