plant protein Archives - Health Tips From The Professor

Is The New Food Guide Pyramid Healthy?

January 27, 2026 by Dr. Steve Chaney

A Brief History Of USDA Food Guides

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

Unless you have cut yourself off from all outside media, you already know the USDA has just released new “Dietary Guidelines For Americans” and a new, upside down, food pyramid.

Both the AMA and AHA have endorsed the new guidelines with some reservations. But like everything else in today’s world they have become both political and controversial.

Some experts are saying, “The new guidelines are fantastic. They will make Americans much healthier. It’s about time the government caught up with the latest scientific advances.

Others are saying, “The new guidelines are terrible. They will set medicine back 20 years.”

As usual, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I will explore that middle ground and discuss the pros and cons of the new dietary guidelines and food guide pyramid in this article.

But first we should start with something everyone can agree with, “What we are doing now isn’t working!” For example:

The percentage of Americans who are overweight or obese is approaching 70%.

The United States spends more on healthcare per person than any other country in the world. But we…

- Rank 48^th in life expectancy. We not only rank below every developed country, but we also rank below many 3^rd world countries.

- - And we are losing ground. In 1990, we ranked 35^th in life expectancy.

- Rank 69^th in health span (healthy life expectancy).

- - Again, we are losing ground. Our ranking was 42^nd in 1990.

- Rank dead last (183^rd out of 183) in health span as a percentage of life expectancy.

In short, we are falling behind the rest of the world in terms of lifespan, health span, and percentage of healthy years.

And our deteriorating health is costly.

90% of our health care spending is for preventable diseases

A Brief History Of USDA Food Guides

The USDA introduced the first food guide pyramid in 1992 based on the best nutrition science of the time. You probably remember the mantra:

2-3 servings of dairy, preferably low fat.

2-3 servings in the protein category (lean meats, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts).

2-4 servings of fruits and 3-5 servings of vegetables.

6-11 servings of grains (bread, cereals, rice, and pasta).

Fats, oils, and sweets were at the top of the pyramid with the caption, “Use Sparingly”.

This pyramid and the accompanying dietary guidelines were publicized so much that practically everyone knew them by heart.

Ten years later the USDA did a nutrition survey to see if their guidelines had changed American’s eating behavior. The answer was a clear, “No”. Only 5% of Americans ate according to the food guide pyramid.

The Geniuses at the USDA concluded that the food guide pyramid must be too difficult for the average American, so they introduced a simpler version, My Pyramid in 2005.

Guess what! Only 5% of Americans followed those recommendations, so they went to the super simple My Plate. By now you have probably guessed that only 5% of Americans followed the My Plate recommendations.

It turns out Americans weren’t confused by the recommendations. The recommendations were just too different from the way they were used to eating.

So, one change you will see in the new food guide pyramid is it includes some of Americans favorite foods, such as red meat, butter, and full fat dairy. Is that sacrilege or is it smart? Only time will tell.

With that in mind, let’s discuss the new “Dietary Guidelines For Americans”.

#1: Eat Real Food

This is one recommendation that virtually everyone agrees with. The average American is getting 55% of their calories from highly processed foods. And the health consequences of that much processed food are devastating. Consumption of highly processed foods is linked to higher risk of:

Obesity.
Type 2 diabetes.
Heart attack.
Stroke.
Some cancers.
Depression and anxiety.
Dementia
Premature death.

If you are wondering how we got to this point, the answer is simple. It stems from the desire of Americans to eat a healthier diet without giving up their favorite foods and the willingness of Big Food Inc (the food industry) to give us exactly what we want. For example:

Some people want to eat a more plant-based diet, but don’t want to give up their favorite meats. Big Food Inc is only too happy to oblige. They mix some fat, salt, and a witch’s brew of chemicals to give us phony baloney, faken bacon, and everyone’s favorite, tofurkey.

Some people are convinced keto diets are healthy, but don’t want to give their favorite sweets. Again, Big Food Inc is only too happy to oblige. They mix up a witch’s brew of chemicals to give us keto cookies and keto pastries.

I’m being facetious, but you get my point.

Some representatives of Big Food Inc claim that the health risks of processed foods are unproven. They are lying!

If you would like to read my reviews of major studies showing the health risks of highly processed foods, just go to https://www.chaneyhealth.com/healthtips/ and put “processed foods” in the search box.

#2: Prioritize Protein Foods at Every Meal

This is one of the more controversial recommendations of the new food guide pyramid. The new USDA dietary guidelines increase the protein recommendation by 50-100% compared to previous versions…

From 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight to…

Between 0.54 and 0.72 grams of protein per pound of body weight.

[Note: If these numbers seem different from what you have seen, that is because the official recommendations are in grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Since most Americans have no idea what their body weight is in kilograms, those numbers are useless.]

The main criticisms about the new protein recommendations are:

#1: “There isn’t solid evidence that most people need this much protein.”

My response is that anyone who makes that claim hasn’t kept up with the last two decades of protein research.

The old 0.36/pound standard is probably OK for the average middle-aged couch potato, but higher protein intakes are needed for people who are:

Active, especially if they are trying to increase muscle mass, strength, or endurance.

Over 50 and are trying to maintain muscle mass, strength, and mobility.

Trying to lose weight without losing muscle, especially if they are using GLP-1 drugs.

Trying to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases.

In short, almost everyone except the couch potatoes will benefit from higher protein intakes. And, yes, the latest science shows that it is best to get at least 20 grams of protein with each meal.

You can find more information about the science behind increased protein recommendations by going to https://www.chaneyhealth.com/healthtips/ and putting “protein” in the search box.

#2: “The new guidelines don’t steer people towards plant proteins”. This is a subtle distinction. The new USDA dietary guidelines include plant protein sources. But they do not recommend that they replace some of the animal proteins in the diet, as did previous versions. This allows people to choose between animal and plant proteins based on their preferences.

Those of you who have been following my “Health Tips From the Professor” blog know that I am an advocate of primarily plant-based diets. I am fully in the “replace some animal protein with vegetable protein” camp.

But I acknowledge that is not the way most Americans eat. Perhaps it is time to make dietary recommendations that align more closely with the way people eat if we want to get above 5% acceptance.

It would also be difficult to meet the new protein guidelines with plant protein alone unless you add commercially available plant protein supplements.

#3: “Higher protein intakes may be harmful for some people”. Recent research has shown that this concern is overblown for most Americans. However, there are some people who should probably check with their doctor before they increase their protein intake.

People who have been diagnosed with kidney disease.

People with genetic conditions or diseases that predispose to kidney disease. One example would be poorly controlled diabetes. [Note: I do not mean to imply that higher protein intake is likely to cause kidney disease in these situations. I included this category because people in these situations may have undiagnosed kidney disease.]

In most of these cases, you have probably been warned by your doctor to be careful about excess protein intake. But if you are uncertain about your risk for kidney disease, it never hurts to check with your doctor before increasing your protein intake.

What About Red Meat?

The new dietary guidelines have been criticized for emphasizing red meat. That criticism is inaccurate. It’s a “tempest in a teapot”.

In fact, red meat is pictured in both the original and the most recent versions of the food guide pyramid. And red meat is mentioned as one source of protein in both the original and the latest versions of dietary guidelines. It is given no special emphasis over other protein sources in either version of the dietary guidelines.

However, I would like to share my perspective on red meat.

Diet context matters. As I have said in previous issues of “Health Tips From The Professor”, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans are the antidotes to all the bad aspects of red meat.” And if you look at the new food guide pyramid, red meat and other proteins are in the same neighborhood as fruits and vegetables.

Amount matters. Think of red meat as a garnish – for example, 2-3 ounces of red meat as part of a steak salad or stir fry with lots of veggies rather than an 8-ounce steak with fries.

#3: Consume Dairy

The new dietary guidelines differ from previous versions in both the amount and kind of dairy foods consumed. For example:

The old guidelines recommended 2-3 servings of dairy foods per day.

- The new guidelines recommend 3 servings per day as part of a 2,000-calorie dietary pattern.

- Since most Americans consume 3,600 to 3,800 calories per day that recommendation translates to at least 5 servings per day.

The old guidelines recommended choosing low fat dairy foods.

- The new guidelines say, “When consuming dairy, include full-fat dairy with no added sugars.”

Since the full-fat dairy recommendation is the most controversial change, I will address it first.

Let me start by saying that I have been a traditionalist with respect to dairy foods. I have recommended low-fat dairy foods for years. But a good scientist must be willing to change their recommendations based on the latest research findings.

And new findings have clearly challenged our perspective on full-fat dairy foods. Several large, well-designed studies over the past decade have shown that full-fat dairy foods are just as healthy as low-fat dairy foods. I will make two comments about these studies.

I suspect that the studies may be skewed because much of the data on full-fat dairy comes from countries where most of full-fat dairy foods are fermented – and we know that fermented dairy foods are very healthy.

- Admittedly, I have no data to back up my suspicion, but I recommend fermented dairy foods as part of your dairy intake. That’s a recommendation everyone can agree with!

One recent study has suggested that diet context is important. Specifically, the study suggests that the benefits of full-fat dairy foods are greatest in the context of a healthy, primarily plant-based diet.

- Similar observations have been made for egg consumption. That suggests that full-fat dairy and eggs provide some important nutrients that may be missing in a vegetarian diet. But in a diet that is already high in saturated fat and cholesterol, the “bad” effects of full-fat dairy and eggs may outweigh the benefits.

You can find more information about full-fat dairy by going to https://www.chaneyhealth.com/healthtips/ and putting “dairy” in the search box.

As for the amount of dairy foods you should consume, I wouldn’t get hung up on the number of servings per day. I interpret the new guidelines as saying, “Don’t be afraid of dairy. It can be an important part of your diet.”

However, the servings of dairy products are more frequently determined by lactose intolerance or sensitivity to milk protein than by dietary guidelines. Many people, including myself, can only consume small, occasional servings of dairy without experiencing digestive distress.

#4: Eat Vegetables & Fruits Throughout The Day

The dietary guidelines say, “Eat a variety of colorful, nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits. Specifically, the recommendation is:

3 servings/day of vegetables and 2 servings/day of fruits each day.

- Once again, the number of servings are based on a 2,000-calorie diet.

- When you take into account the actual caloric intake of Americans, the recommendations become 3-5 servings/day of vegetables and 2-4 servings/day of fruits.

These recommendations are not controversial. They are universally accepted.

#5: Incorporate Healthy Fats

The new dietary guidelines are:

“Healthy fats are plentiful in many whole foods, such as meats, poultry, eggs, omega-3 rich seafood, nuts, seeds, full-fat dairy, olives, and avocados.”

- This recommendation is not controversial.

“When cooking with or adding fats to meals, prioritize oils with essential fatty acids, such as olive oil. Other options can include butter or beef tallow.”

- This is the most controversial portion of the new dietary guidelines. The usual comment is something like, “How dare they include butter and lard as healthy fats!”

I’m not a fan of lard but let me make a couple of observations about butter.

Butter is a whole food. Its ingredient list is typically cream, milk, and salt. If you buy the unsalted version, the ingredient list is even shorter. Margarine and butter substitutes have much longer ingredient lists, often including some questionable ingredients.

The frequency of butter use is important. Let me share a personal example. We eat a whole food, primarily plant-based diet. We substitute almond butter for butter on toast and muffins. But there are certain foods like potatoes, winter squash, and corn on the cob that just aren’t the same without real butter. We buy 4 sticks of butter at a time, cut it into pats of butter, and freeze it. Four sticks of butter lasts us a year.

Finally, the critics who say that the new guidelines should not include foods that are high in saturated fat are ignoring the fact that the guidelines say, “Saturated fat consumption should not exceed 10% of total daily calories.” This statement has remained constant since the first food guide pyramid in 1992.

So, the new guidelines are not recommending that we eat more saturated fat as many critics have claimed. They are saying, “A little bit of saturated fat is OK in the context of a whole food diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

#6: Focus On Whole Grains

The new dietary guidelines are:

“Prioritize fiber-rich whole grains.”

“Significantly reduce the consumption of highly processed, refined carbohydrates.”

These guidelines are unchanged from previous versions of the guidelines.

What is new is that the guidelines now recommend only 2-4 servings of whole grains per day. That’s a big change from the 6-11 servings per day recommended in the original food guide pyramid.

If the 6-11 servings per day were whole grains, the new recommendation would represent a significant decrease in fiber intake. But that’s not how most Americans eat.

Since most of the grains in a typical American’s diet are highly processed and refined, reducing the recommended intake to 2-4 servings per day is a step in the right direction.

#7: Limit Highly Processed Foods, Added Sugars, & Refined Carbohydrates

I call this, “Avoid the bad stuff”. Specifically:

Avoid highly processed foods with added sugar and sodium.

Limit foods and beverages that include artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, and sweeteners

Avoid sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages.

These recommendations are accepted by almost everyone except the food industry.

However, I should point out that there is also a slight difference in emphasis from previous versions of the USDA dietary guidelines:

The new guidelines are more restrictive for added sugars than previous versions of the dietary guidelines. For example, they say:

- One meal should contain no more than 10 grams of added sugars.

- Children under the age of 10 should not be given foods with added sugars (previous versions of the dietary guidelines recommend avoiding added sugars for children under the age of 2).

Given the wealth of evidence that added sugars are linked to increased risk of obesity and chronic diseases, these stricter restrictions on added sugars make good sense – especially because the USDA dietary guidelines form the basis for school lunch programs.

But these guidelines are very different from how the average American eats. I’m not sure how many Americans will follow them.

#8: Limit Alcoholic Beverages

The guidelines:

Say, “Consume less alcohol for better overall health”.

List people who should completely avoid alcohol.

The only controversy about this recommendation is that it is less specific than the previous guidelines that recommended no more than 1 alcoholic drink/day for women and no more than 2/day for men.

I recognize the desire for specificity. But alcohol tolerance depends on several factors such as body weight, genetics, and medication usage.

What Does This Mean For You?

The USDA just released a new version of the Food Guide Pyramid and accompanying “Dietary Guidelines For Americans”, and they are very different from previous versions. What do these changes mean for you?

While the AMA and AHA have both endorsed the new guidelines, they have been controversial. In the article above, I have summarized the pros and cons of every recommendation. There are lots of recommendations, so it was a long article.

To help you make sense of the article let me summarize the recommendations and criticisms by dividing the recommendations into 4 categories:

#1: Recommendations that are accepted by almost everyone except the food industry. These are non-controversial.

Eat real food

Eat vegetables and fruits throughout the day.

Focus on whole grains.

Limit highly processed foods, added sugar, and refined carbohydrates.

#2: Changes in recommendations that reflect recent scientific advances. Critics of these changes simply haven’t kept up with scientific publications over the past couple of decades.

Increasing the daily protein recommendations.

Including full-fat dairy as a healthy dairy food.

#3: Tempests in a teapot: There is a kernel of truth in these criticisms, but the changes are much more modest than the critics would have you believe.

Including red meat in the protein recommendations.

Including some saturated fats in the “healthy fats” category.

Not including specific limits on alcohol consumption, as the previous version had done.

#4: What I would have liked to have seen:

More emphasis on plant proteins.

Elimination of lard from the “healthy fat” category.

Inclusion of high-quality vegetable oils in the “healthy fats” category.

The Bottom Line

The USDA just released a new version of the Food Guide Pyramid and accompanying “Dietary Guidelines For Americans”.

While the AMA and AHA have both endorsed the new guidelines, they have been controversial.

In this article I describe the pros and cons of each dietary guideline and divide them into ones for which:

They are clearly an improvement over the previous guideline.

They are accepted by almost everyone.

The criticism is a “tempest in a teapot”.

The criticism is at least partially accurate.

For more information on the pros and cons of the new “Dietary Guidelines For Americans” and how these guidelines apply to you, read the article above.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

_____________________________________________________________________________

My posts and “Health Tips From the Professor” articles carefully avoid claims about any brand of supplement or manufacturer of supplements. However, I am often asked by representatives of supplement companies if they can share them with their customers.

My answer is, “Yes, as long as you share only the article without any additions or alterations. In particular, you should avoid adding any mention of your company or your company’s products. If you were to do that, you could be making what the FTC and FDA consider a “misleading health claim” that could result in legal action against you and the company you represent.

For more detail about FTC regulations for health claims, see this link.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/health-products-compliance-guidance

_______________________________________________________________________

About The Author

Dr. Chaney has a BS in Chemistry from Duke University and a PhD in Biochemistry from UCLA. He is Professor Emeritus from the University of North Carolina where he taught biochemistry and nutrition to medical and dental students for 40 years. Dr. Chaney won numerous teaching awards at UNC, including the Academy of Educators “Excellence in Teaching Lifetime Achievement Award”. Dr Chaney also ran an active cancer research program at UNC and published over 100 scientific articles and reviews in peer-reviewed scientific journals. In addition, he authored two chapters on nutrition in one of the leading Biochemistry textbooks for medical students.

Since retiring from the University of North Carolina, he has been writing a weekly health blog called “Health Tips From the Professor”. He has also written two best-selling books, “Slaying the Food Myths” and “Slaying the Supplement Myths”. And most recently he has created an online lifestyle change course, “Create Your Personal Health Zone”. For more information visit https://chaneyhealth.com.

For the past 55 years Dr. Chaney and his wife Suzanne have been helping people improve their health holistically through a combination of good diet, exercise, weight control and appropriate supplementation.

Does Diet Matter For Weight Loss?

December 31, 2024 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Who Benefits Most From A Healthy Diet?

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

Fad diets abound. High protein, low carb, low fat, vegan, keto, paleo – the list is endless. They all claim to be backed by scientific studies showing that you lose weight, lower your cholesterol and triglycerides, lower your blood pressure, and smooth out your blood sugar swings.

They all claim to be the best. But any reasonable person knows they can’t all be the best. Someone must be lying.

My take on this is that fad diet proponents are relying on “smoke and mirrors” to make their diet look like the best. I have written about this before, but here is a brief synopsis:

They compare their diet with the typical American diet.

- Anything looks good compared to the typical American diet.

- Instead, they should be comparing their diet with other weight loss diets. That is the only way we can learn which diet is best.

They are all restrictive diets.

- Any restrictive diet will cause you to eat fewer calories and to lose weight.

- And as little as 5% weight loss results in lower cholesterol & triglycerides, lower blood pressure, and better control of blood sugar levels.

Simply put, any restrictive diet will give you short-term weight loss and improvement in blood parameters linked to heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. But are these diets healthy long term? For some of them, the answer is a clear no. Others are unlikely to be healthy but have not been studied long term. So, we don’t know whether they are healthy or not.

What if you started from the opposite perspective? Instead of asking, “Is a diet that helps you lose weight healthy long term?”, what if you asked, “Does the diet you choose matter for weight loss? Can healthy eating help you lose weight?” The study (S Schutte et al, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 115: 1-18, 2022)) I will review this week asked these question.

This was an excellent study. It compared a healthy diet to an unhealthy diet with the same degree of caloric restriction. And it compared both diets to the habitual diet of people in that area. This study was performed in the Netherlands, so both weight loss diets were compared to the habitual Dutch diet.

How Was The Study Done?

This was a randomized controlled trial, the gold standard of clinical studies. The investigators recruited 100 healthy, abdominally obese men and women aged 40-70. At the time of entry into the study none of the participants:

Had diabetes.
Smoked.
Had a diagnosed medical condition.
Were on a medication that interfered with blood sugar control.
Were on a vegetarian diet.

The participants were randomly assigned to:

A high-nutrient quality diet that restricted calories by 25%.
A low-nutrient-quality diet that restricted calories by 25%.
A continuation of their habitual diet.

The study lasted 12 weeks. The participants met with a dietitian on a weekly basis. The dietitian gave them all the foods they needed for the next week and monitored their adherence to their assigned diet. They were advised not to change their exercise regimen during the study.

At the beginning and end of the study the participants were weighed, and cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure were measured.

Does Diet Matter For Weight Loss?

This study compared a healthy diet to an unhealthy diet with the same degree of caloric restriction. And it compared both diets to the habitual diet of people in that area. This study was performed in the Netherlands, so both weight loss diets were compared to the habitual Dutch diet.

To put this study into context, these were not healthy and unhealthy diets in the traditional sense.

Both were whole food diets.
Both included fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, and lean meats.
Both restricted calories by 25%.

The diets were designed so that the “high-nutrient quality” diet had significantly more plant protein (in the form of soy protein), fiber, healthy fats (monounsaturated and omega-3 fats), and significantly less fructose and other added sugars than the “low-nutrient-quality” diet.

When the investigators measured weight loss at the end of 12 weeks:

Participants lost significant weight on both calorie-restricted diets compared to the group that continued to eat their habitual diet.

- That is not surprising. Any diet that successfully restricts calories will result in weight loss.

Participants on the high-nutrient quality diet lost 33% more weight than participants on the low-nutrient-quality diet (18.5 pounds compared to 13.9 pounds).

Participants on the high-nutrient quality diet lost 50% more inches in waist circumference than participants on the low-nutrient-quality diet (1.8 inches compared to 1.2 inches).

- Waist circumference is a direct measure of abdominal obesity.

When the investigators measured blood pressure, fasting total cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels at 12 weeks:

These cardiovascular risk factors were significantly improved on both diets.

- Again, this would be expected. Any diet that causes weight loss results in an improvement in these parameters.

However, the reduction in total serum cholesterol was 2.5-fold greater and the reduction in triglycerides was 2-fold greater in the high-nutrient quality diet group than in the low-nutrient-quality diet group.

And the reduction in systolic blood pressure was 2-fold greater and the reduction in diastolic blood pressure was 1.67-fold greater in the high-nutrient quality diet group than in the low-nutrient-quality diet group.

The authors concluded, “Our results demonstrate that the nutrient composition of an energy-restricted diet is of great importance for improvements of metabolic health in an overweight, middle-aged population. A high-nutrient quality energy-restricted diet enriched with soy protein, fiber, monounsaturated fats, omega-3 fats, and reduced in fructose and other added sugars provided additional health benefits over a low-nutrient quality energy-restricted diet, resulting in greater weight loss…and promoting an antiatherogenic blood lipid profile.”

In short, participants in this study lost more weight and had a better improvement in risk factors for heart disease on a high-nutrient-quality diet than on a low-nutrient-quality diet. Put another way, diet does matter for weight loss. Healthy eating helped them lose more weight and gave them greater improvement in their health.

Who Benefits Most From A Healthy Diet?

None of the participants in this study had been diagnosed with diabetes when the study began. However, all of them were middle-aged, overweight, and had abdominal obesity. That means many of them likely had some degree of insulin resistance.

Because of some complex metabolic studies that I did not describe, the investigators suspected that insulin resistance might influence the relative effectiveness of the two energy-restricted diets.

To test this hypothesis, they used an assay called HOMA-IR (homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance). Simply put, this assay measures how much insulin is required to keep your blood sugar under control.

They used a HOMA-IR score of 2.5 to categorize insulin resistance among the participants.

Participants with a HOMA-IR score >2.5 were categorized as insulin-resistant. This was 55% of the participants.

Participants with a HOMA-IR score ≤2.5 were categorized as insulin-sensitive. This was 45% of the participants.

When they used this method to categorize participants they found:

Insulin-resistant individuals lost about the same amount of weight on both diets.

Insulin-sensitive individuals lost 66% more weight on the high-nutrient-quality diet than the low-nutrient-quality diet (21.6 pounds compared to 13.0 pounds).

The investigators concluded, “Overweight, insulin-sensitive subjects may benefit more from a high- than a low-nutrient-quality energy-restricted diet with respect to weight loss…”

What Does This Study Mean For You?

Simply put this study confirms that:

Caloric restriction leads to weight loss, and…

Weight loss leads to improvement in cardiovascular risk factors like total cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure.

- This is not new.

- This is true for any diet that results in caloric restriction.

However, this study breaks new ground in that it shows a high-nutrient quality diet results in significantly better…

Weight loss and…

Reduction in cardiovascular risk factors….

…compared to a low-nutrient quality diet with the same degree of caloric restriction.

As I said above, the distinction between a “high-nutrient-quality” diet and a “low-nutrient-quality” diet may not be what you might have expected.

Both diets were whole food diets. Neither diet allowed sodas, sweets, and highly processed foods.

Both included fruits, vegetables, grains, and lean meats.

Both reduced caloric intake by 25%.

- If you want to get the most out of your weight loss diet, this is a good place to start.

However, in this study the investigators designed their “high-nutrient-quality” diet so that it contained:

More plant protein in the form of soy protein.

- In this study they did not reduce the amount of animal protein in the “high-nutrient-quality” diet. They simply added soy protein foods to the diet. I would recommend substituting soy protein for some of the animal protein in the diet.

More fiber.

- The additional fiber came from substituting whole grain breads and brown rice for refined grain breads and white rice, adding soy protein foods, and adding an additional serving of fruit.

More healthy fats (monounsaturated and omega-3 fats).

- The additional omega-3s came from adding a fish oil capsule providing 700mg of EPA and DHA.

Less added sugar.

- While this study focused on fructose, their high-nutrient-quality diet was lower in all added sugars.

All these changes make great sense if you are trying to lose weight.

I would group these changes into 7 recommendation

1) Follow a whole food diet. Avoid sodas, sweets, and highly processed foods.

2) Include all 5 food groups in your weight loss diet. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, and lean proteins all play an important role in your long-term health.

3) Eat a primarily plant-based diet. My recommendation is to substitute plant proteins for at least half of your high-fat animal proteins. And this study reminds us that soy protein foods are a convenient and effective way to achieve this goal.

4) Eat a diet high in natural fiber. Including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and soy foods in your diet is the best way to achieve this goal.

5) Substitute healthy fats (monounsaturated and omega-3 fats) for unhealthy fats (saturated and trans fats) in your diet. And this study reminds us that it is hard to get enough omega-3s in your diet without an omega-3 supplement.

6) Reduce the amount of added sugar, especially fructose, from your diet. That is best achieved by eliminating sodas, sweets, and highly processed foods from the diet. I should add that fructose in fruits and some healthy foods is not a problem. For more information on that topic, I refer you to a previous “Health Tips” article.

7) Finally, I would like to remind you of the obvious. No diet, no matter how healthy, will help you lose weight unless you cut back on calories. Fad diets achieve that by restricting the foods you can eat. In the case of a healthy diet, the best way to do it is to cut back on portion sizes and choose foods with low caloric density.

Finally, I should touch briefly on the third major conclusion of this study, namely that the “high-nutrient quality diet” was not more effective than the “low-nutrient-quality” diet for people who were insulin resistant. In one sense, this was not news. Previous studies have suggested that insulin-resistant individuals have more difficulty losing weight. That’s the bad news.

However, there was a silver lining to this finding as well:

Only around half of the overweight, abdominally obese adults in this study were highly insulin resistant.

- That means there is a ~50% chance that you will lose more weight on a healthy diet.

More importantly, because both diets restricted calories by 25%, insulin-resistant individuals lost weight on both diets.

- That means you can lose weight on any diet that successfully reduces your caloric intake even if you are insulin resistant. That’s the good news.

However, my recommendation would still be to choose a high-nutrient quality diet that is designed to reduce caloric intake, because that diet is more likely to be healthy long term.

The Bottom Line

A recent study asked, “Can healthy eating help you lose weight?” This study was a randomized controlled study, the gold standard of clinical studies. The participants were randomly assigned to:

A high-nutrient quality diet that restricted calories by 25%.
A low-nutrient-quality diet that restricted calories by 25%.
Continue with their habitual diet.

These were not healthy and unhealthy diets in the traditional sense.

Both were whole food diets.
Both included fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, and lean meats.
Both restricted calories by 25%.

At the end of 12 weeks:

Participants on the high-nutrient quality diet lost 33% more weight and had better cardiovascular markers than participants on the low-nutrient-quality diet.

For more details on this study, what this study means for you, and my 7 recommendations for a healthy weight loss diet, read the article above.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

______________________________________________________________________________

For more detail about FTC regulations for health claims, see this link.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/health-products-compliance-guidance

_______________________________________________________________________

About The Author

Dr. Chaney won numerous teaching awards at UNC, including the Academy of Educators “Excellence in Teaching Lifetime Achievement Award”.

Dr Chaney also ran an active cancer research program at UNC and published over 100 scientific articles and reviews in peer-reviewed scientific journals. In addition, he authored two chapters on nutrition in one of the leading biochemistry text books for medical students.

For the past 45 years Dr. Chaney and his wife Suzanne have been helping people improve their health holistically through a combination of good diet, exercise, weight control and appropriate supplementation.

What Kind Of Protein Is Best For Strength?

February 13, 2024 by Dr. Steve Chaney

What Kind Of Protein Is Best For You?

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

Every bodybuilder “knows” that whey is the best protein for building strong muscles. After all, it:

Is absorbed more rapidly than some other proteins.
Contains all nine essential amino acids.
Is naturally rich in leucine, a branched chain amino acid that stimulates increased muscle mass.

However, as someone who is not a vegan but who follows the vegan literature, I frequently come across testimonials from bodybuilders and elite athletes who say they get all the strength and muscle mass they need from plant proteins.

I’ve always assumed they must have dietitians designing the perfect plant protein diet for them. But a recent study surprised me. It challenged that assumption.

Before I talk about this study, let me change our focus. Most of us will never be bodybuilders or elite athletes, but all of us face a common challenge. We all tend to lose muscle mass as we age, something referred to as sarcopenia. I have discussed this in a previous issue of “Health Tips From the Professor”.

Simply put, sarcopenia results in:

Loss of muscle strength. Even the simple act of picking up a grandchild or a bag of groceries can become problematic.
Increased risk of falls and fractures.
Lower quality of life.

Sarcopenia is a major health issue for those of us in our golden years. If you are younger, it is a concern for your parents or grandparents. Sarcopenia is a health issue that affects everyone.

In my previous article I discussed the role of adequate protein intake and exercise in preventing age-related sarcopenia. But I did not discuss what kind of protein was best for preventing muscle loss, and the frailty that comes with it, as we age.

The article (EA Struijk et al, Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle, 13: 1752-1761, 2022) I will discuss today suggests that plant protein is best for preventing frailty in women as they age. It’s a surprising conclusion, so join me as I evaluate this study.

How Was This Study Done?

The data for this study came from the Nurses Health Study which started in 1976 with 121,700 women nurses and is still ongoing. This study followed 85, 871 female nurses for an average of 22 years starting when they were 60.

Food frequency questionnaires were administered to the participants in the study every four years starting in 1980. The questionnaires were used to calculate:

Total calories consumed.
Percent of calories from protein, carbohydrate, and fat.
Percent of calories from different kinds of protein.
The overall quality of the diet.
Saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, cholesterol, and alcohol intake.

For this study the investigators used the cumulative average values from all questionnaires completed by participants in the study from age 60 until the onset of frailty.

Frailty was assessed every four years starting in 1992 using something called the FRAIL scale. The FRAIL scale defines frailty based on five self-reported criteria: fatigue, low strength, reduced aerobic capacity, having 5 or more chronic illnesses, and recent significant unintentional weight loss.

It is important to note that strength is only one of the five criteria used to identify frailty, although decreased muscle mass can contribute to lack of energy and reduced aerobic activity.

It is also worth pointing out that multiple studies have shown that primarily plant-based diets are associated with a decrease in chronic diseases.

I will come back to both of these points when I discuss the results of this study.

What Kind Of Protein Is Best For Strength?

I will start with the “big picture” results from this study and then cover some of the important details.

Average intake of:

Total protein was 18.3% of calories consumed.
Animal protein was 13.3% of calories consumed.
Plant protein was 5.0% of calories consumed.
Dairy protein was 3.8% of calories consumed.

When protein intake was divided into quintiles (5 equal parts) and women consuming the most protein were compared to those consuming the least protein for an average of 22 years:

Those consuming the most total protein had a 7% increased risk of developing frailty.

Those consuming the most animal protein had a 7% increased risk of developing frailty. (It is perhaps not surprising that the results were essentially the same for total and animal protein since animal protein was 73% of the total protein consumed by women in this study.)

Those consuming the most plant protein had a 14% decreased risk of developing frailty.

Consumption of dairy protein did not affect frailty.

Substituting as little as 5% of calories of plant protein for:

Dairy protein decreased the risk of developing frailty by 32%.

Animal protein decreased the risk of developing frailty by 38%.

Non-dairy animal protein (meat, fish, and eggs) decreased the risk of developing frailty by 42%.

In addition, substituting as little as 5% of calories of dairy protein for non-dairy animal protein decreased the risk of developing frailty by 14%.

But, as I said above, the frailty scale used in this study included the criteria of developing 5 or more chronic illnesses, and long-term consumption of plant protein is known to reduce the risk of developing chronic illnesses. So, it is important to break the study down into its component parts. When that was done the statistically significant results were:

Those consuming the most total protein had a 7% increased risk of low strength and a 25% increased risk of developing 5 or more chronic diseases.

Those consuming the most animal protein had a 9% increased risk of low strength and a 35% increased risk of developing 5 or more chronic diseases.

Those consuming the most plant protein had an 18% decreased risk of low strength. (It is interesting to note that plant protein consumption did not have a statistically significant effect on the development of chronic diseases in this study. That suggests that the “protective” effect of plant protein may simply be due to the absence of animal protein from the diet.)

Consumption of dairy protein did not affect any of the frailty criteria.

Finally, prevention of strength loss due to age-related sarcopenia is known to require exercise as well as adequate protein intake.

So, it was somewhat surprising that no difference in the association between protein intake and frailty was seen in women with high physical activity compared with those with lower physical activity levels. However, this may be because the range in activity level between the women in this study was relatively small. There didn’t appear to be a significant number of “gym rats” among the women in this study.

What Kind Of Protein Is Best For You?

One take-away from this study is clear. If you are a woman and want to minimize sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass and strength as you age), plant protein is an excellent choice.

A variety of plant proteins is best, so you get all the essential amino acids.

You don’t need to become a vegan. This study showed that replacing as little as 5% of your calories from animal protein with plant protein can have a significant benefit. Any healthy primarily plant-based diet will do.

This study enrolled only women aged 60 or above, so we don’t know whether the results apply to men or to younger women.

We don’t know why plant protein is better than animal protein at preventing age-related sarcopenia.

It could be because primarily plant-based diets are anti-inflammatory, and inflammation plays a role in sarcopenia.

Or it could be because primarily plant-based diets reduced the risk of chronic diseases, and chronic diseases can lead to loss of strength.

To be clear, this is a study that focuses on the type of protein that is best for long-term health and strength as we age. This is not a study of the best protein for increasing muscle mass following a workout.

Multiple studies show that whey protein can be a good post-workout choice.

However, other studies show that plant protein can also be a good post-workout choice if extra leucine is added to make it equivalent to whey protein in terms of leucine content.

The Bottom Line

You have probably heard that it is all downhill after age 30. But it doesn’t have to be.

One of the downhill slopes we all face is something called sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss). The resulting loss of strength and agility can severely impact our quality of life in our golden years.

We can prevent sarcopenia with the combination of a high protein diet and resistance training (weight bearing exercise).

But what kind of protein is best? In this issue of “Health Tips From the Professor” I review a large, well-designed study that suggests plant protein is the best choice for women if they wish to reduce age-related muscle loss and the weakness that comes with it.

For more details about the study and what it means for you, read the article above.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

______________________________________________________________________________

For more detail about FTC regulations for health claims, see this link.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/health-products-compliance-guidance

_____________________________________________________________________

About The Author

Are Vegan Diets Bad For Your Bones?

May 25, 2021 by Dr. Steve Chaney

The Secrets To A Healthy Vegan Diet

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

Osteoporosis is a debilitating and potentially deadly disease associated with aging. It affects 54 million Americans. It can cause debilitating back pain and bone fractures. 50% of women and 25% of men over 50 will break a bone due to osteoporosis. Hip fractures in the elderly due to osteoporosis are often a death sentence.

As I discussed in a previous issue of “Health Tips From The Professor”, a “bone-healthy lifestyle requires 3 essentials – calcium, vitamin D, and weight bearing exercise. If any of these three essentials is presence in inadequate amounts, you can’t build healthy bones. In addition, other nutrients such as protein, magnesium, zinc, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fatty acids may play supporting roles.

Vegan and other plant-based diets are thought to be very healthy. They decrease the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers. However, vegan diets tend to be low in calcium, vitamin D, zinc, vitamin B12, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids. Could vegan diets be bad for your bones?

A meta-analysis of 9 studies published in 2009 (LT Ho-Pham et al, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 90: 943-950, 2009) reported that vegans had 4% lower bone density than omnivores, but concluded this difference was “not likely to be clinically relevant”.

However, that study did not actually compare bone fracture rates in vegans and omnivores. So, investigators have followed up with a much larger meta-analysis (I Iguacel et al, Nutrition Reviews 77, 1-18, 2019) comparing both bone density and bone fracture rates in vegans and omnivores.

How Was This Study Done?

The investigators searched the literature for all human clinical studies through November 2017 that compared bone densities and frequency of bone fractures of people consuming vegan and/or vegetarian diets with people consuming an omnivore diet.

Vegan diets were defined as excluding all animal foods.

Vegetarian diets were defined as excluding meat, poultry, fish, seafood, and flesh from any animal but including dairy foods and/or eggs. [Note: The more common name for this kind of diet is lacto-ovo vegetarian, but I will use the author’s nomenclature in this review.]

Omnivore diets were defined as including both plant and animal foods from every food group.

The investigators ended up with 20 studies that had a total of 37,134 participants. Of the 20 studies, 9 were conducted in Asia (Taiwan, Vietnam, India, Korea, and Hong-Kong), 6 in North America (the United States and Canada), and 4 were conducted in Europe (Italy, Finland, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom).

Are Vegan Diets Bad For Your Bones?

Here is what the investigators found:

Bone density: The clinical studies included 3 different sites for bone density measurements – the lumbar spine, the femoral neck, and the total body. When they compared bone density of vegans and vegetarians with the bone density of omnivores, here is what they found:

Lumbar spine:

- Vegans and vegetarians combined had a 3.2% lower bone density than omnivores.

- The effect of diet was stronger for vegans (7% decrease in bone density) than it was for vegetarians (2.3% decrease in bone density).

Femoral neck:

- Vegans and vegetarians combined had a 3.7% lower bone density than omnivores.

- The effect of diet was stronger for vegans (5.5% decrease in bone density) than it was for vegetarians (2.5% decrease in bone density).

Whole body:

- Vegans and vegetarians combined had a 3.2% lower bone density than omnivores.

- The effect of diet was statistically significant for vegans (5.9% decrease in bone density) but not for vegetarians (3.5% decrease in bone density). [Note: Statistical significance is not determined by how much bone density is decreased. It is determined by the size of the sample and the variations in bone density among individuals in the sample.]

Bone Fractures: The decrease in bone density of vegans in this study was similar to that reported in the 2009 study I discussed above. However, rather than simply speculating about the clinical significance of this decrease in bone density, the authors of this study also measured the frequency of fractures in vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores. Here is what they found.

Vegans and vegetarians combined had a 32% higher risk of bone fractures than omnivores.

The effect of diet on risk of bone fractures was statistically significant for vegans (44% higher risk of bone fracture) but not for vegetarians (25% higher risk of bone fractures).

These data suggest the decreased bone density in vegans is clinically significant.

The authors concluded, “The findings of this study suggest that both vegetarian and vegan diets are associated with lower bone density compared with omnivorous diets. The effect of vegan diets on bone density is more pronounced than the effect of vegetarian diets, and vegans have a higher fracture risk than omnivores. Both vegetarian and vegan diets should be appropriate planned to avoid dietary deficiencies associated with bone health.”

The Secrets To A Healthy Vegan Diet

The answer to this question lies in the last statement in the author’s conclusion, “Both vegetarian and vegan diets should be appropriate planned to avoid dietary deficiencies associated with bone health.”

The problem also lies in the difference between what a nutrition expert considers a vegan diet and what the average consumer considers a vegan diet. To the average consumer a vegan diet is simply a diet without any animal foods. What could go wrong with that definition? Let me count the ways.

Sugar and white flour are vegan. A vegan expert thinks of a vegan diet as a whole food diet – primarily fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. A vegan novice includes all their favorites – sodas, sweets, and highly processed foods. And that may not leave much room for healthier vegan foods.

2) Big Food, Inc is not your friend. Big Food tells you that you don’t need to give up the taste of animal foods just because you are going vegan. They will just combine sugar, white flour, and a witch’s brew of chemicals to give you foods that taste just like your favorite meats and dairy foods. The problem is these are all highly processed foods. They are not healthy. Some people call them “fake meats” or “fake cheeses”. I call them “fake vegan”.

If you are going vegan, embrace your new diet. Bean burgers may not taste like Big Macs, but they are delicious. If need other delicious vegan recipe ideas, I recommend the website https://forksoverknives.com.

3) A bone healthy vegan diet is possible, but it’s not easy. Let’s go back to the author’s phrase “…vegan diets should be appropriate planned to avoid dietary deficiencies associated with bone health.” A vegan expert will do the necessary planning. A vegan novice will assume all they need to do is give up animal foods.

As I said earlier, vegan diets tend to be low in calcium, vitamin D, zinc, vitamin B12, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids. Let’s look at how a vegan expert might plan their diet to get enough of those bone-healthy nutrients.

- Calcium. The top plant sources of calcium are leafy greens and soy foods at about 100-250 mg (10-25% of the DV) of calcium per serving. Some beans and seeds are moderately good sources of calcium. Soy foods are a particularly good choice because they are a good source of calcium and contain phytoestrogens that stimulate bone formation.

A vegan expert makes sure they get these foods every day and often adds a calcium supplement.

- Protein. Soy foods, beans, and some whole grains are the best plant sources of protein.

It drives me crazy when a vegan novice tells me they were told they can get all the protein they need from broccoli and leafy greens. That is incredibly bad advice.

A vegan expert makes sure they get soy foods, beans, and protein-rich grains every day and often adds a protein supplement.

- Zinc. There are several plant foods that supply around 20% the DV for zinc including lentils, oatmeal, wild rice, squash and pumpkin seeds, quinoa, and black beans.

A vegan expert makes sure they get these foods every day and often adds a multivitamin supplement containing zinc.

- Vitamin D and vitamin B12. These are very difficult to get from a vegan diet. Even vegan experts usually rely on supplements to get enough of these important nutrients.

4) Certain vegan foods can even be bad for your bones. I divide these into healthy vegan foods and unhealthy “vegan” foods.

- Healthy vegan foods that can be bad for your bones include.

- - Pinto beans, navy beans, and peas because they contain phytates.

- - Raw spinach & swiss chard because they contain oxalates.

- - Both phytates and oxalates bind calcium and interfere with its absorption.

- - These foods can be part of a healthy vegan diet, but a vegan expert consumes them in moderation.

- Unhealthy “vegan” foods that are bad for your bones include sodas, salt, sugar, and alcohol.

- - The mechanisms are complex, but these foods all tend to dissolve bone.

- - A vegan expert minimizes them in their diet.

5) You need more than diet for healthy bones. At the beginning of this article, I talked about the 3 essentials for bone formation – calcium, vitamin D, and exercise. You can have the healthiest vegan diet in the world, but if you aren’t getting enough weight bearing exercise, you will have low bone density. Let me close with 3 quick thoughts:

- None of the studies included in this meta-analysis measured how much exercise the study participants were getting.

- The individual studies were generally carried out in industrialized countries where many people get insufficient exercise.

- The DV for calcium in the United States is 1,000-1,200 mg/day for adults. In more agrarian societies dietary calcium intake is around 500 mg/day, and osteoporosis is almost nonexistent. What is the difference? These are people who are outside (vitamin D) doing heavy manual labor (exercise) in their farms and pastures every day.

In summary, a bone healthy vegan lifestyle isn’t easy, but it is possible if you work at it.

The Bottom Line

A recent meta-analysis asked two important questions about vegan diets.

Do vegans have lower bone density than omnivores?

2) Is the difference in bone density clinically significant? Are vegans more likely to suffer from bone fractures?

The study found that:

Vegans had 5.5%–7% lower bone density than omnivores depending on where the bone density was measured.

Vegans were 44% more likely to suffer from bone fractures than omnivores.

The authors of the study concluded, ““The findings of this study suggest that…vegan diets are associated with lower bone density compared with omnivorous diets, and vegans have a higher fracture risk than omnivores…Vegan diets should be appropriate planned to avoid dietary deficiencies associated with bone health.”

In evaluating the results of this study, I took a detailed look at the pros and cons of vegan diets and concluded, “A bone healthy vegan lifestyle isn’t easy, but it is possible if you work at it.”

For more details about study and my recommendations for a bone healthy vegan lifestyle read the article above.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Will Plant Proteins Help You Live Longer?

April 13, 2021 by Dr. Steve Chaney

Is A Vegan Diet Healthiest?

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

Unless you are Rip Van Winkle and have been asleep for the past 40 years, you have probably heard that whole food, primarily plant-based diets are good for you.

They help you control your weight.

They reduce inflammation.

They reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease.

They even reduce your risk of some cancers.

But do they help you live longer? If we take that question literally, the answer appears to be no. There is no “Fountain Of Youth”. There are no diets that extend our lives significantly.

However, what if you could reduce your risk of premature death? It would be tragic to have your life cut short by a heart attack or some other major disease. What if you could prevent that?

And what if you could live healthier longer? It would be equally tragic to spend your golden years debilitated by chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, or dementia. What if you could delay these diseases and live healthier longer?

The study I discuss this week (Y Sun, Journal of the American Heart Association, 10:e015553, 2021) looks at the effect of different dietary protein sources on premature death.

This study, like many others, suggests that primarily plant-based diets are healthier than meat-based diets. But what does this mean for you? Should you go completely meatless? Is a vegan diet healthier than other plant-based diets? I discuss what we know and what we do not know about the vegan diet compared to other plant-based diets.

How Was This Study Done?

The data for this study were drawn from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). The Women’s Health Initiative was designed to help identify strategies for preventing heart disease and other diseases in postmenopausal women. It enrolled 161,000 postmenopausal women from 40 sites across the US between 1993 and 1998 and followed them through 2017.

This study excluded women who had heart disease or cancer when they entered the WHI study and women who had incomplete data on either their diet or their use of postmenopausal hormone therapy. They were left with 102,521 women, age 50-79 at time of entry, who were followed for 18 years.

Each woman filed out an extensive dietary survey at the beginning of the study. There were 25,976 deaths during the study. The cause of death was determined by reviewing death certificates, medical records, autopsy reports or by linkage to the National Death Index.

The investigators asked whether women who ate more plant proteins were healthier than those who ate primarily meat protein. To answer this question, they correlated protein sources in the diet with all-cause mortality and deaths from various diseases.

The greatest difficulty with this type of study is that people who eat more plant protein tend to have a healthier diet and a healthier lifestyle. That makes it hard to separate out the benefits of eating plant proteins from benefits associated with other aspects of their diet and lifestyle. So, the authors corrected their data for every factor known to influence the risk of heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and premature death.

Specifically, the data were statistically corrected for age, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, hormone use, lifestyle (smoking status, physical activity, and alcohol intake), baseline health status (diabetes and/or high blood cholesterol), family history of heart attack/stroke, dietary factors (calorie intake, dietary fiber intake, whole grain consumption, fruit and vegetable consumption, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, glycemic load (effect of foods in the diet on blood sugar), and percentage of saturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and trans fats), and weight (BMI).

In short, the authors corrected for every other factor that could influence disease risk and/or premature death. By doing so, they were able to focus on the effect of protein sources on disease risk and/or premature death.

Will Plant Proteins Help You Live Longer?

The investigators divided the study participants into quintiles with respect the kind and amount of protein they consumed.

For animal protein, the intake ranged from 4 ounces/day in the lowest quintile to 9 ounces a day in the highest quintile (For comparison, 3 ounces is roughly equivalent to the size of a deck of cards).

For plant protein, the intake ranged from 2 ounces/day in the lowest quintile to 3.5 ounces/day in the highest quintile.

When you combine plant and animal protein in these women’s diet, plant protein ranged from 18% of total protein intake in the lowest quintile to 48% of total protein intake in the highest quintile.

When women who had the highest intake for plant protein were compared with women who had the lowest intake of plant protein, the women with the highest plant protein intake had:

12% lower risk of premature death from heart disease.

21% lower risk of premature death from dementia.

9% lower risk of premature death from all causes.

There was an inverse relationship between the amount of plant protein in the diet and premature death. Specifically, every 3 ounces of animal protein that was replaced with 3 ounces of plant protein resulted in:

22% lower risk of premature death from heart disease.

19% lower risk of premature death from dementia.

14% lower risk of premature death from all causes.

The Effect Of Individual Animal Proteins On Mortality

The authors also looked at the effect of various animal proteins on premature death. For example:

Red Meat: Women with the highest consumption of red meat had:

14% higher risk of premature death from heart disease.

20% higher risk of premature death from dementia.

10% higher risk of premature death from all causes.

Eggs: Women with the highest consumption of eggs had:

24% higher risk of premature death from heart disease.

14% lower risk of premature death from dementia.

14% higher risk of premature death from all causes.

Dairy: Women with the highest consumption of dairy had:

11% higher risk of premature death from heart disease.

The authors concluded, “In this large prospective cohort study, we found that higher plant protein intake and substitution of animal protein with plant protein were associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and dementia mortality…Our findings support the need for consideration of protein sources, in addition to the amount of protein intake, in future dietary guidelines.”

Is A Vegan Diet Healthiest?

Years ago, as my brother-in-law was coming out of anesthesia at the end of quadruple bypass surgery, the first question he asked was, “Does this mean I need to eat tofu?” Obviously, nothing terrified him more than the thought of eating tofu the rest of his life. In the same vein, some of you are probably asking, “Does this mean I need to go vegan?”

The good news is that none of the women in this study were consuming a vegan diet. They were consuming a typical American diet with varying amounts of plant and animal protein. The group with the highest plant protein consumption were still getting 52% of their protein from animal sources.

This study shows that even people consuming a typical American diet can become healthier by simply swapping out some of the animal protein in their diet with plant protein.

However, you are probably thinking, “Plant protein is good for us, and a vegan diet is 100% plant protein. Does that mean a vegan diet is healthier than other plant-based diets?

The answer is………”Maybe”

If the linear relationship between plant protein consumption and risk of premature death could be extrapolated all the way to 100% plant protein, the answer would be obvious. Vegan diets would be healthier than other plant-based diets. But that extrapolation is an assumption. It might not be true.

For example, some recent studies suggest that completely eliminating meat, eggs, and dairy from your diet may slightly increase your risk of heart disease and stroke:

One recent study found that adding 1.4 ounces of fish/day to a primarily vegetarian diet decreases the risk of stroke by 20%.

Another study reported that adding one egg/day to a primarily vegetarian diet decreases the risk of heart disease by 12% and stroke by 10-26%.

These studies need to be confirmed, but they do suggest we need to be cautious about assuming that vegan diets are healthier than other primarily plant-based diets. This is why, when I recommend primarily plant-based diets, I include everything from vegan through semi-vegetarian, Mediterranean, and DASH.

They are all healthy diets. My advice is to choose the one that best fits your lifestyle and food preferences. And focus on whole foods, not processed foods.

The Bottom Line

A recent study asked whether women who ate more plant proteins were healthier than those who ate primarily meat protein. To answer this question, the investigators correlated protein sources in the diet with all-cause mortality and deaths from various diseases.

When women who had the highest intake for plant protein were compared with women who had the lowest intake of plant protein, the women with the highest plant protein intake had:

12% lower risk of premature death from heart disease.

21% lower risk of premature death from dementia.

9% lower risk of premature death from all causes.

22% lower risk of premature death from heart disease.

19% lower risk of premature death from dementia.

14% lower risk of premature death from all causes.

[Note: A 3-ounce serving is roughly equivalent to a deck of cards.]

I discuss the answer to that question in the article above.

For more details and a discussion about the vegan diet versus other primarily plant-based diets read the article above.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.