Can a Plant-Based Diet Be Nutritionally Adequate?

TOPLINE:

Vegetarian/vegan diets can be nutritionally adequate and offer long-term health benefits, guidance from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics said.

METHODOLOGY:

• Expert panel members and methodologists from the academy’s Evidence Analysis Center created research questions and eligibility criteria and systematically identified and summarized existing evidence on vegetarian and vegan dietary patterns and health outcomes using gold-standard methods.
• Following the systematic review, panel members identified professional practice areas that may be controversial, confusing, or important to policy, including how to ensure diet quality and prevent nutrient deficiencies and how to facilitate vegetarian and vegan dietary patterns in specific populations and settings.
• The position paper was approved by the academy’s Research Committee and board of directors.

TAKEAWAY:

• Vegetarian dietary patterns exclude meat, poultry, and seafood, and vegan dietary patterns exclude all foods of animal origin.
• In adults, appropriately planned vegetarian and vegan dietary patterns can be nutritionally adequate and offer long-term health benefits, such as improving several health outcomes associated with cardiometabolic diseases.
• The position paper includes details on healthy vegetarian and vegan dietary patterns, including macro and micronutrients, and on the effects of these eating patterns on disease management.
• Registered dietitian nutritionists and nutrition and dietetics technicians can work with patients to create tailored, lifestyle-oriented, nutritionally balanced, and culturally suitable vegetarian and vegan dietary patterns that optimize health benefits while reducing concerns about nutrient inadequacies.

IN PRACTICE:

“Appropriately planned vegetarian and vegan dietary patterns can be nutritionally adequate and can offer long-term health benefits such as improving several health outcomes associated with cardiometabolic diseases,” the position paper authors wrote.

SOURCE:

Led by Sudha Raj, PhD, a professor at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, the position paper was published online in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

LIMITATIONS:

Much of the evidence from reviews included in the position paper was graded as low or very low quality. In addition, no included systematic reviews reported on the associations between vegetarian or vegan dietary patterns and incidence of hypertension, overweight/obesity, or myocardial infarction.

DISCLOSURES:

The systematic reviews that informed the position paper were funded by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Vegetarian Nutrition dietetic practice group. One coauthor was an unpaid member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Nutrigenomix Inc, from 2src13-2src21. The other authors had no potential conflicts to disclose.