Plant-based diets do not prevent most chronic diseases

What is it about?

Individuals who eat vegetarian or vegan diets are predominantly young female educated physically active non-smokers (2); these were controlled for by most but not all of the included studies in this systematic review. They also have more nutrition knowledge, are more concerned about their health and eat more balanced diets that include more whole grains and vegetables (3) and spend less time watching television (4); these variables were not controlled for in the included studies. Since it is not possible to disentangle health effects between the diet effects and the effects of these other health-promoting behaviors, the health differences noted in this systematic review should not be attributed solely to the diets as the authors stated that the diets conferred “a protective effect”.

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Why is it important?

We are concerned about the selective reporting, over-stated cause-and-effect statements, the lack of mentioning the 10 results of no associations between vegetarian and vegan diets and chronic diseases in the recent paper, as well as the assumption of cause-and-effect from associations that are likely due to other factors.

Perspectives