Healthier or not? A closer look at the quality of plant-based diets

Not all plant-based diets are equal and few studies have distinguished between healthy and unhealthy diets. The health and nutritional status of vegan and vegetarian children and adolescents is even more controversial and data is scarce.

Situation

Plant-based diets have gained increasing popularity in recent years. This strong global trend has led to a debate among international experts about the potential health benefits and risks of such diets, particularly the safety of vegan diets. The health and nutritional status of vegan and vegetarian children and adolescents is even more controversial and data on vegan children is scarce. While vegetarians typically only exclude meat, fish, and poultry, vegans abstain from all animal products. The more restrictive a diet, the higher the risk of nutritional deficiencies. Previous studies on vegans have not considered diet quality but rather analyzed vegans as one homogenous group, comparing their nutrition and health status with those of vegetarians and Plant-based diets have gained increasing popularity in recent years. This strong global trend has led to a debate among international experts about the potential health benefits and risks of such diets, particularly the safety of vegan diets. The health and nutritional status of vegan and vegetarian children and adolescents is even more controversial and data on vegan children is scarce.

Course of action

We will examine plant-based diet patterns in relation to health status by a) calculating a continuous index indicating the adherence to plant-based dietary patterns in all participating children and adults. b) comparing vegan, vegetarian and pescatarians with omnivore children and adults.

Result

#plant-based diets #veganism #vegeterianism #diet quality score #dietary patterns

Contact

Prof. Dr. Leonie-Helen Bogl

• Dozentin
• +41 31 848 47 12
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