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Vegan Protein Status

The anti-inflammatory nature of plant-based diet may explain higher blood protein levels in vegans.

May 15, 2011 |
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Vegan Protein Status, 5.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings

Sources Cited

L. T. Ho-Pham, P. L. T. Nguyen, T. T. T. Le, T. A. T. Doan, N. T. Tran, T. A. Le, and T. V. Nguyen. Veganism, bone mineral density, and body composition: A study in buddhist nuns. Osteoporus Int, 20(12):2087–2093, 2009.

I. F. F. Benzie and S. Wachtel-Galor. Biomarkers in long-term vegetarian diets. Adv Clin Chem, 47:171–222, 2009.

Acknowledgements

Transcript

Last year we learned, in a study of Buddhist nuns, that long-term vegans —vegans for up to 72 years straight had clinically equivalent bone mineral density despite milk-drinking women getting twice as much calcium intake in their daily diet.
This year, there was a 200 page review published on health indicators in people eating vegetarian long-term. What about protein status? Both vegans and meat-eaters, on average, get the recommended amount of protein in their daily diets. Meat-eaters eat about 20% more protein a day, though, but do they achieve significantly higher levels of protein in their blood? Who has higher plasma protein levels? Three choices: vegans higher, meat-eaters higher, or both the same protein levels.
Despite 20% less protein in their daily diets, vegans actually have significantly higher plasma albumin, the predominant protein in the blood, though inflammation suppresses protein production in the liver, so this is more likely just an indicator of how much less inflammation there is in the bodies of those eating vegan.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out theother videos on protein. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos--please feel free to explore them as well!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

    Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the other videos on protein. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos–please feel free to explore them as well!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

    Why is it that the study referenced says that the digestibility of plant based foods is not as good as animal based foods? Where does this myth perpetuate from?

  • Liviu Deacu

    There is another possible explanation for the higher albumin level in
    vegans: albumin is a heterogenous class of protein, so its aminoacids sequence is not constant; it can vary to certain limits.
    It is possible that albumin serves as a sort of aminoacid buffer (store) to contain excess/waste aminoacids from vegetarian diet to avoid excess gluconeogenesis due to unbalanced aminoacid intake from vegetarian food. These molecules could break down some days later when the subject changes the protein sources profile in order to provide missing aminoacids, while other albumin molecules are build up with different excess aminoacids from the current diet. Just a speculation.
    We shouldn’t forget that the cells are provided with aminoacids as protein source, not with albumin.

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