Thousands of Vegans Studied

So, how do you prevent it? The first study in human history of thousands of vegans was just published in the journal of the American Diabetes Association. Thousands of U.S. vegans studied, for the first time ever.

First, let’s compare weights. A BMI over 30 is considered obese; between 25 and 30, overweight; and they used to call under 25 “normal” weight—but it’s no longer the norm. The average BMI in this country is now 28.8.

The first question is where do flexitarians fall? A flexitarian is a “flexible vegetarian,” who in this study is defined as someone who eats meat once or twice a month, but is basically vegetarian. Where do they fall? Three choices: Heavier than meat-eaters; lighter than meat-eaters, but still overweight; or, on average, not overweight at all? 

Do you think they found flexitarians to be fatter than regular meat-eaters? Do you think those who eat meat only a few times a month are skinnier than meat-eaters, but still on average overweight? Or, do you think if we cut down our meat consumption that low, our weight should normalize?

This is America—even the flexitarians are overweight.

What about the full-time vegetarians, though? Same basic three choices. Do you think vegetarians turned out fatter than flexitarians? Do you think those who don’t eat meat are skinnier than those who do, but still, on average, are overweight? Or, do you think if you just cut out meat, you’ll lose the excess fat?

This is America—even the vegetarians are overweight. But, surprisingly, they are a significantly healthier weight than those who eat meat even only a few times a month.

You can see where the trend is going. What if those vegetarians cut out dairy and eggs? Would they lose enough weight to become the only dietary group in North America that’s actually not overweight? You tell me.

Do you think cutting out dairy and eggs makes you gain weight? Do you think it would make you lose, but not enough to make that cut-off? Or, do you think populations need to cut out meat and dairy and eggs to achieve a healthy weight?

This is America, and that means only the vegans are, on average, a healthy weight. And that’s like a 40-pound spread between vegans and meat-eaters, which is pretty dramatic.

But maybe it’s not their diet; maybe vegans just tend to exercise more? No. They carefully measured activity levels, and if anything, the vegans in this study exercised less than the meat-eaters. Lazy vegans! But still, on average, 40 pounds lighter.

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.

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• S. Tonstad, T. Butler, R. Yan, and G. E. Fraser. Type of vegetarian diet, body weight, and prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care, 32(5). 791-796, 2009.

• American Diabetes Association
• diabetes
• dialysis
• exercise
• flexitarians
• obesity
• Plant-Based Diets
• vegans
• vegetarians
• weight loss