Vegan men are ‘vulnerable’ and more likely to die young, new analysis of UK data shows – with unhealthy plant-based foods to blame

Eating a diet rich in unhealthy plant foods could increase your risk of dying prematurely, a major analysis by Britten suggests.

Dutch scientists, who analyzed data from 70,000 Britons, found that people who frequently ate vegan desserts, bread and baked potatoes were more likely to be frail in middle age – a reliable indicator of early death.

By comparison, those who ate a plant-based diet, packed with fresh fruits and vegetables and low-fat alternatives like tofu, were much stronger physically.

Frailty is a medical term for people who have difficulty recovering from common health problems, such as a bad cold or an injury resulting from an accident such as a fall.

According to studies, each step of increasing frailty is associated with an 80 percent increased risk of death upon hospitalization.

Although new the study found that all people who ate more unhealthy plant foods noted an increased risk of frailty, the risk was significantly higher among poorer men.

Published their findings in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and AgingThe study found that poorer British men who ate more unhealthy vegan or vegetarian foods were 18 percent more likely to be frail, compared to the average person in the study.

They suggested that higher intake of carbonated drinks in this group may be responsible for this increased risk, but added that further research is needed.

In the analysis, researchers examined nutrition, income and health data from just over 73,000 Britons aged between 40 and 70, with an average age of 55.

Each participant was scored based on their nutritional information and was awarded points for unhealthy and healthy plant-based foods.

Foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables and meat substitutes such as tofu were classified as healthy plant-based foods.

In contrast, products such as white bread, baked or roasted potatoes and vegan desserts were considered unhealthy.

Researchers also recorded the number of animal products eaten daily and assigned a negative point for each.

This data was then compared to each participant’s vulnerability assessment, as well as income.

The study defined frailty as a person meeting at least three of the five criteria.

These include: Weight loss in the previous year, feeling tired or having low energy on more than half of the days in the past two weeks, no or little exercise per week and either slower than normal walking pace or lower grip strength than expected for the participants’ gender and weight.

Low income was defined as a household income of less than £18,000 per year.

The analysis found that every 10-point increase in unhealthy plant-based food scores was associated with a 7.7 percent increase in vulnerability.

But this rose to 18 percent when the scientists looked specifically at men with lower household incomes.

This, they say, could theoretically double the chance that these men are vulnerable, although the study itself did not provide examples of typical scores.

For reasons that are unclear, this observed increase in vulnerability was not observed among poorer women.

In contrast, every 10 points of eating healthy plant foods was linked to a 3 percent lower risk of frailty in the study group.

The scientists added that a ‘noteworthy’ finding was that eating more unhealthy plant foods did not appear to increase vulnerability risk among higher-income Britons, those defined as having a household income of more than £52,000 a year.

They theorized that the difference in vulnerability between healthy and unhealthy plant-based diets could be due to the contrasting nutritional levels in these foods.

A diet packed with fresh fruits and vegetables contains more vitamins and minerals essential for the healthy functioning of the body than a diet full of refined grains such as white bread and fizzy drinks, despite both being vegetarian, they noted.

They also highlighted that women in the study consumed more calcium from dairy on average than men, and this could potentially help prevent frailty.

Calcium is considered an important mineral for boosting bone and muscle health.

Additionally, the experts noted that vulnerable men in low-income households in the study specifically had the highest consumption of carbonated drinks per person.

‘Future research could explore how dairy and a reduction in soft drink consumption could fit into a healthy plant-based diet to contribute to lower frailty risk,’ they said.

They added that their research suggested that lower-income men may be a particularly vulnerable group that could benefit from nutritional interventions.

Lower income has long been associated with poorer health outcomes. Beyond diet, factors such as an increased risk of mental health problems due to economic hardship and barriers to access to healthcare are considered contributing factors to this trend.

Although the new study represents a large-scale analysis, the authors acknowledged that their study had some limitations.

Firstly, they highlighted that the number of Britons who met the study’s definition of vulnerability was low: only around 1,000 out of 73,000 participants.

The experts added that the sample of participants was generally healthier, wealthier and less diverse than the UK population in general, which could influence the results.

Experts have repeatedly raised the alarm about unhealthy vegan foods, especially meat substitutes.

Some scientists have said more needs to be done to counter the ‘health halo’ effect around meat substitutes, where consumers are wrongly led to believe they are healthier than traditional meat substitutes.

Earlier this year, British experts found that those who ate fake sausages, burgers and mince apparently had worse blood pressure than their meat-consuming counterparts.

Meanwhile, another recent study found that choosing ultra-processed plant foods, such as vegan sausages and burgers, as well as cakes and chips, was linked to a 15 percent higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Interest in a plant-based diet has increased dramatically in recent years, with vegans citing ethical, environmental or health reasons.

The exact number of vegans in Britain is almost impossible to determine.

But a recent survey shows that about 600,000 people follow a plant-based diet.