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Diet Doctor Podcast · December 5, 2022 · 52m
A Critical Review of Veganism — Do the Claims Hold Up?
Dr. Scher examines the three pillars of veganism — health, ethics, and environment — through an evidence-based lens. Where the science supports vegan claims, where it doesn't, and why dogma on both sides obscures the truth.
Highlights
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Vegan health claims conflate plant-based whole foods with the absence of animal products — the variable is food quality, not animal avoidance
Scher: observational studies showing health benefits of vegetarian/vegan diets are confounded by healthy user bias and diet quality. Vegans who eat whole foods are healthier, but vegans who eat processed plant food are not — suggesting food quality, not animal avoidance, drives outcomes.•
Dietary tribalism prevents nuanced nutrition science — both vegan and keto camps cherry-pick evidence
Scher: the nutrition discourse is dominated by ideological camps (vegan, keto, carnivore) that cherry-pick evidence supporting their position while dismissing contradicting data. Good science requires evaluating evidence regardless of which dietary tribe it supports.