Current Events > Oxford study: vegan diet is cheap, lessens Covid, and slashes cancer risks

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The price modeling study, conducted by researchers at Oxford University and published in The Lancet Planetary Health, examined the cost of food in 150 countries. Based on 2017 prices published by the World Banks International Comparison Program, the study found that substituting plant-based for animal-based foods could reduce food bills in rich nations, including the United States.

Specifically, the study found that vegan diets were the most economical and could reduce grocery bills by as much as 34 percent compared to the food costs of a typical Western diet.

One significant healthcare cost that might drop with more people eating vegan food in the U.S. is the cost of treating moderate-to-severe COVID-19 infections. Throughout 2021, a trickle of medical research began to uncover a link between plant-heavy diets and milder COVID infections.

In June, a study published in the BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health journal found that among 2,884 frontline healthcare workers in six countries, including the U.S., those who followed a plant-based diet had a 73 percent lower risk of moderate-to-severe COVID compared to healthcare workers who ate more animal-based foods.

In September, medical journal Gut published a study out of Massachusetts General Hospital, which analyzed data from 592,571 participants in a smart-phone based study of COVID symptoms and found that those who ate the most plant-based food had a 9 percent lower risk of developing COVID and a 41 percent lower risk of developing severe COVID. Study participants came from the U.S. and U.K.

For decades, medical studies have accumulated showing plant-based eating protects against many of the top causes of death in the U.S. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020 (the latest year for which statistics are available), the top two causes of death remained heart disease followed by cancer, both linked to high consumption of animal-based foods. Heart disease deaths saw their largest increase since 2012, jumping 4.2 percent in 2020. COVID was the third leading cause of death in 2020.

Im a flexitarian who eat 90% plants and 10% meat.

What about you guys?

Im a flexitarian who eat 90% plants and 10% meat.

What about you guys?

This fact does not surprise me though, I don't doubt the benefits of a vegetable heavy diet, I just don't want that.

does that mean 10% of what you eat is meat?

I've been trying to up my plant intake. I'd like to be at 80 or 90 I guess.

I definitely need to eat more greens. So, more salads, less red meat. I've been doing pretty good substituting red meat for chicken as well.

100% plant-based and have always been encouraging others to do so. For their health, for their family and friends, for the animals we share the planet with, for the planet itself, and to fight against diseases and pandemics that are formed due to industrial animal farming.

This fact does not surprise me though, I don't doubt the benefits of a vegetable heavy diet, I just don't want that.

meat is carcinogenic while plants are not

plants help your immune system while meat does not, and in some cases may even harm it

I'm not someone who doesn't eat meat, but these are the facts. so no, I'm not surprised

Not surprising.

Meat is expensive and people often have it every day when they don't need to, which drives their grocery bill up.

I've been vegan for a few years now and dramatically lowered my grocery shopping bill. It definitely can be expensive if you get the fancy vegan meals, or what your local shops actually offer however as even in the west not everyone has easy access to it all sadly.

Ironically I'm eating carrots right now

Meat is indeed expensive.

Tofu, tempeh, lentils, chickpeas all super cheap and healthy sources of protein. It really only gets expensive if one is buying vegan mock meat (like Beyond Meat or Impossible).

Love carrots.

What kind you eating? Regular size? Baby?

Checks out

Yes.

Any good references for switching to a more plant-based diet? Staple foods, recipes, that kind of stuff?

I don't trust shit that suggests a plant based diet to do anything but lose weight and prevent the usual heart disease, stroke, and cancer; because it usually reeks of agenda and profit. Also, the vegan diet is not cheap, so there's lies in there as well.

Now if they can just make good tasting Vegan food wed be set.

Feel free to share any good recipes if you have any.

Any good references for switching to a more plant-based diet? Staple foods, recipes, that kind of stuff?

Im a flexitarian who eat 90% plants and 10% meat.

What about you guys?

Now if they can just make good tasting Vegan food wed be set.

Feel free to share any good recipes if you have any.

because it usually reeks of agenda and profit. Also, the vegan diet is not cheap, so there's lies in there as well.