Do I have to go all the way to vegan, or is adding more plants enough?

Christopher D. GardnerPhD · nutrition scientist, Stanford Prevention Research Center

Adding plants is the recommendation; going all the way is a preference.

What it rests onHis own trial's finding paired with his own restraint about it: he ran the vegan comparison, got a positive primary outcome, and still says what matters more than going strictly vegan is including more plant-based foods. The paper says the same in its own voice, that excluding all meat or dairy may not be necessary and that clinicians should support patients in choosing a pattern that fits their needs and preferences. The AHA statement he chaired makes the structural version of the argument: ten patterns, many of them non-vegan, can be aligned with cardiovascular guidance.

Michael GregerMD · founder, NutritionFacts.org

For the marker he cares about, partial does not move it.

What it rests onIn the comparison he cites, only vegans, not lacto-ovo vegetarians, showed significantly lower IGF-1 and greater IGF-binding capacity, in both women and men, read through his standing argument that growth signalling serves a child and costs an adult.