Last year I covered a study on walnut consumption and risk of mortality, which demonstrated significant reductions in risk, and one of the reasons for that benefit is thought to be the high alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) content, which is an omega-3 fatty acid that can be found in a variety of foods, such as walnuts, flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and canola oil. 🌱 A recent meta-analysis on the topic looked at both dietary intake and tissue levels of ALA, and their associations with various causes of mortality. In total, 41 prospective cohort studies, including nearly 1.2 million participants were included. Overall, they found that those who consumed the most ALA had significant reductions in risk of total, cardiovascular, and coronary heart disease mortality, ranging from 8 to 11%. ❤️ Interestingly, they found a 6% increase in risk of cancer mortality; however, the authors note that some of the ALA sources may have contained trans fats or other nutrients that could have confounded the results, as evidenced by the association losing its statistical significance when adjusting for other nutrients while the associations with cardiovascular and coronary heart disease mortality remained statistically significant when performing similar adjustments. In addition, they performed a dose response analysis and found that a 1g/day (0.5oz walnuts) increase in ALA intake was associated with a 5% lower risk of total and cardiovascular mortality with no statistically significant association with cancer mortality. Similarly, those with high tissue levels of ALA, which can reflect dietary intake, had a 5% lower risk of total mortality, and a 1 standard deviation increase in blood levels also suggested an 8% reduction in risk of coronary heart disease mortality with no significant association with cancer mortality. Overall, ALA appears to provide significant benefits for risk of total and cardiovascular-related mortality, although more high quality data is needed to make firm conclusions regarding cancer mortality. #healthyfats #plantbased #omega3

The keto and carnivore crowds LOVE to blame the US dietary guidelines for chronic disease in America, but there’s one huge flaw with their claim: Americans don’t follow the guidelines! 🤦🏽‍♂️ Are you surprised at just how poor adherence to the guidelines really is? Comment below and let me know! 👇🏾 #dietaryguidelines #nutrition #plantbased #plantbaseddiet

Although it remains controversial in some plant-based nutrition circles, the data on olive oil consumption and health outcomes is quite clear, and is further supported by this new study. 🫒 This publication included 60,582 women from the Nurses’ Health Study and 31,801 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study followed for 28 years (1990 to 2018). Dietary data was collected every 4 years, which helps prevent unaccounted for confounding due to changes in diet during the study, and information about lifestyle factors and health status were collected every 2 years. 🤓 Overall, they found that those who consumed the most olive oil (>7g or 0.5 Tbsp per day) had a 19% lower risk of total and cardiovascular disease mortality compared to those who never or rarely consumed it. They also found significant reductions in risk of cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and respiratory disease mortality. Furthermore, their dose-response analysis found that each 5g (slightly over 1 tsp) per day also resulted in significant reductions in risk of the aforementioned causes of mortality. This was after extensive adjustments for potential counfounding variables, including background diet, exercise, smoking status, and more. In addition, they performed a subgroup analysis and found that the benefits for total mortality persisted regardless of age, BMI, physical activity level, diet quality, and more. 🏃🏾‍♂️ Lastly, they performed a substitution analysis to identify how risk is modified when olive oil replaces either margarine, butter, mayonnaise, other vegetable oils, or dairy fat. Replacing vegetable oils with 10g of olive oil did not shift risk of total mortality, suggesting that both options are overall similarly healthy, but replacing any of the other options with olive oil resulted in marked benefit. 🧈🚫 Given this data, and other recent studies I’ve previously discussed, I’d say it’s pretty clear that olive oil is quite healthy. That doesn’t mean anyone needs to consume it to be healthy, but us plant-based folks should probably stop suggesting people avoid such a healthy food. #oliveoil #mediterraneandiet #plantbaseddiet #plantbased

It’s time to end the animal vs. plant protein debate! In my last 2 videos on protein I debunked the claims that plants don’t contain all of the essential amino acids and that plant protein is not digestible, so it’s time to move on to what ultimately matters: gains! 💪🏾 The ultimate reason that some people are concerned about the idea of choosing plant protein over animal protein is because they think they’ll be losing out on the muscle and strength gains that their animal protein will magically provide them with. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case at all! 🌱 Watch the video to learn about the science on the topic, please share, and leave a comment below to let me know what you learned! 👇🏾 #vegan #veganprotein #plantprotein #plantbased

Dezi wants to know how your #Veganuary is going so far! Are you trying out new recipes, revamping your pantry, or if you’re a seasoned vegan, educating others on how to make the switch? 🌱 Let us know in the comments! 👇🏾🐮 #vegan #happycow

In addition to the claim that plants don’t contain all the essential amino acids, which I tackled in my last video, another popular claim is that plant protein is not digestible and that you’d have to eat far more protein to actually absorb enough. Well, in this video I clear up the confusion about the science behind that claim and explain how the different protein scoring systems work. I hope you enjoy it! Please let me know in the comments if you learned something and share with all your plant protein skeptic friends! 💪🏾 #protein #gains #doyouevenlift #plantbased

Obesity, especially abdominal obesity, is associated with a variety of chronic illnesses and is a complex topic with numerous factors, including nutrition, playing a role. While one’s overall dietary pattern can significantly impact their risk of developing obesity, we also have research on individual foods and their associations with overweight/obesity, weight gain and abdominal obesity, which can be useful in identifying smaller changes (ie. changes in intake of individual food groups) that may provide benefit. A 2019 dose-response meta-analysis found that an increase in whole grain, fruit, nut, legume, and/or fish intake were all associated with a lower risk of overweight/obesity, weight gain, and/or abdominal obesity while refined grains, red meat, and sugar sweetened beverages were associated with a higher risk. There were also some individual studies that suggested eggs and processed meat were associated with an increased risk of weight gain. Interestingly, vegetables and dairy were not associated with a statistically significant change in risk. 🫐 Of note, the dosages that were shown to be beneficial or detrimental were variable for each food. For example, nut consumption was found to decrease risk of overweight/obesity at just 10g/day (about 1/3rd of a serving), with 28g (1 serving) losing statistical significance due to a lack of precision in the data. On the other hand, a single 100g serving of red meat per day was associated with increases in risk of weight gain and abdominal obesity. 🥩 Overall, while higher quality data, including more intervention trials, would be useful, the available data supports the idea that plant-focused dietary patterns can lower risk of obesity, although we may be able to also impact risk to a degree with changes in intakes of specific food groups. Of course, it’s important to understand that personal nutrition choices are one piece of the puzzle and there are several barriers to effective treatment and prevention, including obesity stigma, the food environment, and lack of support, all of which need to be addressed from a public health perspective. #nutrition #plantbased

Have you ever been told plants don’t contain all of the essential amino acids? This is a claim I hear over and over again and couldn’t be further from the truth. 🙅🏾‍♂️ In this video I break down why it’s false and provide you with the info you need to respond the next time someone tries to tell you you’re going to whither away by eating your amino acid lacking plant protein. 🌱 #vegan #plantprotein #protein

Happy New Year! 🎉❄️

Veganuary is right around the corner! Are you taking the pledge to try vegan for the month of January? 🌱 Visit @weareveganuary to sign up and receive all of their FREE resources and follow these accounts below for excellent info and recipes to help you make the shift 👇🏾 @erinireland - recipes @easyanimalfree - recipes @desireenielsenrd - recipes and nutrition @plantbasedjuniors - kids nutrition @plant_proof - nutrition and environmental science @nicholasdcarter - environmental science @plantyou - recipes and kitchen hacks @earthlinged - ethics @lifting_vegan_logic - ethics #vegan #veganuary #newyearsresolution

Bone health has increasingly been discussed as a concern with vegan diets, especially since the release of the EPIC-Oxford study findings. 🌱🦴 This study followed 54,898 vegans, vegetarians, fish eaters, and meat eaters for ~17.6 years and found that fish eaters, vegetarians, and vegans had a higher risk of hip fracture compared to meat eaters. This risk was most pronounced in vegans and translated to 14.9 more fractures per 1000 people over 10 years. Vegans also had a higher risk of total, leg, and other site fractures. Why is this? There may be multiple factors, but an important one is that vegans had a lower average BMI and a far higher proportion of individuals with a BMI <20. This is a problem because the study did not properly adjust for those who were underweight (BMI <18.5), which is a major risk factor for fracture and could skew the results if there were significantly underweight vegans. In fact, when only analyzing those with a BMI >22.5, vegans did not have a statistically significant increase in risk. This study also didn’t adequately adjust for calcium intake given that vegans had a low average intake (where’s the fortified plant milk?!), and the risk was somewhat attenuated when only considering those with higher calcium intake. Similar results were seen for protein and higher levels of physical activity. A subsequent publication on 34,542 Seventh Day Adventists found that peri/post-menopausal vegan women had a 55% higher risk of hip fracture compared to meat eaters while vegan men were not at higher risk. In those not taking calcium or vitamin D supplements, vegan women had ~3x higher risk, but that was partially attenuated in those who supplemented calcium. Vegan women who supplemented both calcium and vitamin D were NOT at higher risk compared to meat eaters and there were too few fractures in those who only supplemented vitamin D to perform an analysis. 💊 So what does this tell us? If vegans eat enough calories to avoid becoming underweight and consume adequate vitamin D and calcium, they do not appear to be at higher risk of fracture, and physical activity and protein intake are also important considerations for bone health. 🏃🏾‍♂️

What happens to your health when you swap out animal protein for plant protein? 🌱 Check out this clip from my last appearance on the @plant_proof podcast to find out! You can also listen to the full episode (Ep. 133) on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to hear us dive deeper into the topic of animal vs. plant protein. 💪🏾 Listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/plant-proof-evidence-based-nutrition/id1367773989?i=1000525324667 #protein #plantbased #nutrition