Spoiler alert: Yes it can! Athletes from runners to football players are increasingly adopting plant-based diets for improved performance, quicker recovery and overall health. While there is plenty of science to support the health benefits of plant based diets, does this also mean that they will make you a better athlete?
What are the potential advantages of plant-based diets for athletes?
Studies show that whole-food plant-based diets are associated with a number of health benefits. For example, a plant-based diet reduces the risk of coronary heart disease by 25%, cancer by 15%, type 2 diabetes by at least 50% and helps you maintain a healthy weight throughout your life.
A plant-based diet has the following potential advantages for athletic performance:
High in carbohydrate. Carbohydrate is the primary fuel used during high-intensity exercise. Plant-based diets are high in carbohydrate so will promote recovery of glycogen (carbohydrate) stores after exercise.
High in antioxidants. Exercise increases the formation of free radicals (unstable molecules), which can cause oxidative stress in the muscles. Over time, oxidative stress can damage cells and DNA. A plant-based diet is typically rich in antioxidant nutrients (e.g. vitamins C and E), which may help combat free radicals and reduce oxidative stress.
Anti-inflammatory. High-intensity exercise increases inflammation in the body, which can increase the risk of injury and illness. Plant-based diets have been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects on the body.
High in fibre. Plant-based diets are high in fibre and phytochemicals (plant nutrients) that nourish the ‘good’ bacteria in your gut and increase microbial diversity. Good gut health is important for healthy immunity, energy production, maintaining a healthy gut lining and reducing the risk of leaky gut (common in endurance athletes).
High nitrate content. Vegetables are rich in nitrate, which increases nitric oxide levels in the body. Nitric oxide helps to dilate blood vessels, reduce the oxygen cost of submaximal exercise and delay fatigue.
Endurance
There is a popular belief that plant-based diets cannot supply all the nutrients needed for endurance training. However, studies show that plant-based diets do not hinder endurance performance and may even improve it, in some cases.
For example, a review of 8 studies by Australian researchers found no differences in endurance performance between athletes consuming plant-based or omnivorous diets.
Researchers at Arizona State University also showed no difference in cardiorespiratory fitness between plant-based endurance athletes and omnivores. In fact, female athletes who consumed a plant-based diet had greater cardiorespiratory fitness (i.e. higher maximal oxygen uptake, VO2 max) than those who ate meat.
In one of the largest randomised crossover trials, the 2022 SWAP MEAT Athlete study compared the effects of two plant-based diets – a whole-food plant-based diet, a plant-based diet with meat-alternatives – to an omnivorous diet on endurance and strength. After four weeks on each diet, all participants achieved similar gains, suggesting that plant-based diets can support performance as well as diets with meat.
Strength
Since plants typically contain a lower concentration of protein and essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein) than animal foods, many athletes worry that they will not be able to build strength or muscle on a plant-based diet. However, such fears are unfounded. Studies show that providing you consume sufficient amounts and diversity of plant proteins, they are just as effective as animal proteins for building strength and muscle mass.
For example, in a 2023 study, researchers at the University of Exeter showed that vegan and omnivorous diets containing the same amount of protein (2g/ kg BW/ day) produced equal gains in lean mass and strength.
Similarly, a 2021 study at the University of Sao Paulo showed that athletes consuming a plant-based diet for 12 weeks gained the same amount of strength and muscle mass as those consuming an omnivorous diet. Both diets contained the same amount of protein (1.6g protein kg BW/ day).
Summary
Whole-food plant-based diets are associated with a number of health benefits.
A whole food plant-based diet can provide all the nutrients your body needs for training and competition.
Plant-based diets have several potential advantages for athletic performance, including their high content of carbohydrate, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory compounds, fibre and nitrate.
Plant-based diets can support endurance performance as well as omnivorous diets and may, in some cases, improve it.
Contrary to popular belief, plant proteins are just as effective as animal proteins for building strength and muscle mass, provided you consume enough of them from a variety of sources.
If you enjoyed this article and want to find out more about food and nutrition, as well as some easy and tasty meal inspiration, The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook is now available from Amazon, Waterstones, Bloomsbury and other booksellers.
Exciting, healthy and tasty vegan recipes with the nutrients you need to train, recover and perform.
Whether you already live a vegan lifestyle, embrace a meat-free day each week or you simply want to try some amazing flavour combinations, The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook will help you create easy, nutrient-packed meals to support your training goals.
With a focus on performance, every recipe has been created to provide a high level of nutrients that will fuel your body. All the main meal recipes supply at least 20g protein per serving, the optimal amount needed for muscle recovery.
‘Where do you get your protein?’ is probably the most common question every vegan gets asked. And none more so than athletes and regular exercisers. Dietary protein is needed to repair muscle cells damaged during intense exercise as well as to build new muscle proteins. But can you get enough protein from plant-based foods for optimal performance and recovery?
How much protein is considered optimal?
Regular exercise increases your protein requirement to the tune of 1.2 – 2 g per kg of body weight per day (vs 0.75g for the general population), depending on the type, intensity and duration of your activity. Studies suggest that 20 – 25g per meal is the optimal amount of protein to promote muscle protein synthesis (MPS) following resistance training. However, you may need around 40 g in your post-workout meal if you have done a whole-body resistance workout (as opposed to legs-only) or if you are over 60. Additional protein helps counteract the anabolic resistance that occurs as we get older.
How can vegan athletes get enough protein?
When you cut meat or animal products from your diet, you also eliminate a primary source of protein. Therefore, you will have to put more thought into how you will reach your protein goals using plant-based sources.
The key is to develop an understanding of amino acids, the building blocks of protein. There are 20 amino acids in the human body, but only 9 of these are essential, meaning they must come from the diet.
All plants contain all 9 essential amino acids (EAAs) although pulses, grains, nuts and seeds tend to contain relatively low concentrations of one or more EAAs. On the other hand, soya products (e.g. tofu and soya milk alternative), quinoa, chia and hemp seeds, buckwheat and amaranth contain EAAs in ratios more closely matched to the body’s needs. Provided you eat a variety of plant-based foods, any shortfall of EAAss in one food is compensated by the higher amounts found in another. For example, rice is low in lysine and high in methionine while lentils are high in lysine and low in methionine. Eating both foods will give you all nine essential amino acids.
Contrary to popular belief, plant proteins do not need to be combined in each meal in order to achieve an adequate intake of amino acids. The body has a pool of amino acids, which it draws upon and uses as required.
In other words, a vegan diet can provide enough protein as long as a variety of plant protein sources are consumed and energy intakes are adequate.
Are plant proteins as good as animal proteins for building muscle?
Until recently, plant proteins were considered less effective for building muscle than animal proteins owing to their lower amino acid concentration. Indeed, studies show that soya protein produces a smaller MPS response in the immediate (3 – 5 hour) post-exercise period than animal proteins. This is likely due to its lower leucine concentration. However, MPS following resistance exercise can last for 24 hours or more, so it is more meaningful to look at longer term muscle mass gains.
A meta-analysis of nine long-term studies (longer than six weeks) found that plant proteins are as good as animal proteins for increasing strength and muscle mass, provided you eat enough of them. The researchers found that soya and whey protein supplements produce similar gains in strength and muscle mass following resistance training. There was no difference in bench press, squat strength or total lean body mass gains between those consuming whey and those consuming soya supplements.
These results support the findings of a previous meta-analysis, which found that provided you hit a minimum threshold intake of 1.6g/ kg/ body weight, the protein source (soya vs whey) makes no difference to your strength and muscle mass gains. More recently, a study at the University of Sao Paulo and McMaster University compared gains in leg muscle mass and strength between vegans and omnivores consuming 1.6g protein/ day for 12 weeks (Hevia-Larraín et al., 2021). Researchers found no difference in gains between the groups, suggesting that plant proteins are just as effective as animal proteins for building muscle provided you consume enough of them.
Which are the best protein sources for vegan athletes?
The richest vegan sources of protein (and leucine) are soya-based foods. Firm tofu contains 13g per 100g, while tempeh (21g/ 100g) and soya mince (15g/ 100g) contain levels comparable to meat and fish. Soya products along with quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, chia and hemp seeds are considered ‘high quality’ or ‘complete’ proteins as they contain all nine essential amino acids in ratios closely matched to the body’s needs.
Beans, lentils and peas typically contain 7 – 9g per 125g portion (or half a 400g tin), while edamame beans (young soya beans) contain 15g per 125g portion. Hummus comes in lower, at 3g per 50g portion – owing to its higher water and oil content. Nuts and seeds contain 6 – 9g per 30g portion.
You may be surprised to learn that many grains, such as pasta, bread and oats, are also valuable sources of protein. Even green vegetables such as broccoli supply a few grams. So, if you were to eat a portion of pasta (9g), beans (9g) and broccoli (4g), then you will be getting 22 g protein – the amount deemed optimal for muscle building.
If you enjoyed this article and want to find out more about food and nutrition, as well as some easy and tasty meal inspiration, then my new book, The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook is now available from Amazon, Waterstones, Bloomsbury and other booksellers.
Exciting, healthy and tasty vegan recipes with the nutrients you need to train, recover and perform.
Whether you already live a vegan lifestyle, embrace a meat-free day each week or you simply want to try some amazing flavour combinations, The Vegan Athlete’s Cookbook will help you create easy, nutrient-packed meals to support your training goals.
With a focus on performance, every recipe has been created to provide a high level of nutrients that will fuel your body. All the main meal recipes supply at least 20g protein per serving, the optimal amount needed for muscle recovery.
One of the biggest myths surrounding vegetarian and vegan diets is that they cannot supply enough protein for optimal performance. But this simply isn’t true. Thanks to documentaries like The Game Changers and the growing list of high-profile sportspeople who attribute their recent success to the benefits of a plant-based diet – Chris Froome, Venus Williams, Scott Jurek, Tom Daley, Adam Peaty, David Haye and Lewis Hamilton to name a few – the popular image of a weak vegetarian or vegan athlete has been buried. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the ranks of converts.
Anecdotally, there’s plenty of support for the performance benefits of a vegetarian or vegan diet. Converts claim to have had increased energy, faster recovery, less illness and fewer injuries since giving up meat. Veganism, it seems, has become not only acceptable but even desirable. But what does the science say? Can you really build muscle on a vegetarian or vegan diet?
When it comes to health, vegetarian and vegan diets may have several advantages over a typical diet with meat. They are associated with a significantly lower risk of heart disease, certain cancers, hypertension, obesity and increased longevity. Conceivably, such benefits could also confer a performance advantage. However, whether these benefits are due to the absence of meat, or to a lower intake of saturated fats, an increased intake of plant foods, fibre and phytonutrients, or the adoption of healthier lifestyle behaviours such as physical activity and avoidance of excessive alcohol has not been proven.
But researchers have suggested that plant based diets may help athletes optimise performance due to their high content of carbohydrate, antioxidant and phytonutrients. The latter two components may help reduce exercise-related oxidative stress and inflammation, and improve immune function, which could theoretically enhance recovery.
To date, only a handful of studies have looked directly at the effects of a vegetarian or vegan diet on performance. These suggest that excluding meat from your diet does not harm your strength or endurance.
In a new studypublished in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, exercise capacity in runners was similar regardless of whether participants followed a vegan, vegetarian, or meat-based diet.
A 2016 review by Australian researchers, concluded that a well-planned and varied vegetarian diet neither hinders nor improves athletic performance.
A study at Arizona State University found that vegetarian athletes had similar cardiorespiratory fitness and strength as those who ate meat.
Contrary to what many believe, it is entirely possible to get enough protein on a vegetarian or vegan diet. Yes, athletes generally need more protein than the general population – between 1.2 and 2g/ kg body weight/ day or in the region of 20g (or 0.25g/ kg of body weight) of protein per meal – but you can obtain this from many foods other than meat: dairy and egg (for vegetarians) , beans, lentils, chickpeas, peas, tofu, whole grains, quinoa, nuts and seeds.
The big question is whether plant proteins are as good as animal proteins for building muscle? The evidence points to plant protein sources being less efficient at building muscle than animal proteins. This is partly due to their lower concentrations of essential amino acids (EAAs), in particular leucine, and their lower digestibility. Leucine is an important trigger and substrate for protein synthesis. However, you can compensate for the lower anabolic properties of plant protein by
Eating bigger quantities to get higher amounts of EAAs – a 2016 study measured a significant increase in muscle protein synthesis (MPS) after consuming 60g wheat protein but not after 35g wheat protein, suggesting that eating a larger amount of plant protein is an effective strategy to compensate for its lower quality.
Combine more than one source to produce a more balanced amino acid profile, e.g. beans and rice. Maastrict University researchers showed that consuming 20g plant protein typically results in submaximal MPS but consumption of a greater amount and/ or combining different sources may possibly augment the MPS response (fig 1). Many plant proteins including beans and lentils, are leucine-rich, albeit not as well absorbed as animal protein.
Bottom Line
A vegetarian or vegan diet needs more planning but it is perfectly possible to obtain enough protein to build muscle and optimise performance without eating meat. The key is to eat a variety of plant proteins, including beans, lentils, soya products, nuts, seeds, whole grains. This doesn’t necessarily have to be at every meal, but spread over the course of the day. There are limitless possibilities of plant protein combinations, including:
Pulses with grains (e.g. Puy lentil Bolognese with pasta; Three bean chilli with rice)
Grains with soya (e.g. Porridge made with oats and soya drink)
Soya with grains (e.g. Thai green curry with tofu and rice)
Pulses with nuts or seeds (e.g. Falafel with tahini dressing)
Nuts with grains (e.g. Cashew nut roast; Nut butter on toast)
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegetarian and vegan diets can supply enough protein – including all the essential amino acids – to support good health. While some vegan diets may be lower in certain nutrients such as vitamin B12, iron, zinc and calcium, this can be overcome by appropriate planning.
More than 100 delicious recipes for breakfasts, salads, burgers, falafels, soups, curries, stews, weekend dinners, desserts and snacks that take 30 minutes or less to prepare
Expert advice on how to how to eat well and improve your performance
