No, being vegan won’t lessen your chances of contracting Covid-19
A new study published in The BMF Nutrition, Prevention and Health claims that people who consume a plant-based diet are less likely to contract a severe case of Covid-19.
The study evaluated data from healthcare workers in six countries. Vegetarians are 73% less likely to contract Covid-19 while pescatarians (people whose only animal protein is fish) were 59% less likely compared to people who eat red meat and white meat.
Although this study makes for a splashy headline, taking a closer look at how the study was conducted suggests that its findings should be taken with a grain of salt. First, the study relies on self-reporting, meaning survey respondents were asked to answer questions about their diet and lifestyle.
The study polled 2,300 people through an internet-based questionnaire. Of those surveyed, 568 had contracted Covid-19. Of those who contracted Covid-19, 138 described their symptoms as moderate to severe while 430 described them as mild or very mild. These terms are highly subjective in nature. What may seem severe for one person may not seem severe for another.
The diet-related questions for the survey elicited equally vague and subjective information. The respondents were asked to describe the diet they had maintained for the year prior to the pandemic but were only given 11 choices. The options included a whole foods plant-based diet, keto diet, vegetarian diet, Mediterranean diet, pescatarian diet, Palaeolithic diet, low-fat diet, low carbohydrate diet, high protein diet, other, or none of the above.
As one critic of the study suggests, people who follow plant-based lifestyles often tend to lead healthier overall lifestyles. This includes being more physically active, having better access to nutrition, and belonging to higher-income groups.
The observational study’s sensationalized conclusion — that plant-based eaters are less likely to suffer a severe case of Covid-19 — is based on the fact that of the 568 people who reported having Covid-19, only 41% reported following a plant-based diet.
This is a classic case of correlation being confused for causation.
More importantly, the survey did not take into account lifestyle differences such as pre-existing health conditions, exercise, sleep, stress, and environmental factors. In fact, the CDC listed being overweight or obese as conditions that can increase your chances of becoming severely ill from Covid-19.
The study also fails to take into account whether someone who reports as plant-based or vegan follows that diet all of the time, some of the time, or rarely. Additionally, just because someone eats a diet of only plants does not mean they are choosing the best quality foods for their diet. There are countless vegan junk food products on the market and even Oreos are technically vegan.
Would the study’s findings hold true for someone who follows a plant-based diet but who also has diabetes and leads a sedentary lifestyle?
The bottom line is that Covid-19 is a novel virus that swept across the globe at an extremely fast pace. It will take more than the results from a self-reporting survey to determine which factors impact the likelihood of contracting the disease. Due to how widespread Covid-19 is, it may even be impossible to pinpoint specific risk factors for the entire human population. But some studies suggest that there is a direct link between poor metabolic health and the severe onset of Covid-19.