Vegan Practically

I don’t usually focus on health arguments for plant-based eating here because I think arguments for veganism that focus on harm to animals and the planet land decisively on the side of giving up animal products. That said, as any vegan knows, people often lob the “concern” that plant-based protein is either inferior or impossible to get (both false) as a justification for continuing to prioritize animal protein in the human diet. If you tell anyone you’ve decided even to dip your toe into vegan eating a few times a week, within short order someone will ask “but where will you get your protein?”

And that’s why it is truly satisfying to read that a plant-protein diet may help women with “healthy” aging. I put “healthy” in quotes to acknowledge that in general the hand-wringing about “healthy aging” can take on an annoying and even oppressive, ageist, and ableist quality. There is no health imperative whereby people must prioritize their health over all else. But still, many people do care about their own health and want to maintain a nutritionally adequate diet. Within reason, this care does not speak to a misplaced priority.

With those qualifications in place, here’s the good news for plant-based protein. A recently published study of 48,000 female healthcare professionals over the period 1986 to 2015 found that “women who ate more protein, especially from plant-based sources such as beans and grains, had better health as they aged” (bold typeface added). Researchers from Tufts University used data from the Harvard Nurses Study, which followed women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who were already in good health when they began.

The researchers “examined thousands of surveys collected every four years from 1984 to 2016 on how frequently people ate certain foods to pinpoint dietary protein and its effects on healthy aging.” They then did some comparisons to determine that “Women who ate more plant-based protein, which in 1984 was defined as protein obtained from bread, vegetables, fruits, pizza, cereal, baked items, mashed potatoes, nuts, beans, peanut butter, and pasta, were 46 percent more likely to be healthy into their later years. Those who consumed more animal protein such as beef, chicken, milk, fish/seafood, and cheese, however, were 6 percent less likely to stay healthy as they aged.” (I love that they include pizza and pasta as protein sources)

Of course the survey analytics have some limitations. The researchers acknowledged that the health benefits may derive from additional nutrients in plant-based foods that are absent from animal products. Though the researchers aren’t claiming that vegan women are the absolute healthiest (they still recommend fish and animal protein for iron and B12 [but there are plant sources for those too fyi]), they do conclude that protein, especially plant-derived protein, “in midlife plays an important role in the promotion of healthy aging and in maintaining positive health status at older ages.”

To me, that’s another point on the side of the plant-based eating column. And if health reasons can motivate people where concern for animal suffering and the perilous future of our planet cannot, then it’s worth spreading the word.