Research
Macro partitioning
A well-designed vegan diet is compatible with peak athletic performance, including aerobic capacity, anaerobic performance, and muscle strength, when properly supplemented.
If you are an athlete, a well-designed vegan diet can support peak performance. Ensure you supplement with Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, EPA/DHA, creatine, and vegan protein. This combination, along with resistance training, can preserve and increase muscle mass.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
A recent narrative review of observational and interventional studies of young and competitive athletes on vegan diets showed that they are able to tolerate and sustain higher physical burdens for longer durations and to recover from physical stress more rapidly. This supports the assumption that a well-designed vegan diet is compatible with peak performance sports [137] and is associated with a good health status [137,144].
Why this rating
Based on narrative reviews and some RCTs, but the author notes limited long-term data.
Source
Placing a Well-Designed Vegan Diet for Slovenes
Boštjan Jakše · Nutrients · 2021
DOI 10.3390/nu13124545
narrative_reviewCited 20×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- A well-designed vegan diet, supplemented with Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D, is safe, nutritionally adequate, and effective for maintaining or improving health in the general adult population.Good
- A well-designed vegan diet is effective for reducing body mass and improving body composition in overweight or obese adults, particularly when combined with physical activity.Good
- A well-designed vegan diet significantly reduces cardiovascular disease risk factors, including LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure, and can reverse coronary atherosclerosis.Good
Related findings · Macro partitioning
- Total daily protein intake of 1.6 g/kg/day is sufficient for maximizing resistance training-induced muscle gains, with an upper confidence interval of 2.2 g/kg/day.Strong
- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
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