Research
Macro partitioning
Vegan diets are associated with lower total energy intake, lower saturated fat, lower sodium, and higher dietary fiber and polyunsaturated fatty acid intake compared to omnivorous diets.
Switching to a vegan diet naturally reduces your intake of saturated fat and sodium while increasing fiber and polyunsaturated fats. This shift contributes to a healthier macronutrient profile without requiring active calorie counting, as total energy intake tends to be lower.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
The most restricted diet, i.e., the vegan diet, had the lowest total energy intake, better fat intake profile, lowest protein and highest dietary fiber intake in contrast to the omnivorous diet... The daily intake of saturated fat in vegans was 21 g (SD = 11) a day compared to 54 g (SD = 25) for omnivores (p < 0.01).
Why this rating
Cross-sectional observational study with self-reported data.
Source
Comparison of Nutritional Quality of the Vegan, Vegetarian, Semi-Vegetarian, Pesco-Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diet
Peter Clarys et al. · Nutrients · 2014
DOI 10.3390/nu6031318
cross_sectional · n=1475Cited 500×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Adhering to a vegan diet results in superior overall dietary quality scores (HEI-2010 and MDS) compared to omnivorous, vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, and pesco-vegetarian diets, primarily driven by higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, and fiber, and lower intakes of saturated fat and sodium.Moderate
- Vegan diets are associated with lower calcium intake compared to vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, and pesco-vegetarian diets, and may fall below national dietary recommendations.Moderate
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