Following a low-fat vegan diet could save Americans more than $650 per year on their grocery bills, according to a study comparing different diets.
"Our study, and previous research we conducted, demonstrates that a healthy diet that is focused on fruits, vegetables, grains and beans, and avoids animal products, can actually help people cut hundreds of dollars from their spending on groceries each year," lead author of the study Dr. Hana Kahleova, director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, told Newsweek.
Kahleova's team found that a low-fat vegan diet cut food costs by 19 percent—that's $1.80 per day—compared with a standard American diet that includes meat, dairy and other animal products.
They also found that the Mediterranean diet—known to be a very healthy eating pattern focused on vegetables, fruits, wholegrains, legumes and olive oil, and including some nuts, seeds, fish and meat too—was significantly more expensive than both the vegan and standard American diets.
The Mediterranean diet, the study found, cost 60 cents more per day compared with the standard American diet, and $2.40 more per day than the vegan diet. There was a 25 percent difference between the cost of the Mediterranean diet and the vegan diet, the equivalent of $870 per year.
"As the cost of groceries remains stubbornly high, consumers should swap the meat and dairy products for a low-fat vegan diet based on fruits, vegetables, grains and beans," said Kahleova in a statement. "A vegan diet won't just save money; it could save lives by helping to avoid or improve conditions like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease."
The study, published on Monday in the journal JAMA Open Network, was a re-analysis of previous research by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, comparing the health benefits of a low-fat vegan diet to those of a Mediterranean diet.
That research involved 62 overweight participants who were randomly assigned to follow one of two diets: either a vegan diet based on fruits, vegetables, grains and beans, or a Mediterranean diet based on fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, low-fat dairy and extra-virgin olive oil.
The participants followed their assigned diets for four months, then ate their regular diet for a month, before switching to the opposite diet for another four months.
Kahleova told Newsweek: "Our research shows that a low-fat vegan diet is actually better than a Mediterranean diet for weight loss, improving insulin sensitivity and lowering cholesterol—health improvements that could help fight chronic disease epidemics like obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes."
In the recent re-analysis, the scientists looked at study participants' dietary records, and estimated what it might have cost them to follow their relevant diets based on a database of food prices from 2021 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This means the price analyses are based on data from a few years ago, so may not accurately represent present-day differences in costs between each of the diets.
Also, it should be noted that the participants in this study followed specific versions of the vegan and Mediterranean diets, so the cost savings and health benefits may not apply to every iteration of both diets.
The study was funded by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which Kahleova told Newsweek "is dedicated to saving and improving lives through plant-based nutrition."
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References
Kahleova, H., Sutton, M., Maracine, C., Nichols, D., Monsivais, P., Holubkov, R., Barnard, N. D. (2024). Food Costs of a Low-Fat Vegan Diet vs a Mediterranean Diet: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial, JAMA Network Open 7(11). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.45784
Barnard, N. D., Alwarith, J., Rembert, E., Brandon, L., Nguyen, M., Goergen, A., Horne, T., Do Nascimento, G. F., Lakkadi, K., Tura, A., Holubkov, R., Kahleova, H. (2024). A Mediterranean Diet and Low-Fat Vegan Diet to Improve Body Weight and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: A Randomized, Cross-over Trial, Journal of the American Nutrition Association 41(2). https://doi.org/10.1080/07315724.2020.1869625
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