Post: Plant-based pitfalls: When can the vegan diet go wrong?

While institutions from the American Medical Association to Harvard Medicine agree that a plant-forward diet can improve cardiovascular, physical and overall health, there are certainly ways to be unhealthy while following a vegan diet. (Dreamstime/TNS) The vegan diet, over the past 20 years, has received plenty of flack about its extreme and at-times in-your-face style, made famous by the animal activism group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA.

Not getting enough nutrients is not always a main point of contention.

While institutions from the American Medical Association to Harvard Medicine agree that a plant-forward diet can improve cardiovascular, physical and overall health, there are certainly ways to be unhealthy while following a vegan diet. It can be easy to skip whole foods and opt instead for highly processed ones. Oreos, chips, Sour Patch Kids and Pringles are all vegan, but they’re not necessarily healthy. Here are common pitfalls of the vegan diet.

Too many processed foods

While a 2023 Gallup poll showed the number of vegans in the U.S. hasn’t changed much since the early 2000s, the demand for vegan products has. A trend analysis by the market research group Technavio shows the vegan food market is expected to grow by billions of dollars within the next few years.

Now, you’re likely to find a Beyond or Impossible burger as an option at a burger chain, and you can stock up on nondairy Ben & Jerry’s, Field Roast vegan sausage, JUST Egg vegan egg replacement and Daiya cheese at typical grocery stores.

But replacing animal products with vegan alternatives may not be the best path toward "healthful" eating, say nutritionists.

With a vegan diet, "[a] very common pitfall is eating a lot of processed foods," said Michelle Thompson, doctor of osteopathic medicine specializing in lifestyle medicine at UPMC. "For breakfast they may have a bagel, for lunch a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and for dinner, a frozen veggie burger. I encourage people to eat foods that come from a plant, not made in a plant," she said.

Many of these vegan alternatives contain food additives that place them in the "ultra-processed" […]

Plant-based pitfalls: When can the vegan diet go wrong?