Nutrition Hotline
By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
Covid Risk and Veganism
QUESTION: Does being vegan affect my risk of getting Covid-19 or severe Covid-19?
J.T., via email
ANSWER: Theoretically, vegans would have a lower risk of contracting Covid-19 and of severe disease. That's because whole plant foods, which are often a large part of a vegan diet, are high in substances, including vitamin C and phytochemicals, that support the immune system. Also, vegans have a lower risk for several chronic diseases and conditions (e.g., type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, and overweight/obesity) known to increase the risk of getting very sick from Covid-19.1
As of this writing, no studies have been published investigating the association between a vegan diet and Covid-19 risk. Studies, mostly done before vaccines were widely available, have looked at components of vegan diets and other "plant-based diets." Here are examples:
- Higher healthful plant-based diet scores (more fruits and vegetables) were associated with a significantly lower risk of Covid-19 and severe Covid-19 in a study of almost 600,000 people in the U.S. and the U.K.2
- Health care workers with substantial exposure to patients with Covid-19 had a lower risk of having moderate-to-severe Covid-19 if their diets were more "plant-based" (more vegetables, legumes, and nuts; less poultry and red/processed meat) in a study of almost 3,000 people from six countries.3
- Higher "healthy eating" scores were associated with a lower risk of Covid-19 and of severe infection in a study of nearly 43,000 U.S. adults. Higher scores indicate a diet with more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, and nuts and less red/processed meat.4
- Iranians with Covid-19 who reported eating more vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, whole grains, and fish in the year prior to their diagnosis had significantly less severe Covid-19 and a shorter duration of hospitalization, according to a small study of 250 people.5
Additional research is needed to determine if benefits of healthful vegan diets include a reduced risk or reduced severity of Covid-19.
REFERENCES:
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Covid-19. People with certain medical conditions. 2022. cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html
2 Merino J, Joshi AD, Nguyen LH, et al. Diet quality and risk and severity of COVID-19: A prospective cohort study. Gut. 2021;70:2096-2104.
3 Kim H, Rebholz CM, Hegde S, et al. Plant-based diets, pescatarian diets and COVID-19 severity: A population-based case-control study in six countries. BMJ Nutr Prev Health. 2021;4:257-266.
4 Yue Y, Ma W, Accorsi EK, et al. Long-term diet and risk of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity. Am J Clin Nutr. 2022;116:1672-1681.
5 Zargarzadeh N, Tadbir Vajargah K, Ebrahimzadeh A, et al. Higher adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern is inversely associated with severity of COVID-19 and related symptoms: A cross-sectional study. Front Med (Lausanne). 2022;9:911273.
