New study debunks longstanding myth about impacts of vegan diet on your body: 'It was certainly ingrained in my mind'

From msn.com/en-us

It's a common myth that those who eat a vegan diet cannot put on muscle. 

The reason this theory became perpetuated is because many studies showed that animal-based proteins created better muscle protein synthesis than plant-based proteins. 

But, overall, these studies made a lot of assumptions — mostly that a plant-based diet was incomparable, which is not true.

Exercise researcher and director of the Nutrition and Exercise Performance Group at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Nicholas Burd, spoke about his controlled trial on NPR's Morning Edition. 

Burd concluded that both an animal-based diet and a plant-based diet have the same "muscle-building potential" and long-term muscle gains. 

Even though meat mirrors the composition of our own muscles, plant-based foods still have the same essential amino acids and building blocks of our muscles.

"It was certainly ingrained in my mind that animal [protein] is better than plant, [but] vegan diets are just as good provided they're balanced and you're eating enough protein," Burd shared with NPR.

This study enrolled 40 young people and randomly assigned them a vegan or omnivorous diet. The participants had to do three weightlifting sessions over the course of nine days and eat all of the food provided by the researchers. 

At the conclusion of the study, the participants' muscles were biopsied to measure protein synthesis, where they found no difference in muscle development between the diets.

Meat may be more protein-dense, but a diet rich in beans, lentils, quinoa, tofu, tempeh, and many other suitable plant-based foods can still allow you to get the gains at the gym. A plant-based diet is also associated with shorter recovery times, according to research published in the journal Nutrients.

A vegan diet is also eco-friendly. The New York Times detailed research from the University of Oxford, which found that a plant-based lifestyle uses 54% less water and produces 75% fewer planet-heating emissions compared to omnivorous diets. 

For every 1 million people who try veganism for 31 days for events like Veganuary, the pollution reduction is the equivalent of stopping the emissions created by 1.2 million flights from Paris to London. 

While implementing meatless meals may seem like a small step, it makes a big difference for the environment.

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