From greenqueen.com.hk
By Anay Mridul
Plant-based diets are linked to better health outcomes, so should vegans be entitled to better insurance rates too?
A frequent criticism of vegan diets is that they’re too expensive. Meat and dairy alternatives tend to be costlier than the products they’re aiming to replace, although the argument doesn’t account for the fact that whole foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts all tend to be much cheaper than animal protein.
But while the average vegan may pay more for their groceries, some argue that the benefits of their diet should entitle them to pay less for health insurance. Several providers are already making this move, given that life insurance is based on risk factors.
If you smoke, drink, or eat a lot of junk food, you’re taking a known risk against your health. Ditto if you consume too much red or processed meat, as is the case in most Western countries. Insurers account for these activities when underwriting the premiums you’ll pay – so the healthier you are, the lower you pay.
Vegan diets have repeatedly been found to offer much better health outcomes than those rich in meat and dairy, so is it time for insurers across the globe to standardise this as a measure of good health and low premiums?
Studies show plant-based diets are healthier – should insurers take that into account?
During their risk assessment, insurance companies evaluate various aspects of your life to determine the level of risk you present, which informs how they calculate the premiums you’ll pay. They usually look at a range of factors, from your age and medical history to your drinking and smoking habits and overall physical condition.
While diet isn’t itself a question people are asked on applications, insurers analyse how your diet influences important health markers, like your weight, cholesterol levels, diabetes risk, blood pressure, and heart health. So what you eat does affect how much you pay for life insurance, even if it’s an indirect connection.
For example, if your diet is high in saturated fat and cholesterol, it raises the risk of obesity and heart disease, which will likely mean higher premiums. Likewise, if your diet promotes heart health and helps you maintain weight and healthy cholesterol levels, insurers will see that favourably.
This is where the argument for low premiums for plant-based diets comes in. Research has consistently shown that animal-free eating patterns tend to be better for your overall health. One recent study found that swapping meat with plant-based alternatives – ultra-processed or otherwise – can lead to significant weight loss.
In 2024, a meta-analysis of 14 studies revealed that a healthy vegan diet reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 19%, cancer by 12%, and all causes by 16%. Similarly, earlier this year, researchers at Harvard University and the University of Sydney studied large-scale consumption patterns to determine the most health-promoting diet and found that whole-food plant-based eating is the key to lowering mortality rates.
Meanwhile, one study has suggested that even small amounts of processed meats like hot dogs and bacon are associated with a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Researchers ascribed this to the excessive amounts of sodium, nitrates, chemical preservatives, and saturated fat.
And although some papers have sought to position red meat as healthy, a recent review revealed that two-thirds of these studies are backed by the meat industry and used misleading comparisons to suggest that beef is good for you. By contrast, most of the independently funded trials reported worse cardiovascular effects of eating red meat.
Plant-based meat and milk, however, have similar or better nutritional profiles than conventional animal proteins, according to an 11-country review. Vegan alternatives have zero cholesterol, way more fibre, and, broadly, less saturated fat.
Several insurers already offer discounts to vegans
The idea that plant-forward eaters should pay less for life insurance is neither hypothetical, nor new. In the UK, Animal Friends Insurance launched a life insurance scheme for vegetarians back in 2001, giving them a 25% discount for the first 12 months as they were found to be less likely to suffer from chronic illness than meat-eaters.
Six years later, the company unveiled another scheme that offered a 6% discount on premiums for vegetarians and pescatarians.
In 2013, Australia’s Make A Difference Insurance slashed life insurance premiums for vegetarians and vegans by 20%, citing research linking meat-free eating to a lower risk of serious illnesses.
Meanwhile, Israeli company Clal Insurance began offering life and health insurance policies at a discounted rate for vegans in 2018, again based on scientific research about the positive health outcomes of plant-based eating.
This trend has reached the US, too, with Health IQ offering life insurance discounts for vegans since 2017.
It’s important to note that any health study will come with certain limitations and require nuance, while concerns about UPFs are largely misled, yet need more research. It’s also true that a person can be both vegan and smoke, drink, and have a heavy intake of junk foods and unhealthy fats, so purely eating a plant-based diet may not automatically mean better insurance rates.
Still, with overwhelming evidence and a wave of precedents of successful policies from existing companies, insurance providers must begin incorporating diets into their risk assessments and consider providing discounted rates to those eating healthy plant-based diets.
https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/vegan-plant-based-diet-health-life-insurance-premiums-discounts/
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