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Canadian author and physician Dr Peter Attia previously discussed plant-based diets during an appearance on The School of Greatness podcast.
Read more: Dr Matthew Nagra Unveils Major Review On Vegan Meat And Heart Health
The episode was released in May 2023, and a segment was recently reshared on Instagram as part of a collaboration between plant-based naturopathic doctor Dr Matthew Nagra and nonprofit Food Facts.
In the clip, Dr Attia acknowledged that humans “don’t need to eat animal protein.” But he also made a number of other claims about plant-based diets that Dr Nagra criticized.
Dr Peter Attia and plant-based diets
Podcast host Lewis Howes began by asking whether animal protein is “better” protein, to which Dr Attia replied that it’s “more efficient protein.”
“I think people get so hung up on this whole plant / animal nonsense,” Dr Attia continued. “If you don’t want to eat animal protein that’s fine, but you just have to acknowledge that, if you’re going to eat vegetable protein, you’re going to need more of it, you’re probably going to need to cook it, and you’re going to need to be more fastidious and deliberate in paying attention to the types of amino acids.”
He then went on to state that there are 20 amino acids, and people on plant-based diets “have to pay a little bit more attention” to them.
Read more: Plants Provide All Essential Amino Acids, Says Dr Neal Barnard
“You don’t have to eat animal protein, it just makes your life easier,” he continued.
Dr Nagra responds
In his critique of the video, Dr Nagra pointed out that Dr Attia made three claims. These were as follows:
- You need to cook your plant protein sources
- You need to track your intake of individual amino acids
- You need to eat more protein than you would from animal sources
In response to the claim that plant proteins need to be cooked, Dr Nagra said: “It is true that cooking many protein-rich plant foods like legumes can increase the digestibility, but we do that anyway.” He then added that it isn’t recommended to eat beans raw, and said that protein-rich plant foods like tofu and vegan meat are already precooked. Many people in the comments also pointed out that animal proteins need to be cooked as well.
Dr Nagra also said that tracking amino acids is “unnecessary” for most people, unless they are eating a “a very monotonous, relatively low-protein diet.”
“Different plant foods provide more or less of certain amino acids, and when eating a varied diet comprised on legumes, grains, nuts, etc, they complement each other,” he said.
Dr Nagra then went on to address Dr Attia’s third claim. “Regarding needing to consume more protein, I suspect he’s referring to protein digestibility scores,” Dr Nagra said. “Well, there are several issues with the commonly referenced scoring systems… but at the end of the day, what matters are the results. Trials comparing people eating a strict or near-strict plant-based diet achieve similar muscle and strength gains to people getting most of their protein from animal sources, as long as they are consuming the SAME AMOUNT (not more) of protein. So these supposed differences in digestibility clearly don’t matter much if you’re getting enough protein.”
At the end of the video, Dr Nagra pointed out that animal protein sources, notably red meat, increases the risk of illnesses like heart disease and colorectal cancer. Citing these conditions, and Dr Attia’s claim that eating animal protein “makes life easier,” Dr Nagra questioned: “Which [diet] really makes life easier in the long run?”
Read more: Is Processed Vegan Food Bad For Your Heart? A Fact Check
