Stanford-Led Trial Finds Going Plant-Based Does Not Hurt Runners' or Lifters' Performance

Recreational runners and weightlifters performed about as well on a plant-based diet as on a meat-inclusive one, according to a randomised crossover trial led by Stanford University and published in Nutrition Journal on February 20.

The study recruited 36 recreational athletes, 16 runners and 20 resistance trainers, from four universities: Stanford, Rutgers, Vanderbilt and the University of Reading in England. Each spent four weeks eating a plant-based diet and four weeks on an omnivore diet from their university dining halls, in random order.

Runners covered almost the same distance in a 12-minute timed run on both diets (a 36m difference that was not statistically significant), and the lifters' three-rep maximums on chest press, lat pulldown and leg press showed no significant difference either. The work was run with the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative, and the open-access paper says it was designed partly to answer social media claims that plant-based diets cannot fuel athletes.

The authors conclude: "Recreational runners and resistance trainers may be able to adopt a plant-based diet without significant changes in athletic performance."

They add that the results can help universities offer more plant-based options to student athletes.

Plenty of elite athletes have already made the switch, from the stars of The Game Changers to Novak Djokovic winning Olympic gold at 37, and research has found plant protein is best for building muscle.

The "weak vegan" myth takes another hit.