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Seton Hill University

Vegan Athletes & Performance

Marissa Steck

SNT 161 01 Sports Nutrition 

Professor Bowman
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When looking for research articles regarding sports nutrition, I knew I wanted to focus on

nutritional diets and their impact on athletic performance. For this research paper, I decided to

look into vegetarian and vegan diets specifically because I lack knowledge on the benefits of

these diets. Veganism differs from vegetarianism. Veganism is defined as a way of living that

attempts to exclude all forms of animal exploitation and cruelty, whether for food, clothing, etc.

While vegetarianism typically means no meat, poultry, or seafood. But still includes

consumption of eggs and dairy products (Sass).  Before researching more, I would not have

considered a vegetarian or vegan diet to be successful options for athletes. When researching, I

found two articles, “Vegan Triple-Ironman (Raw Vegetables/Fruits) and “Vegan diets: practical

advice for athletes and exercisers”. After reading these two articles, I changed my initial

opinion. 

The first article “Vegan Triple-Ironman (Raw Vegetables/Fruits)”, in short, emphasizes

that vegans can sustain successful performance in endurance sports. This article is based upon a

case study of a 48-year-old male. The 48-year-old male finished a Triple-Ironman distance in 41

hours and 18 minutes (11.4 km swimming, 540 km cycling, and 126 km running). At the time of

the examinations, he had been practicing his current diet of raw vegan diet for six years. Prior to

this, the vegan athlete had been living as a vegan for three years and as a vegetarian for the

previous thirteen years. The case study then compared the results from the vegan diet triathlete to

a mixed diet triathlete. Someone who follows a mixed diet consumes both meat and plant-based

foods. In comparison, both diets had around the same results. 

It is well known that a vegetarian or vegan diet, when sensibly managed, can make a

contribution to the prevention and therapy of illnesses and an overall better quality of life. Due to

this, more people are trying to follow a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. It is correspondingly
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understandable that people may want to take part in endurance sports. It follows that the effects

of vegan diet on sporting performance are a matter of general interest. This specific case report

was conducted to examine an ultra-endurance triathlete, who had been living on a vegetarian diet

since twenty-two years and a purely vegan diet for nine years, with reference to his ability to

perform, cardiac status, and any symptoms of deficiency. It was also a matter of interest for the

study to ascertain whether his performance parameters were different from those of mixed diet

triathletes.

The second article I came across while researching is “Vegan diets: practical advice for

athletes and exercisers”. This article attempts to provide recommendations for how to construct

and manage vegan diets for athletic purposes. While little data could be found in the sports

nutrition literature specifically, it was revealed that veganism creates challenges that need to be

accounted for when designing a nutritious diet. This included the sufficiency of energy and

protein; the adequacy of vitamin B12, iron, zinc, calcium, iodine and vitamin D; and the lack of

the long-chain n-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA in most plant-based sources (Leischik).  However,

it is sustainable to maintain a vegan diet as an athlete. It was suggested here that creatine and β-

alanine supplementation might be of particular use to vegan athletes, owing to vegetarian diets

promoting lower muscle creatine and lower muscle carnosine levels in consumers. Empirical

research is needed to examine the effects of vegan diets in athletic populations however,

especially if this movement grows in popularity, to ensure that the health and performance of

athletic vegans is optimized in accordance with developments in sports nutrition knowledge.

Looking specifically into energy, a well-constructed diet (omnivorous or otherwise)

should provide sufficient energy in order to achieve energy balance. Based upon evidence,

vegans and vegetarian diets generally appear to be lower in protein, fat, vitamin B12, Riboflavin,
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vitamin D, calcium, iron and zinc when compared to an omnivorous diet (Rogerson). This is

because vegan/vegetarian diets are high in fiber consumption and plant-based foods. These foods

tend to have low energy density and promote early satiety. It is suggested that increasing

consumption of energy dense foods such as nuts, seeds and oils might help keep up with a high

calorie diet. 

Protein is key to every athlete. Athletes who follow a vegan lifestyle consume less

protein than an omnivore diet. Foods such as beans and legumes are rich sources of lysine and

leucine can be obtained from soy beans and lentils. Other BCAAs can be found in seeds, tree

nuts and chickpeas. This being said, amino acids can be obtained by consuming a variety of

protein-rich, plant-based foods. 

Vegan diets are more likely to be higher in carbohydrates due to the fibre, fruits, and

vegetables they consume. Carbohydrate Intake as a vegan is relatively straightforward. Grains,

legumes, beans, tubers, root vegetables and fruits will all reach carbohydrate requirements. It has

been suggested that some endurance athletes might intentionally adopt a vegan diet in order to

meet their carbohydrate needs, or to assist weight management goals. However, athletes who

take part in high-volume training or high-volume training phases are recommended, to an extent,

to choose some lower-fiber foods when picking their high-carbohydrate meals. Foods such as

rice, pasta, noodles and buckwheat contain less fiber than oats, lentils, beans and whole grain

breads. Removing the skin from tubers and root vegetables reduces the fiber contents of these

foods whilst maintaining decent carbohydrate levels.

As I stated in my introduction, I would not have considered vegan or vegetarian diets to

be successful for an athlete. After reading the articles, “Vegan Triple-Ironman (Raw

Vegetables/Fruits) and “Vegan diets: practical advice for athletes and exercisers” I now know
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more about veganism and vegetarianism in whole but specifically learned that it is manageable to

maintain these diets as an athlete. The first article I read about the forty-eight-year-old male

informed me of proven statistics that one could have the same results as one who has a mixed

diet, as long as it is managed correctly.  The second article goes more into detail about veganism.

The article breaks down each component for example, energy, protein, carbohydrates. Which are

all crucial with being an athlete. After reading the article I learned that there are numerous

options to subsuit the benefits of meats, or poultry with fiber or plant-based foods. In some cases

that would be more beneficial overall for athletes to follow a vegan or vegetarian diet. 
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References

Leischik, & Norman. (2014, January 12). Vegan Triple-Ironman (Raw Vegetables/Fruits).

Retrieved from https://www.hindawi.com/journals/cric/2014/317246/

Rogerson, D. (2017). Vegan diets: practical advice for athletes and exercisers. Journal of the

International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14(1). doi: 10.1186/s12970-017-0192-9

Rogerson, D. (2017). Vegan diets: practical advice for athletes and exercisers. Journal of the

International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14(1). doi: 10.1186/s12970-017-0192-9

Sass, C., & Sass, C. (2019, May 21). What's the Difference Between Vegan and Vegetarian?

Retrieved from https://www.health.com/nutrition/difference-between-vegan-and-vegetarian