Canadian author and physician Dr. Peter Attia previously spoke about plant-based nutrition during an appearance on the podcast “The School of Greatness.”
Read more: Dr. Matthew Nagra publishes comprehensive study 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 the nonprofit organization 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 nutrition
Podcast host Lewis Howes first asked if animal protein was “better” protein, to which Dr. Attia replied that it was “more efficient protein.”
“I think people get so hung up on all this plant/animal nonsense,” Dr. Attia continued. “If you don’t want to eat animal protein, that’s fine, but you have to realize that if you eat plant protein, you’ll need more of it, you’ll probably need to cook it, and you’ll need to be more careful and intentional about choosing the types of amino acids.”
He went on to say that there are 20 amino acids and that people who eat a plant-based diet need to “pay a little 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 answers
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-based protein sources
- You need to track your intake of individual amino acids
- You need to consume more protein than you would eat from animal sources
Responding to the claim that plant proteins need to be cooked, Dr. Nagra said, “It’s true that cooking many high-protein plant foods like legumes can improve digestibility, but we do that anyway.” He added that it’s not recommended to eat beans raw, saying that high-protein plant foods like tofu and vegan meat are already pre-cooked. Many people also pointed out in the comments that animal proteins also need to be cooked.
Dr Nagra also said that monitoring amino acid levels was “unnecessary” for most people unless they were eating a “very monotonous and relatively low-protein diet.”
“Different plant foods provide more or less of certain amino acids, and with a varied diet of legumes, grains, nuts, etc., they complement each other,” he said.
Dr. Nagra then addressed Dr. Attia’s third claim. “I suspect that he is referring to protein digestibility scores regarding the need to eat more protein,” Dr. Nagra said. “Well, there are several problems with the commonly cited scoring systems… but at the end of the day, it comes down to results. Studies comparing people who eat strictly or almost exclusively plant-based diets achieve similar muscle and strength gains to people who get the majority of their protein from animal sources, as long as they eat the SAME AMOUNT (not more) of protein. So these supposed differences in digestibility obviously don’t matter much if you’re eating enough protein.”
At the end of the video, Dr. Nagra pointed out that animal protein sources, especially red meat, increase the risk of diseases such as heart disease and colon cancer. Referring to these conditions and Dr. Attia’s claim that eating animal proteins “makes life easier,” Dr. Nagra asked, “Which (diet) really makes life easier in the long run?”
Read more: Is processed vegan food bad for your heart? A fact check
