Is talk about vegan diets being more healthy is mostly just confirmation bias and tribal thinking?
I also think if often is. I find discussions for and against veganism surprisingly divisive and emotionally-charged (see e.g. r/AntiVegan and r/exvegans )
That said, my understanding is that many studies do control for things like socio-economic status, and they mostly find positive results for many diets (including, but not exclusively, plant-based ones). You can see some mentioned in a previous discussion here.
In general, I think it’s very reasonable when deciding whether something is “more healthy” to compare it to a “standard”. As an extreme example, I would expect a typical chocolate-based diet to be less healthy than the standard American diet. So, while it would be healthier than a cyanide-based diet, it would still be true and useful to say that a chocolate-based diet is unhealthy.
I also think if often is. I find discussions for and against veganism surprisingly divisive and emotionally-charged (see e.g. r/AntiVegan and r/exvegans )
That said, my understanding is that many studies do control for things like socio-economic status, and they mostly find positive results for many diets (including, but not exclusively, plant-based ones). You can see some mentioned in a previous discussion here.
In general, I think it’s very reasonable when deciding whether something is “more healthy” to compare it to a “standard”. As an extreme example, I would expect a typical chocolate-based diet to be less healthy than the standard American diet. So, while it would be healthier than a cyanide-based diet, it would still be true and useful to say that a chocolate-based diet is unhealthy.
You choose great examples! 😂
Strong upvote for the attempted mirth—I think I’m one of the few that appreciates it around here :D.