Do Vegan Diets Really Require Careful Planning? Dr. Matt Nagra Sets the Record Straight
The Exam Room by the Physicians Committee
Physicians Committee
4.9 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 30 October 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For years, we've been told that vegan and vegetarian diets "require careful planning" to be healthy — while omnivorous diets get a free pass. But is that really true?
In this episode of The Exam Room Podcast, host Chuck Carroll sits down with Dr. Matt Nagra to discuss his new peer-reviewed study published in the International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention: "Asymmetrical Dietary Guidance: Reassessing the 'Careful Planning' Caveat in Vegetarian and Vegan Diets."
You'll also hear why some vegans experience a slightly higher fracture risk, what's really behind that finding, and how simple nutrition strategies can easily close the gap.
In this conversation, you'll learn:
- What new research reveals about vegan, vegetarian, and omnivorous diets
- How omnivorous diets often miss critical nutrients for long-term health
- The role of vitamin B12, vitamin D, and calcium in plant-based nutrition
- Why all diets require thoughtful planning to meet nutrient needs
- The real reason vegans may have a higher fracture risk — and how to prevent it
- How language in nutrition guidelines may unintentionally stigmatize plant-based diets
Listen and learn how balanced nutrition guidance can improve health outcomes for everyone — and why reframing the conversation around "careful planning" could change the future of public health.
Read the study 👉 https://ijdrp.org/index.php/ijdrp/article/view/615
Visit Dr. Matt Nagra's website 👉 https://drmattnagra.com
🌱 Start your journey to better health today!
Work with the expert doctors and dietitians at the Barnard Medical Center: https://www.BarnardMedical.org
If you feel like you've raised your health IQ, please leave a 5-star rating and nice review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today on the exam room. |
| 0:04.0 | The fact of the matter is, when you look at the research on different dietary patterns, we find that, well, okay, |
| 0:10.0 | vegans tend to get less of these few nutrients. They also tend to get more fiber, polyunsaturated |
| 0:14.6 | fats, a number of B vitamins like vitamin B1 and B6, vitamin C, of course. Whereas if you flip |
| 0:19.7 | and look at meat eaters, they tend to get inadequate |
| 0:22.1 | amounts of fiber of polyunsaturated fats. They also tend to get limited amounts of vitamin D and |
| 0:27.5 | calcium, and they're falling short on folate and other nutrients. Welcome to the exam room |
| 0:33.8 | podcast, brought to you by the Physicians Committee. Hi, I'm Chuck Carroll, raising health IQs coast to coast and around the world. |
| 0:41.7 | Hi to the exam room. |
| 0:42.6 | He's listening in Syracuse, New York, Santa Barbara, California, and Auckland, New Zealand. |
| 0:48.7 | Wherever you are, we appreciate you helping to make the world a healthier place. |
| 0:52.9 | This is episode 86 of season 8, number 685 overall. |
| 0:58.6 | And today we are going to be talking with Dr. Matthew Nagra about his groundbreaking paper |
| 1:03.7 | that was published in the International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention. |
| 1:08.7 | And you know, for years, vegan and vegetarian diets have come with this pseudo warning label. |
| 1:15.6 | They require careful planning. |
| 1:18.3 | But what about omnivorous diets? |
| 1:21.0 | Why isn't the same caution applied across the board? |
| 1:24.6 | Well, Dr. Nagra's research takes a hard look at this double standard comparing the |
| 1:29.3 | health outcomes and diet quality and nutrient adequacy among vegan, vegetarian, and omnivorous |
| 1:36.5 | diets. And you will hear today the science that shows that plant-based eaters typically have |
| 1:42.4 | lower risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes and cancer |
... |
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