This is the first of a three video series about exercise. Do plant-based diets have an impact on fitness?

What are the best times to work out? Watch the series to find out. In my video about comparing vegetarian and vegan athletic performance, endurance, and strength,

I discussed a 2020 study that found that vegan athletes, even though they were significantly older,

had significantly superior aerobic capacity

and endurance lasting 25% longer on a time-to-exhaustion cycling test.

The question is why.

One potential mechanism that could explain the greater level of endurance performance in

vegans may be a higher amount of carbohydrate intake,

which could lead to better endurance performance through higher muscle glycogen storage.

Other potential mechanisms that may explain the better endurance performance in vegans

could be due to the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory profiles of their diet.

Maybe it's even their hearts. Yet another study showing superior VO2 max in vegan athletes,

meaning superior aerobic capacity.

This time they also did echocardiograms,

looking at their hearts in real-time using ultrasound,

and the lower relative wall thickness and better main ventricle

systolic and diastolic function in the vegans are most likely positive findings.

Now, wait a second, given the higher VO2 max reached by the vegan athletes, maybe they were

just better trained than the non-vegan athletes, and that's why their hearts looked like

they were working better.

However, the weekly training frequency and running distance were

similar in both groups, suggesting benefits even with the same amount of training.

...