Vegetarian And Vegan: What’s The Difference?
A vegetarian diet excludes meat, poultry, and seafood but still allows dairy products, eggs, and honey.
A vegan diet excludes all animal derived foods, including dairy, eggs, honey, and often leather or other animal based products outside of food too.
This single difference, whether dairy and eggs stay on the plate, is the reason the two diets have different nutrition profiles.
Dairy and eggs are major sources of vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and complete protein in a vegetarian diet. Once those foods are removed, a vegan diet has to replace those nutrients through fortified foods or supplements.
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Which Diet Reduces Heart Disease Risk More
Both diets lower heart disease risk compared with an average meat heavy diet, and the gap between vegetarian and vegan is small.
Data from the EPIC Oxford cohort, which tracked thousands of UK adults, found that fish eaters had a 13 percent lower rate of coronary heart disease than meat eaters, and vegetarians had a 22 percent lower rate.
That difference works out to about 10 fewer cases of coronary heart disease per 1,000 vegetarians over 10 years compared with meat eaters.
A separate umbrella review pulled together 21 systematic reviews published between 2018 and 2024 comparing vegetarian, vegan, and non vegetarian adults. It found a 15 percent relative risk reduction in cardiovascular disease incidence among people following vegetarian or vegan patterns.
Meta analyses summarized in the European Heart Journal found vegetarian diets are linked to measurable drops in several cardiovascular risk markers, including a 1.2 to 2.8 kilogram reduction in body weight, a 3.3 to 7.6 mmHg drop in systolic blood pressure, and LDL cholesterol reductions of 0.32 to 0.59 mmol/L.
Vegan diets tend to show similar or slightly larger LDL reductions in trials, since they remove all dietary cholesterol from animal sources instead of removing meat alone.
Which Diet Has More Nutrient Deficiency Risk
Vegan diets carry a higher risk of nutrient deficiency than vegetarian diets, primarily for vitamin B12, iodine, vitamin D, zinc, and long chain omega 3 fats.
This gap exists because vegetarians still eat dairy and eggs, which supply B12 and vitamin D naturally, while vegans do not.
Vitamin B12 deficiency rates illustrate the gap clearly. Research from the EPIC Oxford cohort found that over half of vegan men in the study were classified as vitamin B12 deficient based on serum concentration, compared with 7 percent of vegetarian men.
A separate estimate from the Quadram Institute puts vegan B12 deficiency as high as 62 percent in pregnant women specifically, versus up to 40 percent in vegetarians.
Vegetarian children in a large international study covering nearly 49,000 children across 18 countries ate more fiber, iron, folate, vitamin C, and magnesium than children eating meat, but got less energy, protein, fat, vitamin B12, vitamin D, and zinc.
Researchers noted the patterns looked similar for vegan children, though data on vegan kids specifically was more limited.
The fix for both diets is the same in principle: supplement or fortify the specific nutrients the diet removes. It just applies to more nutrients, more consistently, on a vegan diet.
| Nutrient | Vegetarian Risk Level | Vegan Risk Level | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vitamin B12 | Moderate | High | Found almost exclusively in animal foods, dairy and eggs help vegetarians |
| Vitamin D | Moderate | Moderate to high | Limited in most whole foods either way, dairy fortification helps vegetarians |
| Iron | Low to moderate | Low to moderate | Plant iron is less bioavailable, affects both diets similarly |
| Iodine | Low | Moderate to high | Dairy is a major iodine source for vegetarians, vegans need seaweed or iodized salt |
| Omega 3 (EPA/DHA) | Moderate | Moderate to high | Both need algae oil or flax and walnuts, since fish is excluded from both |
| Zinc | Low | Low to moderate | Plant zinc is less bioavailable, larger gap for strict vegans |
| Calcium | Low | Moderate | Dairy covers most vegetarians automatically, vegans need fortified plant milk |
Appropriately planned vegetarian and vegan diets can be nutritionally adequate for adults at every life stage and can support long term health, including better outcomes for cardiometabolic disease.
The word “appropriately planned” is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and it applies more strictly to vegan diets.
Which Diet Is Better for Weight Loss
Vegetarian and vegan diets both outperform typical omnivore diets for weight loss, and the difference between the two is small in most trials.
A crossover randomized trial found a vegetarian diet was as effective as the Mediterranean diet for reducing body weight and fat mass, and it produced significantly lower LDL cholesterol than the Mediterranean diet did in the same middle aged participants.
Vegan diets tend to produce slightly larger short term weight loss in controlled trials, mainly because they exclude more calorie dense animal fats and dairy products by default.
A systematic review and meta analysis of randomized controlled trials on vegan diets and metabolic health found consistent improvements in body weight and reduced prevalence of type 2 diabetes and obesity compared with omnivorous diets.
In practice, weight outcomes depend more on whether the diet leans on whole foods like vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, or on processed vegetarian and vegan substitutes like meat alternatives and dairy free desserts. Both diets can be built around either approach.
Check Also: Differences Between Ketogenic and Paleolithic Diet
What About Children and Long Term Growth
A study of nearly 49,000 children and teenagers across 18 countries found that both vegetarian and vegan children had better cardiovascular health markers than children eating meat, including lower LDL cholesterol.
Vegetarian children in the study tended to be slightly shorter and leaner, with lower BMI, fat mass, and bone mineral content than omnivore children.
The study’s lead author noted that well planned and appropriately supplemented vegetarian and vegan diets can meet nutritional requirements and support healthy growth in children, though the researchers were careful to point out this depends on planning and supplementation, not the diet label alone.
A separate cross sectional study of 95 Czech families comparing vegan, vegetarian, and omnivore households is currently examining growth, bone turnover, and iodine status across the three groups, since iodine and bone health are two areas researchers still want more long term data on for children raised vegan from birth.
Conclusion
Vegetarian and vegan diets both beat a typical meat heavy diet on heart health, cholesterol, and weight outcomes. The real difference between them shows up in nutrient risk, not disease risk.
Vegetarians get a built in safety net from dairy and eggs, while vegans have to actively replace vitamin B12, iodine, and omega 3 fats through supplements or fortified foods.
If reliably taking a daily supplement sounds manageable, a well planned vegan diet can match or exceed vegetarian outcomes.
If it does not, a well planned vegetarian diet delivers most of the same cardiovascular benefits with less room for error.