Healthier fats linked to longer survival after prostate cancer diagnosis

 

Replacing saturated and animal fats with unsaturated and plant-based fats is associated with a lower risk of death among men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

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Boston, MA—Men diagnosed with nonmetastatic prostate cancer can generally expect to live for many years after their diagnosis. However, cardiovascular disease and other cancers remain important threats to their long-term health. For many survivors, this raises an important question: What can I do to live a longer, healthier life? A new study published in JAMA Network Open suggests that the type and source of dietary fat they consume may make a difference.

The study, co-led by researchers from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (The Institute) and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, included nearly 5,000 men with nonmetastatic prostate cancer and followed them for a median of 12.8 years, drawing on data collected over more than three decades. The researchers found that the type and source of fat consumed after diagnosis were associated with long-term survival. Higher saturated fat intake, as well as higher animal fat consumption (a major dietary source of saturated fat), were associated with greater all-cause mortality. These associations were driven primarily by deaths from cardiovascular disease and, to a lesser extent, other cancers—not by prostate cancer itself.

“Our findings suggest that diet after diagnosis may be one modifiable component of survivorship care, broadening the focus beyond control of the original tumor. Protecting cardiovascular and overall health is an essential part of prostate cancer care, particularly because some treatments can affect metabolic and cardiovascular health,” said co-senior author Lorelei Mucci, professor of epidemiology at Harvard Chan School.

The findings are particularly relevant as the population of prostate cancer survivors continues to grow. Approximately 300,000 men are living with prostate cancer in Canada, while 3.5 million prostate cancer survivors live in the U.S. Supporting long-term health after diagnosis is therefore an increasingly important aspect of prostate cancer care. 

The source and type of fat matter

During follow-up, 3,040 participants died. The researchers' analysis showed that men with the highest saturated-fat intake had a 24% higher rate of death during follow-up than those with the lowest intake. Their estimated 10-year risk of death was 26.4%, compared with 23.4% among men with the lowest intake—a difference of about three deaths per 100 men over 10 years.

The researchers also used statistical models to estimate the potential impact of replacing certain dietary fats with healthier alternatives while keeping overall calorie intake similar. Replacing about 10% of daily calories from animal fat with plant-based fat was associated with a 16% lower rate of death from any cause. Similarly, replacing about 5% of daily calories from saturated fat with monounsaturated fat was associated with a 20% lower rate of death. 

“The central message is not simply to ‘eat less fat.’ Rather, the type and source of fat appear to matter. Replacing some animal fats and saturated fats with plant-based and unsaturated fats may help support long-term health after a prostate cancer diagnosis,” said co-senior author David P. Labbé, scientist in the Cancer Research Program at The Institute and associate professor in the Department of Surgery at McGill University.

The findings are also consistent with studies in people without cancer and with dietary recommendations from the American Heart Association. However, the authors stressed that the study shows associations and does not establish cause and effect. The findings should not be interpreted as a recommendation to follow a restrictive diet or eliminate animal products altogether.

“The takeaway is to prioritize simple substitutions—choosing olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocados and other plant-based foods more often instead of foods high in animal or saturated fat,” said co-senior author Edward Giovannucci, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard Chan School.

A large prospective study spanning more than three decades 

The study used data from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, a long-running prospective study that began in 1986 and has followed more than 50,000 male health professionals across the U.S. 

The researchers identified 4,884 participants diagnosed with nonmetastatic prostate cancer between 1986 and January 2019, most of whom were white and were approximately 70 years old at the time of diagnosis. Participants completed detailed, validated food-frequency questionnaires every four years and were followed through December 2022. 

The researchers examined whether the participants’ intake of saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, trans, animal and plant-based fats was associated with overall mortality or specific causes of death. In their analysis, they accounted for many factors that could influence survival, including age, tumor stage and grade, treatment, smoking, physical activity, body weight and other health conditions. 

Of the 3,040 deaths during follow-up, 803 were from cardiovascular disease, 499 from cancers other than prostate cancer, and 441 from prostate cancer.

Toward personalized nutrition in prostate cancer care 

Since the study participants were predominantly white men in the U.S., the researchers hope to replicate their findings in more diverse populations. In addition, they plan to further investigate the role of diet after a prostate cancer diagnosis and examine specific foods, individual fatty acids, and broader dietary patterns, as well as whether the associations between fat consumption and health outcomes differ according to the treatment patients receive.

“Ultimately, our goal is to make nutrition a more precise and evidence-based component of prostate cancer care—one that takes into account the treatment received, tumor biology, and each patient’s cardiovascular and metabolic health,” said Labbé.

Article information
“Dietary Fat Intake and Mortality Among Patients With Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer,” Yiwen Zhang, Megan R. Shanahan, Hannah E. Guard, Jiachen Ji, Maria Celia Fernandez, Nadia Boufaied, Jane B. Vaselkiv, Binkai Liu, Chaoran Ma, Rebecca E. Graff, Stacy Loeb, Caroline Himbert, Yuan Ma, Edward L. Giovannucci, David P. Labbé, Lorelei A. Mucci, JAMA Network Open, Sept. 2, 2026, doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.30693

Increasing daily steps is as effective as aerobic exercise in managing asthma

For people with moderate to severe asthma, increasing the number of daily steps may be as effective as structured aerobic training sessions for managing the disease. This finding comes from a study led by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) and published in the journal Pulmonology. The study demonstrated that both approaches improve quality of life, alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression, and control asthma in the medium term. This offers doctors and patients more flexible, accessible, non-pharmacological treatment alternatives.

Physical therapist David Halen Araújo Pinheiro conducted the doctoral research at the University of São Paulo Medical School (FM-USP) in Brazil, in collaboration with the Airway Diseases Unit of the Pulmonology Division at the Heart Institute of Hospital das Clínicas (HC), a hospital complex administered by FM-USP. The research group received funding from FAPESP (projects 21/03745-3, 24/00263-6, 21/04198-6, and 18/17788-3) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

“In a previous study, we found that if a patient walks 7,500 steps a day, they already have better clinical control of their asthma,” says Pinheiro, who is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratory for Research in Physical Therapy and Exercise (LIFFE) at HC-FM-USP with a fellowship from FAPESP. 

Of the 480 patients invited to participate in the new study, 52 enrolled in the program after the screening process. The interventions lasted two months, and a follow-up assessment was conducted four months later. To qualify for the study, volunteers with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe asthma had to be physically inactive (engaging in less than 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week), have received medical treatment for at least six months, be clinically stable (with no exacerbations in the past 30 days), and be nonsmokers.

Before starting the program, participants attended an in-person educational session covering topics such as asthma pathophysiology, proper medication use, and the benefits of physical activity. The volunteers were randomly assigned to two groups. One group began attending the HC twice a week for 45-minute aerobic training sessions on a treadmill under professional supervision. The second group visited the HC once a week for up to 90 minutes to receive guidance, counseling, and encouragement to increase their physical activity through walking and setting weekly goals. Members of this group were provided with a smartwatch to track their steps during the study period. Both interventions lasted eight weeks.

Parameters related to physical activity, clinical asthma control, quality of life, and symptoms of depression and anxiety were measured at three time points: before the start of the study (baseline), immediately after the eight-week intervention (post-intervention), and four months later (follow-up). During each seven-day, seven-night assessment period, the volunteers wore an accelerometer on their waist during the day to measure steps and another on their wrist at night to assess sleep quality. The professionals who conducted the assessments were not directly involved in the study and did not know which group each participant belonged to.

Low quality of life

The study participants with asthma were between 18 and 65 years old. Most of them were overweight or grade 1 obese women who exhibited symptoms of anxiety and depression and had a low quality of life, according to the authors of the article. Volunteers in both groups experienced fewer respiratory symptoms and maintained these benefits four months after the study ended.

“Both interventions are beneficial for patients and provide better clinical control of the disease. And, based on our results, neither strategy outperformed the other,” Pinheiro notes. “However, aerobic training requires more equipment and must be supervised. With simple walking, on the other hand, by increasing the daily number of steps, patients tend to manage their condition and gain other benefits, such as an improved quality of life and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression.”

After the two-month intervention period, the researchers waited four months before contacting the patients for a follow-up. “We did that so as not to influence them and to let them go about their daily lives,” the researcher explains. “After four months, many patients in the aerobic training group reported that they’d joined a gym to use the treadmill, while patients in the behavioral intervention group continued walking as part of their daily routine.”

Not all of them, however. They cited weather changes (from cold to hot or vice versa) as the main reason for discontinuing their activities.

“We observed that, in the aerobic training group, the number of steps increased compared to baseline and declined at follow-up. The same occurred in the behavioral intervention group, although in both cases, the numbers remained above those recorded before the intervention.”

The aerobic training group showed an average increase of 1,537 steps per day after the intervention compared to the baseline. At follow-up, however, the increase was smaller: 983 steps. The behavioral intervention group increased their daily step count by 1,126 immediately after the two-month program. Four months later, it was 996.

“That was an interesting observation we made. After four months, the number of steps recorded by the behavioral intervention group was slightly higher than that of the aerobic training group.”

However, Pinheiro emphasizes that in his protocol, patients must continue taking their medication as recommended by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA). “Both aerobic training and behavioral intervention complement medication. We must never stop taking the treatment prescribed by our doctor,” the researcher states.

Boosting indoor light could help support healthy ageing in older adults in urban areas

 

Bright light therapy lamps can improve sleep, activity levels and circadian rhythms of older adults in urban areas who have diminished exposure to natural light, a new study from the University of Surrey reports. Scientists believe such methods could provide a non-pharmacological and low-cost way to support healthy ageing in urban areas. 

In the first real-world study of its kind, Surrey scientists, as part of the European-wide ENLIGHTENme project, investigated whether the benefits of light supplementation from bright light therapy lamps could be translated into everyday life. Controlled studies under laboratory conditions have consistently shown that similar lamps can reduce circadian misalignment, which, when left unaddressed, can lead to sleep problems, hormone imbalances and increased risks of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Recognising that real-world light exposure is heavily shaped by behavioural and environmental factors, the team also examined the key determinants influencing how and when people actually use these lamps.  

Dr Daan van Der Veen, Senior Lecturer in Sleep and Chronobiology at the University of Surrey, said:  

“Exposure to daytime light is crucial to regulate our circadian rhythms and our sleeping patterns, however often older adults in urban areas, due to the decline in their eyesight or perhaps mobility issues preventing them from going outside, do not get this exposure to good light, and this can lead to sleep and health problems, increasing their risk to chronic diseases.” 

During the study scientists recruited more than 200 participants aged 63 -92 years old from three culturally diverse European cities (Tartu, Bologna and Amsterdam) whose seasonal daylight variation differed from each other. 

Professor Debra Skene, Professor of Neuroendocrinology at the University of Surrey said:

“We are very excited that the findings we have shown in laboratory studies of older people are now replicated in real-life conditions, with varying levels of natural light and in different cultures.”

Following two weeks of baseline assessments, participants were split into two groups – a light supplementation group, who were provided with a light therapy lamp and a control group who did not have a lamp. Those in the light supplementation group were asked to place the lamp at head height in the room where they spend most of their time whilst at home and were instructed to turn on the lamp within one hour after waking up and turn it off four hours before their normal sleep time at the latest for a period of 12 weeks. 

All participants wore a wrist actigraphy monitor and a pendant light sensor to measure activity levels and exposure to light. The study was repeated across all seasons to account for changes in natural light. 

 

Scientists found that participants with higher baseline natural light exposure showed significantly higher daytime levels of activity, more consolidated wakefulness during the day, and reported better sleep quality compared to those with lower light exposure. 

It was also found that those classified as ‘morning types, or larks’ and began light supplementation earlier in the morning were significantly more active during the day and had less disrupted rest-activity rhythms than their peers who started later in the morning. In addition, the group which finished light supplementation earlier, thereby reducing evening light exposure, showed lower rest-activity fragmentation.  

Analysis of the data provided by participants during initial baseline assessments showed that participants with metabolic disorders (including high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular conditions) had significantly lower levels of total light exposure compared to those who did not report a metabolic disorder. 

Débora Constantino, a Postgraduate Research Student at the University of Surrey, said:  

“What we have found is that early administration of light supplementation significantly enhances activity levels and reduces rest-activity fragmentation in older adults.  

“This is an exciting discovery and provides real-world evidence that light is a simple, non-pharmacological, and potentially cost-effective intervention, which, from a public health policy perspective, could help support healthy ageing. These findings highlight a clear opportunity for policymakers to integrate structured indoor light supplementation into community care frameworks and care home guidelines.” 

This study was published in the Journal of Pineal Research: Paper title: ‘ENLIGHTENme: Translating the benefits of self-administered daytime light supplementation to older adults in the real world’ DOI: 10.1111/jpi.70174 

 

Alcohol-linked cancer’s toll extends far beyond the liver with deaths rising across age groups

Colorectal and breast cancers stood out among adults ages 20 to 54

 Study Summary

• Alcohol-attributable cancer deaths in the U.S. doubled from about 11,400 in 1990 to more than 23,100 in 2023.
• The study found alcohol's impact extends beyond liver cancer, with growing burdens from colorectal, breast, esophageal, pancreatic and other cancers.
• Presented at ASCO 2025 and published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, the research highlights alcohol as a potentially modifiable cancer risk factor.

Alcohol-attributable cancer deaths in the U.S. doubled between 1990 and 2023, a new study found. The study also revealed that alcohol-linked cancer deaths are not limited to older adults or liver cancer. Among adults ages 20 to 54, colorectal cancer was the leading alcohol-attributable cancer death in men, while breast cancer ranked first in women. The study also showed a growing burden from colorectal, esophageal, pancreatic and other cancers.

Led by researchers at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, the findings were first presented as an oral presentation at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting and are now published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas.

Using more than three decades of Global Burden of Disease data, researchers found that annual alcohol-attributable cancer deaths rose from 11,361 in 1990 to 23,126 in 2023. Men and adults age 55 and older experienced the greatest burden, but increases were seen across most cancer types, age groups and regions.

Alcohol has long been recognized as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, in the same category as tobacco smoke and asbestos. Scientific evidence links alcohol consumption to cancers of the breast, liver, esophagus, colorectum and several head and neck sites.

“The most surprising finding was the breadth of alcohol’s potential impact across cancer types,” said Chinmay Jani, M.D., corresponding author of the study and chief fellow in hematology and oncology at Sylvester. “Although its relationship with liver cancer is widely recognized, its contribution to cancers such as colorectal, esophageal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer is less well understood by the public.”

Among older men, liver cancer accounted for the highest alcohol-attributable mortality rates, followed by esophageal and colorectal cancers. Among women, breast cancer represented the leading source of alcohol-attributable cancer mortality.

The study also identified concerning patterns in younger adults. For men ages 20 to 54, colorectal cancer was the leading alcohol-attributable cause of cancer death. Among women in the same age group, breast cancer ranked first, followed by colorectal cancer.

“Notably, among adults aged 20 to 54, colorectal cancer was the leading cause of alcohol-attributable cancer mortality in men and the second leading cause in women, surpassing liver cancer in both groups,” Jani said.

The study also found substantial geographic variation. In 2023, Washington, D.C., recorded the highest alcohol-attributable cancer mortality rates, while Utah had the lowest.

Although the study examined national trends, the findings have particular relevance for Florida, which has one of the nation’s largest populations of older adults, the age group that experienced the highest alcohol-attributable cancer mortality rates.

Gilberto Lopes, M.D., senior author and chief of the Division of Medical Oncology at Sylvester, said the findings reinforce the importance of giving people clear information about lifestyle factors that influence cancer risk.

“What this study makes clear is that alcohol-related cancer risk is not limited to one disease or one group of people,” Lopes said. “As physicians and cancer researchers, we have an opportunity to help patients understand that alcohol is a modifiable risk factor and that even small, informed changes can be part of a broader strategy to reduce cancer risk in our community.”

Despite increasing scientific evidence, public awareness of the alcohol-cancer connection remains relatively low compared with awareness of other risk factors such as tobacco use.

“The most important takeaway is greater awareness that alcohol may affect cancer risk beyond the liver,” Jani said. “These findings highlight alcohol as a potentially modifiable risk factor, and while the lowest safe dose is not yet known, this study suggests that reducing consumption to the lowest amount feasible for each individual may help lessen its impact on cancer risk and overall health.”

Aerobic exercise can improve key thinking skills for post-menopausal women

 Regular aerobic exercise – the kind that gets your heart pumping – can improve important thinking skills called executive functions, and the benefits appear especially strong for women after menopause, according to Rutgers researchers.

 

Executive functions help you plan, switch between tasks, stay focused and maintain independence. These skills often feel more difficult during and after the menopause transition.

 

Two-thirds of all Alzheimer’s disease diagnoses occur in women, and the hormonal shift around midlife creates a critical window to protect long-term brain health. Many women reduce consistent physical activity during and after menopause because of symptoms, stress or lack of clear exercise guidance for cognitive support.

Sharon Sanz Simon, an assistant professor of psychiatry with the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and a core faculty member of the Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center within the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, led the study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

 

The researchers studied 93 healthy women ages 20 to 67, with 43% classified as post-menopausal.

 

“All participants began the study with below-average cardiorespiratory fitness levels and were not regularly exercising – making the results directly relevant to typical midlife and older women, not only those who are already active,” Sanz Simon said.

 

Participants were randomly assigned to one of two six-month programs: aerobic exercise or a stretching-and-toning program. The researchers measured cognitive performance to track changes in executive function across the trial timeline.

 

“Post-menopausal women who completed aerobic exercise showed greater improvements in executive function — measured through standardized assessments of task-switching speed and error management — compared to women in the stretching group and more than pre-menopausal women doing the same aerobic program,” Sanz Simon said. “We observed measurable cognitive gains at three months into the program, and those benefits continued to strengthen through the six-month trial period.”

 

Most women were able to stick with the program: about 8 in 10 completed at least three months and about 7 in 10 completed the full six months. The improvement was specific to executive functions. Other thinking skills, such as memory or processing speed, didn’t show the same gains in this study.

 

“Many women report easier time switching between tasks, better ability to plan and organize, improved focus and mental flexibility, and feeling sharper in daily activities,” Sanz Simon said.

 

Drawing on the results from the study, BHI experts outline a practical aerobic exercise approach: three to four one-hour sessions per week, sustained for at least three to six months. Each session includes a 10- to 15-minute warm-up and gentle stretching, followed by 45 minutes of continuous moderate aerobic activity. Suitable activities include brisk walking, light jogging, cycling, elliptical training, swimming or water aerobics, and dance-based cardio. Consistency matters more than the specific activity chosen. Gradual intensity progression is recommended.

 

A detailed, evidence-based toolkit translating these findings into clear steps — including intensity guidance, adherence strategies, and safety notes — is available from the Rutgers Brain Health Institute.

 

The study draws from a multi-institutional collaboration including Rutgers New Jersey Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry, the Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Institute for Aging Research, Columbia University’s Departments of Psychiatry, Biostatistics, Endocrinology, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Division of Behavioral Medicine and Cognitive Neuroscience Division and the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research.

 

The researchers said further research will continue to unpack how lifestyle interventions can preserve cognitive health across the lifespan.

---

Journal

Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease

DOI

10.1177/13872877261471900 

Keto diet has greater health benefits than other popular weight-loss diets,

A diet that severely limits carbohydrates but is high in fat has the greatest health benefits for people with obesity compared to a Mediterranean diet or a low-fat diet, according to a clinical trial publishing August 27 in the Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism. After following a ketogenic (or “Keto”) diet for four to five months, about 50% of a group of participants with obesity and prediabetes no longer met the criteria for prediabetes. 

“We know weight loss can improve metabolic health in people who are obese,” says Samuel Klein, the study’s corresponding author at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. “Our data suggest that if you have high liver fat content and prediabetes, reducing carbohydrate intake can have important therapeutic effects on metabolism beyond just weight loss alone.” 

It is estimated that some 40% of American adults have obesity. Healthcare providers commonly recommend low-fat, low-carbohydrate, or Mediterranean diets to promote weight loss, but it has been unclear if any of these diets provide additional metabolic benefits beyond weight loss itself, or if one offers greater health benefits than the others. 

The three popular diets differ significantly in their major nutrient composition. For example, a low-carbohydrate diet, also known as Atkins or ketogenic diet, severely restricts carbohydrate intake, while a low-fat diet can source as much as 70% of its energy from carbohydrates. A Mediterranean diet contains mostly plant-based foods, such as vegetables, olive oil, and nuts, with moderate amounts of fish and dairy, while a ketogenic diet can include foods high in saturated fat, including animal products. 

To understand the diets’ metabolic effects in people, Klein and his team conducted a clinical trial with 42 participants who had obesity, prediabetes, and fatty liver disease. The researchers randomly assigned them to one of three diet groups: a ketogenic diet, a Mediterranean diet, or a low-fat, plant-forward diet. The participants received all of their food from the research team and met weekly with a dietitian to help them adhere to their assigned diets.  

In the study, the ketogenic diet provided only 4% of calories from carbohydrates and 73% from fat. The Mediterranean diet had 50% of its calories from carbohydrates and 35% from fat. The plant-forward diet sourced 70% of calories from carbohydrates and 15% from fat. 

The team tailored each participant’s calorie intake so that everyone lost about 10% of their body weight, which took about four to five months.  

By the end of the trial, all three diets led to a significant reduction in the participants’ body fat. Their bodies also became more sensitive to insulin, improving their ability to regulate blood sugar.   

But the ketogenic diet produced the greatest improvements in several markers of liver and metabolic health. Participants’ liver fat decreased by an average of 67% in the ketogenic group, compared with 45% in both the Mediterranean and the plant-forward groups.  

When the team monitored the participants’ metabolic activities over 24 hours by testing their blood throughout, they found that the ketogenic diet group had the largest increase in glucagon, which is a hormone that promotes fat loss in the liver. That group also experienced the greatest reduction in blood insulin levels, which also reduces fat content in the liver, compared to the other two groups.  

“The most surprising finding was that participants in the ketogenic diet group didn’t experience an increase in blood fat or cholesterol levels despite consuming the most fat,” says Max Petersen, the study’s first author at Washington University School of Medicine. 

Following the weight-loss intervention, about 50% of participants in the ketogenic group no longer met the criteria for prediabetes, compared with 29% in the Mediterranean group and 7% in the plant-forward group. 

“GLP-1-based medications have revolutionized the therapy of obesity. We now have a very effective pharmacotherapy for achieving significant weight loss,” Petersen says. “But in addition, our study shows that the specific composition of the diet can give you added benefits.” 

Cell Metabolism, Petersen et al., “Effect of diet macronutrient content on the cardiometabolic response to weight loss: A randomized clinical trial” https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(26)00293-7 

The interpretation of the term ‘plant-based’ diet differs significantly among U.S. adults

 

 When referring to diet, the term “plant-based” has mixed interpretations among U.S. adults, and its meaning varies significantly among demographic groups, according to new research published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. 

“The term plant-based has become popular in recent years and its meaning has never been clearly defined,” explained Dr. Anna Herby, nutrition education specialist at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and co-author of the study. “The greatest benefits of a plant-based diet stem from completely avoiding animal products. As dietitians who promote this healthful dietary pattern, we wanted to understand how people interpret the terminology in order to more clearly communicate about it.”

Key findings of the study include:

• 56% said “plant-based” means vegan—avoiding all animal products.
• 35% said it means eating abundant plant foods while still eating some meat, dairy and eggs.
• 7% said they didn't know.
• 2% gave another answer.

Interpretation also varied significantly by demographic group: 63% of adults ages 65-94 equated plant-based with vegan, compared with 51% of 18-to-34-year-olds.

The study analysis drew on the results of a survey of 2,202 U.S. adults conducted in July 2025 that was designed and executed by Morning Consult following the Best Practices for Survey Research of the American Association of Public Opinion Research.

“Defining ‘plant-based’ as excluding all animal products could make it easier for consumers to make confident decisions about food products by knowing that the term means there are no animal products,” said study co-author Shannon Menhardt, MS, a registered dietitian with the Barnard Medical Center. “A consistent definition could also make research findings and dietary recommendations easier to interpret and help provide clearer messaging for health professionals, patients, and the media.”