Germany’s largest study on vegetarianism and vegan nutrition launched

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 06. 27. 11:11

Plant-based diets are becoming increasingly popular worldwide: more and more people are eliminating meat, dairy products and other animal-derived ingredients from their diets – some for animal welfare reasons, some to reduce the effects of climate change, and others hoping to improve their health. The study, called Coplant, is the first to systematically explore the long-term health effects of a modern meat-free lifestyle. The study is already underway and is expected to follow the participants for 20 years, writes the National Chamber of Agriculture (NAK), which presented the Coplant study on its website.

The study, which is being conducted among adults aged 18 to 69 living in Germany and Austria, aims to map the effects of vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian and mixed diets on the human body. Participants follow their chosen diet for at least a year, which the researchers accompany with detailed data collection and laboratory tests: they monitor body composition, bone condition, metabolism and even the impact of environmental pollutants. Daily food intake is recorded via a specially developed mobile application, which not only tracks natural plant-based ingredients, but also an ever-expanding range of meat substitutes and vegan processed products.

The research is based on the scientific dilemma that there is still a lack of fresh, large-scale data on how a plant-based diet affects human health – especially in the face of the now widespread ultra-processed meat alternatives. Previous nutritional studies mainly date back to an era when plant-based hamburgers or sausages did not yet exist, and vegan diets were primarily based on raw or simpler foods. The Coplant project, on the other hand, maps current, real-life consumer habits, with the full spectrum of modern food culture.

In a podcast by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Professor Cornelia Weikert warned that giving up meat and fish alone does not guarantee a healthy lifestyle. If a plant-based diet is not properly composed, it can contain just as much sugar, salt and fat as an unbalanced mixed diet. However, particular emphasis should be placed on supplementing vitamins and trace elements, including vitamin B12 or iodine – the body can typically only use these from animal sources.

According to the BfR’s observations so far, people who follow a vegan diet typically have lower iodine levels, which can have long-term effects on bone development and brain function. However, it is a surprising result that vitamin B12 deficiency is currently more common in vegetarians than in vegans – perhaps precisely because the majority of vegans already consciously take appropriate nutritional supplements.

The biggest challenge for vulnerable groups is a meat-free diet: special care must be taken in the case of children, adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, and the elderly. Their bodies may be particularly sensitive to deficiencies, which, if left undetected, can have serious health consequences.

Although the Coplant project is still in its early stages, the researchers hope that in the coming years it will provide the quantity and quality of data that will better inform public health recommendations and help modernize dietary guidelines. The program will pay special attention to pregnant women, and they plan to monitor the development of their children over the long term. This will make it possible to understand how a plant-based diet affects not only individual health, but also development, well-being, and social sustainability across generations.

The question is therefore not whether a plant-based diet is good or bad, but how to do it well. The scientific answers of the coming decades may begin here.