Plant-Based Diets Show No Running Performance Gap in Recreational Athletes

Diet alone didn’t predict faster race times

Diet alone didn’t separate faster recreational runners from slower ones in a study of 245 athletes. Its findings challenge the assumption that meat is necessary for strength or endurance: runners following vegan, vegetarian, and omnivorous diets recorded no significant differences in their best half-marathon and marathon times. That result doesn’t prove the diets are interchangeable in every respect, but it does put the focus on what runners actually need to perform: sufficient energy, appropriate training, and a diet that meets their nutritional needs.

That doesn’t make one eating pattern a performance shortcut. It does suggest that runners can pursue endurance goals across different diets, with food quality and adequate nutrition worth more attention than the diet label. The numbers here are underwhelming if you’re looking for evidence that a particular diet makes recreational runners faster. They’re more useful as a check on claims that plant-based eating necessarily gets in the way of endurance performance.

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What the runner study found

Published in Nutrients, the study compared 245 runners: 91 who ate vegan, 45 who ate vegetarian, and the rest who ate omnivorously. Researchers found no significant differences in the groups’ best half-marathon or marathon performances, even after accounting for training habits and experience. That adjustment matters because runners’ results depend on much more than their food choices, including the work they put into training and how long they’ve been running.

The authors cautioned that more research is needed. The study examined recreational athletes, so its findings don’t settle questions about every athlete or level of competition, and the results don’t show that diet has no effect on an individual runner. They do, however, weaken a familiar claim that plant-based eating makes people weaker while meat builds strength. This is more significant than it looks: the study challenges a broad assumption without claiming that any single diet guarantees a faster race.

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Kelsey Costa, MS, RDN, a runner and coach with a volunteer running group, says endurance training makes nutrition a key part of performance and recovery. “As an endurance sport, running can be demanding on the body, making proper nutrition essential for optimal performance and recovery,” she told VegNews. “That’s why plant-based diets are becoming a go-to among athletes, including runners.” Her point is about supporting the demands of training; the study itself measured race times, not whether one diet speeds recovery or improves health.

Where plant foods may help

Whole food, plant-based diets emphasize fruit, vegetables, grains, pulses, nuts, and seeds. These foods supply fiber, protein, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, though the mix of foods matters: a diet’s label alone doesn’t tell you whether it provides enough energy or particular nutrients. Research has also linked this eating pattern with a lower risk of some chronic conditions, including heart disease and certain cancers. Those broader health associations are relevant context, but they aren’t evidence that plant-based runners will record faster times.

Costa points to several ways these nutrients may support athletes, including blood flow, blood pressure, and recovery from oxidative stress and inflammation. Plant foods also provide folate, magnesium, and iron, which contribute to energy production and muscle recovery. For runners, the useful question is whether meals and snacks reliably support training and recovery over time, rather than whether a single ingredient has a special effect.

“Plant-based diets are an excellent source of essential nutrients that support overall health and performance,” she says, explaining that they help reduce inflammation, improve blood flow, improve blood pressure, reduce oxidative stress, and 'optimize body composition,' among many other positive factors.

Iron matters for oxygen delivery to working muscles, making it one of the nutrients endurance athletes should keep in view. Costa says plant-based athletes generally have healthy serum ferritin levels, while stressing that sufficient iron is particularly relevant to endurance performance. She adds that vitamin B12 may require supplementation; other nutrients can be obtained from a varied plant-based diet. That said, individual needs can differ, so a general dietary pattern doesn’t guarantee that every runner is getting enough.

Protein planning matters more than the myth

Protein is a common concern for athletes considering plant-based eating. Costa says a balanced diet can provide athletes with enough protein and all essential amino acids. Options include tofu, beans, lentils, seitan, tempeh, nuts, seeds, spinach, and vegan meats. Variety is practical here: runners can draw on different foods across meals instead of expecting one plant-based source to do all the work.

Runners who want a convenient post-run option can also choose protein powder. The plant-based supplement market includes alternatives to animal-based whey; Grand View Research values the global plant-based protein supplement market at more than $3.3 billion. That market size shows there are plenty of products available, but it doesn’t establish that supplements are necessary or that they improve performance. If you're working in this space, the useful distinction is between having options and needing them.

The practical takeaway is straightforward: runners can build a plant-based diet around varied protein sources and pay attention to nutrients such as B12, while the study offers no evidence of a race-time penalty for recreational athletes. Protein planning and nutrient checks call for ordinary attention, not assumptions that meat is the only route to adequate fueling. A workable approach. (And this is the part most people overlook.)

What the findings mean for runners

The study gives recreational runners a reason to question rigid claims about diet and performance, while leaving plenty of individual questions open. It doesn’t establish what works best for elite competitors, or show that a switch in diet will improve anyone’s time. Its narrower message is more credible: within this group, the researchers found no significant race-time gap between the three dietary patterns.

What this means for you depends on your training, food choices, and nutritional needs. A diet label can’t replace attention to adequate fueling, protein, iron, and B12; nor does the evidence here justify treating meat as a prerequisite for endurance. And yet, the findings are a useful counterweight to that claim. For runners weighing a plant-based diet, performance needn’t be the reason to rule it out, provided the diet is planned to meet their needs.