"Vegans too weak blalalalala" , I'm 66 yr old vegan, just rode bike down to the beach and back, 3km down there, then back up 220 meter elevation on my beautiful hilly island. I feel great, a little tired, but great. 😊

Huh....Kinda explains how my meat & dairy loving sister and her family all got Covid THREE SEPARATE TIMES (despite the endless sanitizing and bleaching) and yet I, the one lone vegan in the whole family, never got Covid even once! 😂

When I was an omnivore I’d get sick a lot due to working a 9-5 and training a lot in Jiu Jitsu with strength and conditioning on the side, and would occasionally burnout. Now that I’m plant based, I haven’t gotten sick, nor burnt out and actually crave to train more. My gf was sick last week with a cold sore and a sore throat. We still cuddled, kiss and all the intimate things couples do, and I still have no cold sore or sickness on me rn. Eating Black beans and Garbanzo beans with white rice and leafy greens while typing this. I love eating like this because the less sick I get the MORE I can train!

My husband and I are 54 and vegan and we never caught it. I work at an elementary school and tested often due to numerous close contact exposure notices. In fact I haven’t been sick with anything since going vegan 4.5 years ago even though I have kids coughing near me all the time. I tend to believe that otherwise healthy people have a better immune system on a vegan diet.

I know anecdotes are the lowest level of evidence, but when it comes to my own experience for myself, it’s the highest. I’ve been vegan all through the pandemic and had my husband not tested positive I wouldn’t even have noticed I had it. The second time he had it, I didn’t even catch it. He’s vegan as well and he had a very mild case. For me it was nothing. If I did well with COVID, I should be in good shape to face other infections.

Since going vegan in 2008, I’ve been sick ONCE with a cold and still haven’t had covid despite living in a metropolitan area.

From 2020 until 2023 I traveled more during those 3 years than I had in my entire life combined prior, went out to eat more, met more people all over the country, and I still haven't got COVID. I even quarantined with somebody for 2 weeks who had it. And they were vaccinated...

People may be "done" with covid, but covid certainly isn't done with us. Long covid is no joke and can develop even from mild covid infections, so the fewer times you catch this virus the better.

Thanks a lot. An avid egg lover showed me some papers which seem to show eggs have no harm. So I found that in one paper, three authors, including the last author, was sponsored by the egg board as stated in Conflict of Interests. In another paper, the last author was previously sponsored by the egg board to do a talk. I just told this person that these papers have been written to serve the interest of the egg indurstry. God bless!

I'm plant based mostly whole foods.. I finally caught covid for the first time at the beginning of the year. Other than feeling odd because covid does hit differently, I've had worse colds and infections, and I owe it to my diet.

I used to get ill five times a year with colds viruses or flus. Since i went cegan in 2018 i havent had any of these illneses. Not once. Including covid.

Covid is still very relevant - so thank you for sharing!

Of the critical comments that Mic critiques of why Vegans got less Covid - my fav was the one, “Vegans are too weak the leave the house.” 😂 😅 I love such silliness though. I walk over 3.5 miles a day (outside), gather and cut all my firewood, and am 66 years old. Obviously many older people can do the same (& don’t have to be vegan or vegetarian), but . . .

Even as an omnivore, this makes sense. Vegans are more likely to either have a larger concern for health in general, or are more socially moral overall, both of which would lead to following basic guidelines and having respect for those around you.

It’s funny because I always joke with people that “I can’t get covid, I’m vegan”🤣

I’m not a healthy Vegan. I’ve been vegan for 18 years and so far, I have not caught it. I’ve been exposed multiple times, including in my household but I didn’t catch it 😅 I’ve been looking for an explanation and although I want to run with it, I know confirmation bias is wrong. I hope the study is replicated and confirmed ❤

Great breakdown as usual Mike. Definitely wanna see the long covid vid!

I haven't caught COVID. I can't remember the last time I had the flu. I've gone years without a cold since I went vegan 10 years ago. The microbiome makes up 70% of your immune system and the good bacteria love fiber.

Thanks a lot. It is so true. I am almost 100% WFPB. I only got one night of fever, because some false accusers were aggressively quarreling with my family members for several days. But I sat quietly in the dark for a whole evening. The next day the fever was gone. So I don't think I ever got it. And my neighors and relatives were all severely affected multiple times. I did not tell anyone about this miracle for fear of their envy and disbelief. God bless!

13:51 😂 nice one! Also people come with their anecdotes and other reasons when I say I haven’t had covid ever.. but when I say I haven’t really had a cold either since March 2022 they are a bit more quiet. 😂

I'm 65, not vaccinated and haven't had covid yet as far as I know. I had a mild cold 2-3 years ago, but maybe that helped for immunity. I'm whole food vegan.

Thanks for posting, and all the well founded research!

I caught covid wayyy back in March 2020, and the only effects I experienced were loss of sense of smell, and a mild malaise which persisted for about a week. I eat a whole food vegan diet, and I can't help but feel like it made things easier for me.

I’ve had COVID twice in late 2023, but it’s totally because I started working for a hospital May 2023 as well.

I either never had it or if I did, it was very mild. Good to have these studies combed through Mic-Style, thank you.

My Covid experience as a 34 year Vegan has been interesting. Three times I’ve been around somebody that’s had Covid so I needed to be tested and I’ve tested positive for Covid three times but I was never sick ever once. Even though I tested positive.

worked in a city pediatric emergency department all through COVID pandemic, still work there now and i Have NEVEr HAD COVID....Plant based diet and daily miso soup... I swear by it

Not the case for myself or husband. Two years ago for my husband and last Christmas for me. Both caught from a family gathering. Enclosed space. Was mild and didn't leave any lasting effects.

I'm vegan and non-jabbed. I've had it once, early on, and the symptoms were very light.

My whole entire household including my boyfriend all had Covid apart from me, never once. Never even got sick apart from one mild cold I caught from abroad : ) (been vegan for 2 almost 3 years now)

Been vegan for 6 years now, WFPB vegan for the past 2, in my early 50's, no known incidents of Covid.

I really wish this was true for me 😔

Maybe explains why I never caught it even in contact with infected people many times :D

Nice to see the scale!! Can’t wait to get mine. They are a month out but giving a lifetime warranty (at least I got one- they’re not advertising it but I assume they did not just do it for me since I’m so special) to make up for the wait. They sent me an email telling me about the lifetime warranty after I made the purchase.

Interesting, would love to see more data on this! While we see how this could be the case, we also know that people are notoriously not great at reporting on their own diets accurately.

Bought the fit track scale. The MIC coupon was applied automatically at the moment of payment without me having to enter it. (Update: just got the fit track scale. It needs 4 AAA batteries which I have because I’m a pack rat nerd. Will review shortly…)

I adore my DARA scale! So helpful to see the big picture on my health!

I have the Fit Track scale, it is brilliant, so useful to keep track of muscle mass, water in body and bone density. Very healthy results thanks to my wholefood vegan diet and doing a little yoga every day. Thank you for all your informative and educational videos Mic. :)

Thanks!

Mic, thank you for making a distinction between plant based dieters and vegans. I'm glad you are acknowledging the distinction.

I’m a carnivore and never got it …. This is an insane argument

Your hair looks great by the way.

Anecdotal, but me and hubby also didn't catch it ever. We occasionally catch a cold for max 2-3 days and all is right as rain with minimal overthecounter meds (ibuprofen type usually), nothing fancy.

11:47 curious how the crosstabs of class-position and masking would add statistical noise

Yes please for long covid!!!

I definitely want to see that video on long COV-ID.

Vegan here and haven't caught Covid yet, but I continue to mask and distance. Also important to note that although being vegan helps, being a WFPB vegan probably helps even more.

I just got Covid first time in November my recovery was very fast, I didn’t have a ton of symptoms mostly lack I energy. Need a couple days off I would say after 5 days was able k get back to my normal act’s

We rarely get any kind of illness. Did contract covid in Oct 2022 but only knew due to compulsory testing at work. No symptoms.

I got COVID once, but after 2 vaccines I haven't gotten it again, thankfully. I still got chronic fatigue for a year or so after catching it, even when I was vegan for 6 years before catching COVID

Just got over mine. I felt fine just an itchy throat but that's it.

Considering the ingredients and who it was tested on, I did not get vaccinated - because I am vegan. This probably accounts for fewer vegans being severely ill.

I have never in my life met a carnivore dieter who isn't also an Anti-vaxxer.

I hadn't really thought about it being diet related but yeah I haven't gotten covid either. Even with being in close proximity of people who had it

5 years vegan, tested positive multiple times but no symptoms, very active, often outside, very physically/mentally demanding work

I got Covid twice but my symptoms were mild. I got it once after flying across the country and once after my son got it from school. He and I were asymptomatic but his meat eater dad got really sick. Anecdotal? Yes

Hi, it would be cool if you made a video about non-sugar sweeteners such as xylitol, erythritol and maltitol. I would be very grateful. I am insulin resistant and will definitely be eliminating saturated fats from my diet after what I heard on your channel but I use a bit of a sweetener everyday and would like to see if e.g it is better to use those I mentioned or maybe the "not that bad" date sugar or blackstrap molasses. I think it would be an interesting topic!

I have several friends(female) with the long covid, one is vegan and both are athletes in their 60's. . Would love to know more about it. A story I heard on NPR 1-18 talked about the dangers of exercise with long covid. True?

I wish this was the case for me. While fully vaccinated, I’ve had it four times, though only once since I went plant based in May. I’ve been working from home for over 10 years, so I feel my immune system has gone down. And to make matters worse, my husband is a teacher so he brings all sorts of germs home.

I've been in close quarters with people who tested positive for covid and were sick as dogs 4 separate times now and each tike I braced myself and was sure I was going to get sick, and never did. all I felt was a bit tired and lethargic but I slept it off pretty easily, and it could have been due to other things I suppose. recently I was on the bus somewhere in the Netherlands and there were so many sick people on the bus, some lady accidentally coughed directly in my face. it was so gross. and I was convinced I caught something but again I was totally fine. I'm like 80% vegan, basically eat cheese and butter about once a week when I visit family and I eat regular marshmallows that are made with animal products

Yeah, yeah, we know!

I think I've had a couple of times--due to being surrounded by disease vectors!--based on loss of taste and smell, but briefly, with non life-threatening symptoms, and no apparent long-term effects. This is anecdotal eveidence, but early on I heard that long term plant eaters have fewer ACE2 receptors for Cov19 to latch onto, but I think this just speaks to the established prophylactic benefits from eating a healthy plant-based diet. Thanks for posting!

What year is it

I’m vegan and I got covid from my partner during omicron variant even with prior vaccination. It wasn’t horrible, but I didn’t feel well. He got sick again recently and was down for a whole week, horribly sick. I didn’t catch it, but I wore a mask around him and he slept on the couch. Thankfully I didn’t get sick and tested negative for covid. I had the booster vaccine and he didn’t. I’m vegan and he’s mostly pescatarian. There’s some anecdotal anecdotes for ya.

I’m glad I never invade peoples personal space and use hygiene when out in public. Yes I’m slightly slack at home don’t judge me I’m not too feral 😂. The fact I had it with absolutely no symptoms yet my older sister was hit hard. Well her kids and her family in general are always so sick, they live in town. My nephew who is coming on 14 next month just got diagnosed with scurvy. Dr was shocked! This shouldn’t happen these days!

Mic, can you make a video about your skincare routine? Your skin is very good. Also, what supplants you take? Btw, hair looking nice 👍

I haven't had any signs of Covid and I tested negative for Covid on a home test so I am not sure how accurate it is especially since I never got vaccinated for Covid. I just hope this continues for me as a progressively whole food vegan.

also fs want to see the one about long covid!! it's something I'm quite scared about actually lel

The graphical abstract XD XD XD

Would love to hear more info and have a video on Long COVID and Plant based 👍

I eat mostly plants, and I've had covid twice, including long covid.

ANOTHER study showing the benefits of eating plant based, keep em coming, it should be obvious by now. I used to get yeast infections ALL THE TIME before being plant based. Any studies about that? Never had one again in over six years now. That would be a compelling reason for the ladies to go plant based, if there were studies about it. (My last yeast infection was so bad, I called off work and was completely debilitated by it)

I'm curious where I'd have been placed in this study as I eat fish twice a week, lol. I'd be flexitarian, because I don't eat any other meat and avoid dairy (don't buy it from the store, generally don't eat it)

Is it maybe because we don't eat NeU5Gc? That sialic acid incorporates itself in carnist cell membranes. This is the cite where viruses attach. Perhaps viruses attach easier to Neu5Gc sugars?

I am pretty sure people who are vegan/plantbased are really self-aware about staying healthy, exercising and such vs the other group, that might also be a factor that affects the results

Just a heads up- I am a whole food plant based vegan (10.5 years) who tries to eat the optimum diet, informed by our best docs like Greger, Fuhrman, Esselstyn, Ornish, McDougall, Barnard etc. I’m 63. I did get Covid in the first wave and again last spring. I was ill both times, especially so the first time. The second time I needed paxlovid. (I was vaccinated.) My BMI is 18.7. Other health markers excellent. I exercise daily. I’m just saying this because I was surprised at how sick I was. Before this I never got sick with colds or flu. The first time my Covid was very bad for four months and I had lingering effects for over a year. Yes I lost my taste and smell. I had terrible digestive upset and sweating and fevers. Maybe I would have died if I was t WFPB? Who knows? Maybe I’m just unlucky. Fortunately, over time I am mostly better. Stomach still much more sensitive and my running times never recovered.

I finally caught covid-19 last November, one month before my 57th birthday. I wore a mask maybe 5 times during the mandates, I've been exposed numerous times, yet it took almost 4 years for me to finally catch it. I live a few miles away from that nursing home located in Kirkland, Wa where the outbreak in the US officially occurred. I'm also not vaccinated for it. I was feeling out of it for 2 days, I had a low grade fever for 24 hours. I still had to work. I began feeling sick on the first Monday of November. I didn't test until Thursday. By then, I was feeling fine. Monday I did 6 kitty visits and 2 dog walks and did a client consult. Tuesday I did 5 kitty visits and 1 dog walk. Wednesday I did 5 kitty visits. Thursday I did 4 kitty visits. That's when I tested. Friday I did 3 kitty visits and began a 3 night overnight stay with a dog. Saturday I did 2 kitty visits, Sunday no kitty visits. Monday 1 kitty visit and finished with my overnight and got to go home. Finally Tuesday I had a day off. So, the Monday I started feeling sick, I had a very full day of work. Tuesday my fever came on. Wednesday my fever was gone and I was feeling 90% myself, the day before I even tested. I believe being vegan is the reason why I had a very mild case. One vegan friend of mine caught covid and got really sick. She fully recovered, but it was not a quick recovery for her.

I have been vegan for 15+ years. I finally got nailed by COVID back in September. I will say I had also had been previously vaxxed, but not recently. I also still mask when I go to public spaces that attract a lot of people, like supermarkets and pharmacies. If I went out to eat, I went at an off time. Let me say, it is not like a cold or the flu. I had a massive headache. Followed by a really bad sore throat. Some nasal congestion. Some coughing.I had to have someone drive me to the doctor with me curled up in the back seat. I got Paxlovid. It helped. More importantly I feel like I have completely recovered. No Long Covid. I think that is the real problem. People do not realize that Covid effects every part of your body and does damage. Vegans tend to be able to clear viruses better, so while it may not be a super power, it really helps.

Sure

Still very relevant, unfortunately. Whether we're sick of it or not, covid is here to stay. I finally caught it, but I'm happy that it was very mild. I'm a near 60 y/o, non smoker, rarely drinker, vegan; normal BMI, no comorbidities; vaxed and boosted once. I took 3 advil for the entire duration. Very grateful to have gotten a mild case; I've lost 4 relatives to this awful virus. Plant based eating is a good idea anyway, but a great way to lessen the odds of severe or long covid.

TY 🍉

Thanks, Mic, for all your great info. Love your channel! Here's a complaint though. I ordered the FitTrack Dara scale that you're promoting, and I'm not happy with it or the app. I'm trying to find out how to return the scale for a refund, but I haven't been able to reach anyone there by email or chat (I've been "oh hold" with their chat for over 2 hours!). Horrible customer service. I'm really sorry I ordered the scale to begin with.

i’ve only gotten sick once since going vegan and it was covid. i’m not WFPB which could have something to do with it but i was pretty sick, i never want to catch covid again

So chonky vegan here. I never got the vaccine and I never tested positive for COVID. I did get sick during the omnicrom time period and got a wicked headache but was only sick 3 days. Now typically when I get sick I water fast because I bounce back quicker. So that is my anecdotal evidence of veganism and COVID. My son's a vegetarian and had the same experience during the same time yet tested positive and had some neuropathy in his hands

Really, but what about brittle hair and ginger beard disease? Does it cause that

both my parents just got covid and I managed to to catch it despite living in the same house 👀 I was able to avoid them pretty well though haha

❤

I caught covid around New Years Eve, went to my cousin's wedding (was nice other than that). Feeling very unlucky

Definitely Not me…

I'll wait for this analysis to get ripped apart Patience

I've gotten it once. Two years ago. :)

I tested positive in 2021 but I’ve always wondered if it was one of those odd false positives because I had no symptoms at all. Nothing. Nada. I was chilling during the mandatory 10 day isolation period 😂

This makes sense. You saturate the body with antioxidants, fiber and have a ideal BMI you will have a stronger immune system. Love that summary towards the end. I would bring up the correlation between US antiCovidvax sentiment and generally poorer diet in rural America, but this was done in Brazil. Anecdotes alert: I'm sure my wife and I are on borrowed time, but neither of us have been infected by COVID yet. But we not only eat plant-based, but have followed protective measures including all boosters so likely all of the above. One thing you look at with correlation though is a mechanism for that correlation. With global warming, there is a very clear relationship between CO2 levels and warming, so we are confident with that link. There is obviously a link between the immune system, inflammation in the body and diet. Poor diets with high inflammatory markers are going to result in a higher risk of getting sick. Your video and the study clearly show this in the data. I see a massive increase in my social media feed of friends sick with COVID or the flu. Being obsessed with nutrition and diet, it is difficult not to think about risk factors and a heuristic tendency to correlate at least in the mind. Just BMI/diet, activity level and risky behavior like alcohol consumption is clear in my mind. " In our study, we found that BMI and the prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in the omnivorous group than in the plant-based group. Vegetarians had lower BMI, prevalence of overweight, obesity and metabolic syndrome.21 However, after the adjustment of BMI in the logistic regression the difference of lower diagnosis of COVID-19 in plant-based and vegetarian groups remained, suggesting that the difference in incidence of COVID-19 could be associated with other factors present in the diet. On other hand, physical activity also relates to a lower likelihood of adverse COVID-19 outcomes. In a meta-analysis, it was found that, those who engaged in regular physical activity had a lower risk of infection, hospitalisation, severe COVID-19 illness and COVID-19-related death than their inactive peers.22 In addition, in our study, after the adjustment for physical activity the lower incidence of COVID-19 remained in the plant-based and vegetarian group."

👏👏👏

Anecdotally, I can attest to this. I have an eating disorder, which should put me at higher risk for infection. I never took the covid vaccine, don’t wear a mask, and don’t make any effort to distance myself from others. I have my reasons for all these things, which I won’t go into detail here. That being said, I had covid once, and it was extremely mild. Only a slight cough and a headache. I haven’t caught anything for over a year. Of course, when I do catch something, I stay home.

This has to have something to do with association rather than causation. I've been vegan for 7 years and I've gotten COVID like 4 times.

Husband and I just got Covid for the first time over the holidays. We are just vegetarian though.

Love to watch how Bart Kay is grilled your idiotic movies. 😂

Doesn't mean everyone can eat this way, a lot of veggie based meats have pea protein in it, which I'm allergic to, peas, black eyed pea, chick peas peanuts lima beans, lentils and some other foods I can't eat. Does not mean I can't eat beans just very specific ones. I can at least have chilli so yes to chilli beans kidney navy or northern beans pinto.

I'm surprised that the researchers or no researchers have looked at nationwide statistics according to the amount of meat consumed per capita, e.g. compare the USA 124kg with Bangladesh 4kg, then throw in countries with high veg*n populations like the UK and Israel. Although clearly other factors apply, patterns do support the theory, despite the two latter having higher meat consumption levels.