The current study investigated the impact of vegan and plant-based diets on sports performance of athletes. The goal was to analyze the data from previous studies to determine the collective position of the impact of vegan and plant-based diets on athletes. The research adopted a secondary approach and collected data from already conducted studies. A systematic review following the guidance of PRISMA was conducted and studies numbering 30 in total were selected for the review. Different databases were accessed to enable the sourcing of data files and research on the subject matter including but not limited to PubMed, ProQuest, NCBI, Cochrane, Google Scholar, Web of Science. The inclusion criteria allowed studies done in the last 10 years, and it was mandatory that consulted studies has empirically tested the performance of athletes and dietary effect on the same. There are conflicting findings in research regarding the impact of vegan and plant-based diets on performance of athletes with some research indicating that vegan and non-vegan athletes had minimal differences in performance, while some indicating that vegan and plant-based diet athletes suffer performance challenges especially during high endurance and intensity sporting activities. The current study resolves this misunderstanding by providing clarity on the impact of vegan and plant-based diets on sports performance of athletes. Some of the impacts noted included the lack of strength and endurance, as well as muscle depletion especially due to lack of certain nutrients in their diets. The research reviews some of the nutrients and provides recommendations for supplementation of these nutrients for the improved performance of vegan and plant-based diet athletes.
Keywords: Performance, Vegan diet, plant-based diet, vegetarian athletes
