The Vegan Society recently initiated a study by the Office of Health Economics which revealed that the NHS could save £6.7 billion over a year if everyone adopted a vegan diet
Vegan diets have been growing in popularity across the UK, however, despite this, there has been very little research on the impact plant-based diets can have on our healthcare system by reducing the risk of diseases and subsequently leading to fewer costs.
The Vegan Society decided to address this gap by initiating a new study. We partnered with the Office of Health Economics, who has over 60 years of expertise and is the world’s oldest independent economics research organisation, to investigate the benefits to the NHS if more people were to adopt a vegan diet.
Results
The figures from the study show the staggering savings that could be made if more people became vegan. These savings could cover the full yearly budget of up to seven of England’s hospitals or cover the annual salaries of 64,990 consultants or 184,920 nurses.
- NHS expenditure could be reduced by approximately £6.7 billion per year, with 2.1 million fewer cases of disease and a gain of more than 170,000 quality-adjusted life years across the population.
- Research also shows a decreased relative risk associated with a vegan diet for many diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, cataracts, type 2 diabetes, diverticular disease and obesity.
- For every 1 million people who switch to a vegan diet, £121 million will be saved in health care costs.
The report uses a model-based analysis to estimate disease prevalence and the risk of disease associated with a vegan diet.
Moving forward
These findings demonstrate that, first and foremost, adopting a vegan lifestyle has numerous health benefits for the public, which in turn leads to huge savings for the NHS which would allow for extra resources.
Moving forward, The Vegan Society would like to see policymakers integrate veganism into their public health campaigns, not only to promote individual health, but also to reduce expenditure for the NHS.
We hope that the study leads to this topic being explored even further to draw attention to the positive impact the vegan movement can have on the public sector.
Read more information about the findings of the report in our press release.
Citation details:
The impact of higher uptake of plant-based diets in England: model-based estimates of health care resource use and health-related quality of life
Nadine Henderson, Chris Sampson
medRxiv 2023.12.26.23300536; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.12.26.23300536
