Vegan nutrition for road cyclists - How efficient are cyclists with vegan food?

Vegan is the new vegetarian? In any case, anyone who asks for completely animal product-free food in shops or restaurants is no longer considered a crazy exotic. The number of people who - as vegetarians - not only give up meat and fish, but - as vegans - also eggs, milk, cheese and all other products of animal origin is growing. According to the German Vegetarian Federation (VEBU), just over one per cent of the population in Germany was vegan in 2015, or around 900,000 people. The number of vegetarians currently stands at around 7.8 million, or ten per cent. Considering that only half a per cent of the population ate a vegetarian diet in the early 1980s, the trend towards a vegan diet could well continue to develop momentum.

The question for athletes is: are vegans automatically the (not only ethically) better athletes?

Nutritionists do not share this enthusiasm without reservations. Uwe Schröder from the German Institute for Sports Nutrition in Bad Nauheim, for example, points out that there are currently no studies that attest to the clear advantages of vegetarian or vegan diets compared to mixed diets on average. Ultimately, the entire nutrient balance must be in balance, which is easier to achieve from animal sources than from plant sources, especially when it comes to the muscle building material protein. This is because plant proteins usually consist of fewer different building blocks, the amino acids, which means that they have a lower biological value.

Vegans, however, point to pulses such as lentils, beans, peas and lupins. In fact, nutritional tables show that a skilful combination of different protein plants can achieve the same or even higher biological values than meat, fish, eggs or cheese. But you just have to be familiar with it and do some research.

You can find the entire article on vegan nutrition for cyclists with lots of tips and information as a PDF download below.

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