I haven’t been able to do much running this week, as I’m recovering from a dislocated shoulder suffered whilst playing football. I managed a couple of tentative jogs, but running with a sling isn’t ideal… Sitting around unable to run got me thinking ‘how does my vegan diet impact my injury recovery?’ Does it help? Does it hinder it, when compared to a typical meat diet? So (after re-watching The Game Changers) I decided to do some research of my own into injury recovery and how a vegan/plant-based diet can affect it, to see if there was anything I should be doing differently.
I struggled to find much work on the direct impact of vegan diets, so I decided to look at a few of the key nutritional considerations for injury recovery, and then see how compatible they are with a plant-based diet. This is a pretty broad topic (and outside my area of expertise) so I decided to keep it simple and focus on a few specific areas. I looked at two well-known factors in inflammation and protein, and came across a seemingly less well-known one in leucine.
Inflammation
Plant-based diets are well-known to reduce levels of inflammation in the body1, whereas diets high in animal products can lead to increased inflammation, and the reduction of inflammation is one of the main considerations for injury recovery.
Following injury, there is an initial (acute) inflammatory response from the body which is crucial for healing, but further, long-term (chronic) inflammation would be detrimental2. Going the other way, excessive anti-inflammatory measures could actually impair the initial recovery process, so it’s important to have balance whilst avoiding necessary inflammation. This is where a plant-based diet could be more effective than an animal-based one for recovery; avoiding unnecessary inflammation through diet but not providing an excessive anti-inflammatory response.
Protein
It seems intuitive that you should increase your protein intake during recovery to help build and maintain muscle, and most (but not all) of the studies I looked at recommended increasing protein intake during rehabilitation3. There were mixed views on increasing protein intake during the early stages of immobilisation4, with the emphasis is on maintaining an adequate intake, at least to pre-injury levels. Timing seems to be important though, and protein intake before sleep is recommended, to increase overnight amino acid availability and muscle protein synthesis5, 6.
There wasn’t a lot of discussion about the importance of protein source in the studies that I found, but plant-based protein sources provide more anti-inflammatory properties than animal-based sources7 so would seem preferable for recovery.
Leucine
One thing that was heavily mentioned in the articles I looked at was the importance of leucine2, 3, 6, an essential branched-chain amino acid (BCAA), in injury recovery. Leucine is known to improve protein synthesis and can ameliorate muscle loss2, which can prove helpful in combating muscular atrophy (weakening) caused by lack of movement during the recovery process. Being an essential amino acid, the body cannot synthesise leucine, so it must be obtained through diet. Fortunately, a plant-based diet contains plenty of leucine sources, such as soy products, beans, and legumes. Protein powders also contain significant amounts of leucine, and whilst whey protein contains slightly more leucine than plant-based sources, the plant-based protein I have after a run or workout (Pulsin pea protein, chocolate flavour of course) contains around 60% of my recommended daily of leucine per serving, so I’m pretty confident that I’m getting enough.
Summary
The main emphasis for nutrition during injury recovery, unsurprisingly, is on the importance of a balanced diet and maintaining sufficient nutrient intake, avoiding any deficiencies. Protein intake should be maintained at the very least, and possibly increased, and leucine is important for combating muscle loss.
From what I’ve found (and this wasn’t an exhaustive search by any means), it seems clear that there are no key aspects of nutrition for injury recovery that are not available in plant-based diets, and the reductions in unnecessary inflammation given by plant-based diets could be beneficial to the recovery process, making them effective for injury recovery.
So I won’t be making any significant changes, maybe a bit more protein before bed, and hopefully get back to running next week! It goes without saying that this blog post shouldn’t be a substitute for professional medical advice concerning injuries.