RB Leipzig team doctor appraises vegan diet

Admin l Friday, December 30, 2022

 

BERLIN – RB Leipzig team doctor Percy Marshall is advising his players against a completely vegan diet but also sees certain advantages in plant-based nutrition for older players.

Marshall told Friday’s Leipziger Volkszeitung paper that none of the current German Cup winners’ players is fully vegan but that some have vegan days.

“Generally speaking, there is no substitute for a flexible, balanced and healthy diet,” Marshall said.

“Professionals who take in a completely vegan diet realise after a year and a half that this extreme form of nutrition puts them in a deficiency in some micronutrient areas.”

Marshall said that this could still work as long as such athletes have people around them who can influence these deficiencies.

Seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and long-time world number one tennis player Novak Djokovic are among athletes who have said they have gone fully vegan.

Marshall said a vegan diet could indeed be helpful for athletes as they grow older.

“We know that a plant-rich diet can reduce inflammation levels in the body. This leads many older athletes to benefit immensely from such an adjustment in their diet in the dusk of their career, when joints are creaky and compromised,” Marshall said.