Vegetarian

Vegetarian diets exclude meat; most variants allow eggs and dairy, which distinguishes them nutritionally from strict vegan diets. Nutrient planning for vitamin B12, iron, and complete protein still matters.

Peat's view

Dairy- and egg-inclusive vegetarian eating is closer to Ray Peat's own food list than a plant-only diet, since milk and eggs supply vitamin B12, retinol, and complete protein that plants don't. He was still cautious about vegetarian eating generally, citing a study linking maternal vegetarian diet in pregnancy to a much higher rate of hypospadias in male infants, which he attributed to plant phytoestrogen exposure:

Mothers who were vegetarian in pregnancy had an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 4.99 (95% confidence interval, CI, 2.10-11.88) of giving birth to a boy with hypospadias, compared with omnivores.

— Ray Peat

Shellfish and ruminant animal foods, when tolerated, remain useful sources of nutrients hard to get from a plant-heavy diet. In this framework, whether a food fits an ideological category matters less than whether it fixes an actual nutrient gap or lab value.

See also

• Vegan
• Protein
• Milk
• Vitamin B12
• Iron