U.S. adults interpret “plant-based” diets differently, survey finds

Americans do not share a single meaning for the term “plant-based” diet, according to a peer-reviewed analysis of a July 2025 survey involving 2,202 U.S. adults. Fifty-six percent of respondents said the term means vegan, or avoiding all animal products, while 35% interpreted it as eating abundant plant foods while continuing to eat some meat, dairy and eggs. Another 7% said they did not know what the phrase meant, and 2% offered a different response.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, show that interpretation differed across age groups. Among adults ages 65 to 94, 63% equated “plant-based” with vegan, compared with 51% of respondents ages 18 to 34. The survey was designed and conducted by Morning Consult using the Best Practices for Survey Research of the American Association of Public Opinion Research, and the researchers then analyzed the responses by demographic characteristics.

The terminology has become widely used in nutrition without an unambiguous definition, according to Anna Herby, a nutrition education specialist at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and a co-author of the study. She said the lack of clarity could affect how consumers evaluate foods and how health professionals communicate about dietary patterns. “Plant-based” was interpreted in two notably different ways in the survey: complete exclusion of animal products and a plant-forward diet that may still include animal-derived foods.

Shannon Menhardt, a registered dietitian at Barnard Medical Center and the study’s other co-author, said defining “plant-based” as excluding all animal products could help consumers make more confident decisions when choosing food products. A consistent definition could also make research findings and dietary recommendations easier to interpret, she said, supporting clearer communication among health professionals, patients and the media. These proposed uses of a standard definition were presented as potential communication benefits rather than as tested outcomes from the survey.

The study addresses terminology and public interpretation, not the nutritional quality of either dietary pattern, and its results are limited to the population and questions included in the survey. The analysis does not establish which interpretation produces better health outcomes, nor does it assess respondents’ actual eating habits. The findings instead indicate that the label alone may not reliably communicate whether a diet is vegan or includes meat, dairy or eggs. The results therefore point to a practical problem for food labeling, dietary research and public-health messaging: the same term can describe substantially different dietary practices depending on the person using or hearing it.

Subject of Research: U.S. adults’ differing interpretations of the term “plant-based” diet

Article Title: The term ‘plant-based’ diet is ambiguous among U.S. adults; its interpretation differs significantly between older and younger adults, new study finds

Article References: The term ‘plant-based’ diet is ambiguous among U.S. adults; its interpretation differs significantly between older and younger adults, new study finds. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

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Keywords: plant-based diet, veganism, consumer interpretation, diet terminology, food labeling, nutrition communication, demographic differences, U.S. survey, term, plant-based, diet, ambiguous