Veganism is the Least Popular Diet in the United States

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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Veganism is the Least Popular Diet in the United States

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Decades ago, almost all Americans ate meat and potatoes, if they could afford them. Even the fast food chains grew up around these staples. In recent years, people have started to move away from beef, chicken, and even fish. The term “vegetarian” is used more frequently.

Another type of diet preference is “veganism”. Most people do not know what the term means. Is it any wonder that veganism is the least popular diet in America? (On the other hand, these are the 18 most popular diets in America.)

Why is a vegan diet unpopular? A strict vegan diet completely excludes any and all animal and animal-derived products, from meat to eggs to dairy and, for some people, even honey. A good way to look at why this diet has gone nowhere is that Americans eat an average of 55 pounds of meat annually, Per capita egg consumption is just above 285. People want meat and eggs, but not just vegetables. (But for those who do like veganism, these are the 35 best vegan restaurants in America.)

While beef can increase the change of coronary artery disease, a vegan diet can be even worse. According to St Luke’s Hospital Research, a vegan diet can cause, “Hair loss, weak bones, muscle wasting, skin rashes, hypothyroidism, and anemia are other issues that have been observed in those strictly following a vegan diet.”

While there is an argument that, on balance, a vegan diet can be good for people. But not very many people want to eat that way.

Here are the 18 most popular diets in America.

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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