Plant-Based Diets May Make You Seem More Attractive, Study Suggests

A substantial body of evidence indicates that plant-based diets offer benefits beyond weight loss.

Research repeatedly suggests that diets high in plant-based foods can improve health, lower the risk of disease and may even support a longer life.

Yet, despite this wealth of evidence, obesity rates in the US remain troublingly high, implying that the message is not reaching enough people.

Could the usual approach be missing the mark?

A new study suggests there may be a more effective way to encourage healthier eating than the familiar focus on long-term health prospects.

"Traditional public health messaging emphasizes disease prevention and longevity, yet personal motivations for dietary change often center on appearance and social outcomes," explain the researchers in a new paper in Recent Progress in Nutrition. The paper is led by first author David Goldman, a nutritionist at the University of Helsinki in Finland.

"Framing dietary change in terms of visible and socially meaningful outcomes, such as attractiveness, may therefore complement traditional health messaging by aligning personal motivations with public health aims."

Plant-based diets and perceived attractiveness

For their paper, Goldman and co-author Matthew Nagra, a nutrition researcher at the University of British Columbia in Canada, examined more than 30 published studies on the relationship between diet and perceived physical attractiveness.

It is important to note that Goldman also works in research and development for the nutrition company Metabite. Both Goldman and Nagra have previously acted as consultants for Soy Nutrition Institute Global. This conflict is disclosed in the paper and should be considered when assessing its findings.

The researchers identify three main ways in which diet could affect attractiveness: facial appearance, body odour and body composition.

Regarding facial attractiveness, foods containing carotenoids - the yellow, orange and red pigments present in fruit and vegetables - are known to alter skin colouration. Several studies have linked this change with people being judged as healthier-looking and more attractive.

However, the researchers stress that experimental findings showing carotenoid intake can improve perceived health do not mean that a person is necessarily healthier internally.

"Carotenoid coloration functions primarily as a perceptual cue to health status rather than a direct index of verified physiological health," the researchers write.

Skin colour, body odour and diet

Diet may also shape perceived attractiveness through scent. Studies have found evidence that men following plant-forward diets may have more pleasant-smelling sweat than those consuming diets heavier in meat, although the findings were not entirely conclusive.

Garlic provides an interesting example. Although it is commonly associated with unpleasant breath, one experiment found that the body odour of people who ate garlic was rated as more pleasant and attractive than that of people who did not.

In relation to body-fat composition, the researchers note that experiments have generally associated lower body-fat levels with higher attractiveness ratings for both men and women.

They cautiously propose that, because plant-forward dietary patterns are linked with lower BMI and greater reductions in body fat than animal-based diets, a plant-forward diet may help people improve their health while also potentially increasing perceived attractiveness.

However, there is no direct evidence that plant-based diets alter body composition in ways that other people find attractive. The researchers also recognise the significant ethical issues involved in discussions about how weight may influence attractiveness.

"Appearance-based health messaging has been found to carry risks of reinforcing harmful body image norms, increasing self-objectification, and exacerbating thin-ideal internalization," the authors write.

"Weight-centric messaging may increase body shame, particularly in individuals at elevated risk for eating disorders, and stigmatizing campaigns neither motivate behavior change nor avoid negative psychological outcomes."

Using appearance in public-health messaging

Given these concerns, the researchers say public-health campaigns centred on physical attractiveness should instead highlight the visibly detectable effects that eating more fruit and vegetables can have on skin colouration. Evidence to date suggests this approach could work.

In one experiment, participants who saw personalised visualisations showing how diet-related skin-colour changes could alter their appearance ate more fruit and vegetables over 10 weeks than participants who were not shown the visualisations. Other studies have reported similar results.

For people chiefly motivated by improving their appearance in the present, an appeal to attractiveness may prove more effective than conventional health messaging.

"Framing attractiveness as a health incentive shifts the focus from distant, abstract disease risk to immediate, tangible indicators of vitality," the researchers write.

"When executed with care, these approaches may increase engagement with whole-food, plant-rich dietary patterns while supporting long-term public health objectives."

The findings are reported in Recent Progress in Nutrition.

This article was fact-checked by Fiona MacDonald and edited by Fiona MacDonald. While we take pride in our process, we are only human. If you notice an error, please let us know.