UK Doctors Encourage Vegan Diet As Country Fights COVID-19

Doctors in the UK are urging the public to adopt a plant-based diet as the country fights to get the coronavirus outbreak under control.

With COVID-19 widely believed to have come from an animal source, more scrutiny is being placed on the animal agriculture industry.

Dr Gemma Newman — also known as the Plant Powered Doctor — has teamed up with healthy eating organization Plant Based Health Professionals (PBHP) and the No Meat May campaign group. The trio of vegan advocates are working together to encourage plant-based eating as a pre-emptive solution to future pandemics.

“Lentils Will Not Spark A Viral Pandemic”

“Some politicians and commentators blame China for COVID-19,” explained Dr Newman, “but they do not mention that all of the recent major disease outbreaks have been caused by tampering with animals and their habitats, or that our chicken salad and pepperoni pizza could be the next big health risk.”

“Our industrial scale factory farms are like a ticking time bomb—yet I can guarantee that lentils will not spark a viral pandemic anytime soon.”

Related stories:

• VEGAN BRAND OATLY MAKES CLIMATE-FRIENDLY SWAP TO ELECTRIC DELIVERY VEHICLES
• VEGAN PROTEIN INDUSTRY THRIVES DURING PANDEMIC WITH $741 MILLION INVESTMENT
• CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC SET TO COST US BEEF INDUSTRY $13 BILLION

Vegan Campaign

Similarly to Veganuary, the No Meat May campaign asks people to ditch animal products for a whole month.

A record number of 33,000 people signed up to participate in No Meat May this year, with Veganuary 2020 having attracted more than 400,000 people.

“It’s hard to say what the COVID-19 effect is,” said Ryan Alexander, the co-founder of No Meat May, “but it’s clear that people are drawing the connection between intensive factory farms and public health concerns.”

Do you think veganism in the UK is about to boom? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!