I was recently asked by my Teladoc social media team to comment about a big social media diet trend, called the carnivore diet.

That’s when people eat only meats, especially red meat, plus eggs and some dairy. They also cut out all carbs, vegetables and fruits. It’s a pretty intense zero-carb version of a keto diet.

One of my primary directives, as a family doctor, is to “do no harm”. And I have to admit that when I first heard about this carnivore diet, I was really skeptical. But I had no evidence either way, so I dug around on Pubmed’s website looking for the research.

So, what did I find? Practically nothing. I didn’t find one well designed and unbiased study evaluating health effects like death rates or heart disease. There just isn’t good data on this diet.

There is one study, a 2021 internet survey from Harvard, that the carnivore diet websites mention as proof of benefit. But I thought the hard data actually showed the opposite of benefit. It’s a heart disease screening test called the coronary artery calcium score. It’s a great test, even more accurate than LDL or CRP. But in this study – after 14 months on the carnivore diet, their average score got worse.

Now the sample size was really small. But if it’s true, and if follow-up studies could look into that, the carnivore diet may lead to more disease and deaths from the world’s #1 killer: cardiovascular disease, especially heart attacks and strokes. That’s what I would be worried about here. So, why take that risk?

By the way, I am not vegan or vegetarian, I’m just trying to keep people healthy using evidence-based data. For example, there is actually a lot of good data studying meats as part of a balanced diet.

And generally speaking, there’s pretty consistent evidence that processed meats like bacon, ham, and sausage are definitely unhealthy, causing more heart and lung disease. It also causes cancer, it’s classified right next to asbestos and tobacco as a Type 1 carcinogen. (So’s alcohol, by the way).

But un-processed high-quality meat, especially white meats and lower fat meats, does not have these negative effects. That data is neutral. Notice I didn’t say better, I said neutral.

I suppose many people may benefit if — by following this diet — they’ve cut out unhealthy foods, like ultra-processed carbs, fast foods, soda and alcohol. Or, if you have a food allergy or gluten intolerance, you may feel a lot better if you remove those triggering foods while on the carnivore diet.

But I still don’t feel comfortable recommending a carnivore diet to anyone. Mostly because by following this, you’ve completely eliminated the #1 healthy food groups that have very strong data for decades, and that’s plants. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and beans etc. are proven time and again to lower heart disease, decrease deaths from all diseases, and help lower weight in a healthy way.

In fact, a huge meta-analysis of over 140,000 people, following them for up to 25 years, showed that switching from a typical carb diet to a low-carb diet like keto or carnivore, increased their death rate over 20%. And on the flip side, switching from a typical diet to a more plant-based diet decreased your mortality.

So, if you’re seriously worried about your health, why would you invest your time and energy in an unproven diet and literally stop all the foods that have the most proven benefit for you?

I have to be honest again here and confess I just don’t get the mass culture appeal for carnivore, keto and other low-carb diets over the past few years. It’s like this Matrix-like mental block that ignores the plant-based whole foods diet. I don’t understand why influencers aren’t shouting from the rooftops that a plant-based diet can increase survival after a heart attack; it can reverse fatty liver; reverse diabetes; and lower your risk for multiple cancers.

These are the #1 current and future deadly diseases of the USA and the modern world, and the literal cure is staring us in the face!

So, as you can tell by now, I am not a huge fan of any meat-focused approach to daily eating. I follow the evidence, not testimonials from influencers and stars.

And if the word vegan or vegetarian gives you panic attacks, at least just take another look at the research on the blue zones, the world societies that have the longest and healthiest lifespans. The common denominator in all of these blue zones is – surprise – a plant-based whole foods diet, with only 5-10% of their calories coming from meat. And the longest living group in the world is vegan.

Again, we all have strong opinions and pre-conceived notions about lots of things these days, including diets.

But my bottom line, as a family doctor trying to prevent preventable diseases: I don’t want people to cause themselves harm and follow diet advice from influencers who mean well, but really are promoting diets that have either no evidence or harmful evidence.

Feel free to leave comments below. I’d also like a shout-out to my favorite nutrition expert, Dr Michael Greger at Nutritionfacts.org. Also check out my post,  8 Diet Changes To Cure Heartburn Better Than Pills.