The vegan diet was a topic of hot contention on GB News after it was reported that an influencer died as a result of her “extreme” eating habits.
Wellbeing guru Davinia Taylor, a steadfast critic of the vegan diet, was keen to point out the dangers of consuming highly processed meat free products that we are finding ever more regularly on supermarket shelves.
Taylor, also an actress who has appeared in popular productions such as Hollyoaks, said the products are examples of “greenwashing” during a heated row with Peta spokesperson Margarita Sachkova, who claimed eating meat is linked to cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
It comes after influencer Zhanna Samsonova, who lived on an “extreme” diet of exotic fruit reportedly died from starvation and exhaustion.
The 39-year-old would practice “dry fasting”, where she would refuse to eat or drink anything for days.
Samsonova’s official cause of death is yet to be determined as her family try to get her body back to Russia amid a host of bureaucratic delays.
Peta’s Sachkova sparked fury from Taylor after claiming “it’s way healthier” to ditch meat and stick to a vegan diet.
“Coming from experience, cutting out ‘plant-based ingredients’, be it soy, grains, corn, vegetable and seed oil, I lost four stone, I came off anti-depressants, and I have extremely good bone density”, Taylor retorted.
“What is being pushed here is just another avenue for big food to get into out children’s diets, and just load them with junk food that has been greenwashed under the guise of veganism.
“It’s just junk food. I’m in agreement with factory farming, it’s horrific. I live in North Lancashire, my farm is around the corner, it rains every day and the animals are treated with respect.
High street chains like Greggs are embracing the vegan movement by offering more plant based alternativesPA“I have four boys and there isn’t a cat in hell’s chance they go vegan.”
Sachkova took issue with Taylor’s assertion that foods pushed under the guise of veganism are processed, arguing that doesn’t have to be the case.
“Obviously, vegan food doesn’t have to be processed. Thinks of lentils, kidney beans, wholegrain, brown rice. They’re widely available everywhere,” she told Stephen Dixon and Ellie Costello.
“The World Health Organisation say red meat and processed meat are cancerous so I would think twice before eating meat.”
Taylor stated that foods that have been widely available for hundreds of years are unlikely to cause chronic problems for humans.
She said: “You cannot check the human rate of a diet over a period of time. No one sticks to anything.
“If we had it around in our diet 200 years ago, it’s more than likely not going to cause any chronic disease, just because of evolution.
“The vegan diet is so processed it’s ridiculous. Of course we have bananas and tangerines in our house. The soy that comes in from China is genetically modified and is the basis for a lot of vegan food. It's propaganda”
Sachkova snapped back by pointing out examples of stars who are “striving” on a vegan diet.
“Just think of world leading athletes like Novak Djokovic and Lewis Hamilton, who is the seven-time world champion in Formula 1”, she said.
“The best thing you can do is ditch meat, it’s better for our carbon footprint and for our animals who are killed in slaughter houses.”
It comes after data released in January saw sales of chilled meat alternatives drop 16.8 per cent, despite encouragement from many quarters to take up the products for “Veganuary”, a month where people are urged to ditch meat and dairy and attempt the vegan diet.
NIQ claim that plant-based milk alternatives saw a growth of just 0.9 per cent in a month that showed a general trend of stagnation for vegan products.
