Plant-forward eating and inflammation scoring have a lot in common — with one important catch.
A whole-food, plant-forward vegan diet often overlaps heavily with what scores well on THE FAD — high fibre, high plant diversity, typically lower in the ultra-processed and high-sugar foods that raise inflammatory load.
| Dimension | Vegan | THE FAD |
|---|---|---|
| Core rule | No animal products of any kind | No exclusions required — any pattern can be scored |
| Fibre & plant diversity | Naturally high if whole-food based | Rewarded strongly in the Food signal |
| Common failure mode | Vegan processed foods and refined carbs can still score poorly | Reflected directly — "vegan" and "low inflammatory load" aren't automatically the same thing |
| Omega-3 balance | Requires deliberate attention (algae oil, flax, walnuts) | Tracked as its own signal regardless of diet type |
"Vegan" describes what's excluded, not what's included — vegan junk food exists, and can score just as poorly on THE FAD as any other ultra-processed option. The label alone doesn't guarantee a low score; the actual pattern of whole foods versus processed foods does.
Everything above applies just as well to vegetarian (no meat, but dairy and eggs included) and pescatarian (vegetarian plus fish) patterns. Pescatarian eating in particular often scores favourably on THE FAD, since fish is one of the main food sources of omega-3 fats.
The best way to understand the difference is to see what a real day scores.
Try the calculator