Vegan vs Vegetarian: Key Differences, What Each Eats, and Which Is Healthier

Vegans and vegetarians both avoid meat, but the two diets part ways on dairy, eggs, and honey: vegetarians typically consume some or all of these animal products, while vegans avoid them entirely. Beyond the plate, veganism is also a broader ethical philosophy that extends to clothing, cosmetics, and any product derived from animal exploitation.

Defining Each Diet Clearly

Vegetarian is an umbrella term for anyone who does not eat animal flesh, including meat, poultry, and, in most definitions, fish. Within that umbrella there are several subtypes:

• Lacto-ovo vegetarian: Eats dairy and eggs (the most common type in Western countries)
• Lacto vegetarian: Eats dairy but not eggs
• Ovo vegetarian: Eats eggs but not dairy
• Pescatarian: Eats fish but not other meats (sometimes counted separately rather than as vegetarian)

Vegan refers to a person who avoids all animal-derived foods without exception: no meat, no fish, no dairy, no eggs, no honey, and no other animal by-products such as gelatin or rennet. The Vegan Society, which coined the term in 1944, defines veganism as "a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose." That broader scope means most vegans also avoid leather, wool, and products tested on animals.

In short, all vegans are vegetarians in the dietary sense, but not all vegetarians are vegan.

What Each Diet Eats and Avoids: Comparison Table

The table below shows how the two most common variants, a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet and a fully vegan diet, handle each major food category.

Food or Ingredient	Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian	Vegan
Vegetables and fruit	Yes	Yes
Grains, legumes, nuts, seeds	Yes	Yes
Meat (beef, pork, lamb, poultry)	No	No
Fish and seafood	No	No
Dairy (milk, cheese, butter, yogurt)	Yes	No
Eggs	Yes	No
Honey	Usually yes	No
Gelatin and animal-derived additives	Sometimes yes	No
Plant-based milks and vegan cheeses	Yes	Yes

Note that pescatarians, who eat fish, occupy a middle ground: they avoid land animals but are generally not considered strictly vegetarian or vegan by most definitions. For a deeper look at sub-types, see our guide to types of vegetarian.

Ethics and the Environment

Both diets reduce reliance on factory farming compared to an omnivorous diet, but they differ in degree.

Ethical scope. Vegetarianism is most often a dietary choice. Veganism, as defined by The Vegan Society, extends to rejecting animal exploitation in all areas of life. This includes avoiding products made from wool, silk, and leather, as well as cosmetics tested on animals.

Environmental footprint. Research published in Nature Food (2023) studied over 55,000 people in the UK and found that vegans produce roughly 2.47 kg of CO2 equivalent per day compared to 10.24 kg for high meat-eaters. Vegetarians and fish-eaters showed similar impacts to each other, both falling between vegans and meat-eaters. Dairy products alone account for roughly 45 percent of a vegetarian diet's carbon footprint, according to the same research, which is the main reason vegan diets score lower on emissions and land use than lacto-ovo vegetarian diets.

Land use tells a similar story. Vegans in the UK study used approximately 4.37 m2 of land per day, compared to 16.78 m2 for high meat-eaters. Vegetarians used significantly more land than vegans because raising dairy cattle and laying hens requires feed crops and grazing land.

Both diets are meaningfully better for the planet than meat-eating. Veganism simply takes those gains further by removing dairy and eggs from the equation.

Nutrition: What the Research Shows

Both diets can be nutritionally complete with good planning. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics stated in its 2025 position paper that "appropriately planned vegan dietary patterns can be nutritionally adequate and can offer long-term health benefits" for adults, particularly for reducing cardiometabolic disease risk.

Where vegans and vegetarians have an advantage. The Adventist Health Study 2, one of the largest dietary cohort studies ever conducted, found that vegan diets offered greater protection against obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular mortality compared to lacto-ovo vegetarian diets. Diabetes developed in 0.54 percent of vegans versus 1.08 percent of lacto-ovo vegetarians and 2.12 percent of non-vegetarians in that cohort.

Nutrients that need attention. A 2022 nutrient-evaluation study (NuEva, published in Frontiers in Nutrition, PMC9149309) found that both vegetarians and vegans had lower B12 status, lower ferritin (iron stores), and lower long-chain omega-3 fatty acids than omnivores. Vegans showed the lowest calcium intake (576 mg/day versus 870 mg/day for omnivores) because they exclude dairy. The NHS identifies six nutrients vegans should monitor closely:

1. Vitamin B12 (found naturally only in animal products; supplementation is essential for vegans and advisable for many vegetarians)
2. Calcium (well supplied by dairy for vegetarians; vegans rely on fortified plant milks, calcium-set tofu, and leafy greens)
3. Iron (plant-based non-heme iron absorbs at roughly 3.7 percent efficiency versus 25 percent for heme iron from meat; pairing iron-rich foods with vitamin C helps)
4. Iodine (low across all plant-based groups; fortified foods or a supplement are recommended)
5. Selenium (lower in all plant-based diets; Brazil nuts are a concentrated source)
6. Vitamin D (relevant for everyone in low-sunlight climates; fortified foods and supplements apply equally to vegans and vegetarians)

Vegetarians who eat dairy and eggs have a natural buffer for calcium and B12, making supplementation less urgent, though still worth monitoring. Vegans benefit from a reliable B12 supplement as a non-negotiable baseline.

Bottom line on nutrition. Both diets support good health outcomes. The vegan diet appears to offer marginally stronger protection against metabolic diseases in large cohort data, but it also requires more deliberate planning to cover B12, calcium, and omega-3 needs. Neither diet is inherently superior for everyone; individual food choices within each pattern matter at least as much as the label.

Which Diet Is Right for You

The honest answer is that both are solid foundations for long-term health and both reduce harm to animals and the environment compared to an omnivorous diet.

Choose a vegetarian diet if you want to eliminate land-animal meat while keeping the flexibility of dairy and eggs. It is a gentler nutritional transition with fewer gaps to fill by supplement.

Choose a vegan diet if you want to align your food choices with a broader commitment to animal welfare, want the maximum reduction in environmental footprint, and are prepared to plan meals carefully and supplement B12 consistently.

Either way, the quality of your overall diet matters far more than the label. A vegetarian who eats mostly processed cheese and refined carbohydrates will fare worse than a vegan who builds meals around whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fortified foods. Both diets reward thoughtful, whole-food choices.