There’s a well-known expression that goes, “birds of a feather, flock together”. So, we were curious to find out whether this expression was applicable when it comes to sex and dating.
Well, more so about whether vegetarians and vegans were more likely to date other vegetarians and vegans (spoiler alert? They are!), and if being a vegetarian or a vegan has an impact on one’s sex life.
Scientific Studies: Does Being Vegetarian or Vegan Affect Who You Date?
Researchers John Nezlek and Marzena Cypryanska conducted four studies under the title: Dietary similarities of friends and lovers: Vegetarianism, omnivorism, and personal relationships.
These studies pertained to how being vegetarian or vegan correlated with one’s social identity, who they befriend, and who they date.
In Nezlek and Cypryanska’s four studies they looked at three different aspects of vegetarianism and veganism:
- Does one’s diet affect social identity?
- Does food affect who you befriend?
- Does food affect who you date?
And in the realm of love and romantic partners, the results were quite telling. It revealed that vegetarians and vegans were 12 times more likely than omnivores to have romantic partners who did not consume meat.
This led the researchers to another conclusion: when one becomes a vegetarian or a vegan, it shrinks their dating pool quite significantly. For reference: three percent of Americans are said to be either vegetarian or vegan.
In another study conducted by Veggly, a dating app for vegetarians and vegans, 7,400 of their app users worldwide were quizzed on their dating habits.
Dating Behaviours of Vegans
It found that 52 percent of vegans wouldn’t consider dating a meat eater, while 12 percent of vegan users down-right refused to date a meat eater or even a vegetarian, due to their intake of animal products.
Dating Behaviours of Vegetarians
For the vegetarians on the app, 39 percent said they wouldn’t date someone who ate meat. No wonder the app is doing so well!
On the flip side, however, another interesting study by the animal protection research group Faunalytics found that 84 percent of vegetarians and vegans actually go back to eating meat.
So what happens then? Do lovers break up? Does the converted seek a new partner as their dating pool grows larger? Perhaps something for researchers to consider for their next research topic? Moving on…
Does Being a Vegan Have an Impact on Your Sex Life?
Fun fact: a study in 2021 found that 67 percent of vegans experienced a boost in sexual performance after switching to a vegan diet.
Yep, in a survey of 5,000 vegans, two thirds of participants revealed that their sexual enjoyment and performance increased when they went plant-based.
Interestingly, it was men who noticed the most improvement (71 percent), whereas women reported a 59 percent boost. Either way, the results are in and it says that going vegan does not only benefit the planet, but also; your sex life!
These results are also congruent with 2019’s documentary, The Game Changers, which followed elite athletes and their performance whilst on a plant-based diet. One specific part of the documentary was an experiment to see if just one meal could affect one’s sexual functioning and guess what, it did!
“We fed elite college athletes meat burritos for dinner one night and vegan burritos for dinner another night and measured their erections while they slept: how many, how long, how hard. The results were amazing,” said urologist, Dr Aaron Spitz.
But why is this so? Well, here are a few reasons why a vegan diet can boost your sex life:
- Many vegan foods not only boost blood circulation throughout the body, which is important for sexual functioning, but also to the brain which has a positive effect on one’s libido
- A 2006 study showed that plant eaters’ semen, in general, tasted better
- Vegan meals lower the risk of high cholesterol, diabetes, prostate cancer and hormonal imbalance—factors that can affect one’s stamina and erectile functioning
So, as it stands, dating may just be more challenging for vegetarians and vegans, but a vegan lifestyle may just lead to a happier sex life! Isn’t that interesting?
