The Great Plant-Based Con

Why Eating a Plants-Only Diet Won't Improve Your Health or Save the Planet

By: Jayne Buxton

Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow

Plant-based is best for health, go vegan to help save the planet, eat less meat.... Almost every day we are bombarded with the seemingly incontrovertible message that we must reduce our consumption of meat and dairy—or eliminate them from our diets altogether.

But what if the pervasive message that the plant-based diet will improve our health and save the planet is misleading—or even false? What if removing animal foods from our diet is a serious threat to human health, and a red herring in the fight against climate change.

In The Great Plant-Based Con, Jayne Buxton demonstrates that each of these 'what-ifs' is, in fact, a reality. Drawing on the work of numerous health experts and researchers, she uncovers how the separate efforts of a constellation of individuals, companies and organisations are leading us down a dietary road that will have severe repercussions for our health and wellbeing, and for the future of the planet.

The Great Plant-Based Con is neither anti-plant nor anti-vegan—it is a call for us to take an honest look at the facts about human diets and their effect on the environment. Shocking and eye-opening, this book outlines everything you need to know to make more informed decisions about the food you choose to eat.

2023, Guild of Food Writers Award - Investigative Food Work, Winner

©2021 Jayne Buxton (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK

Critic reviews

The most incredible book (Delia Smith)

How I have waited for this book! A much needed, fact-packed, lucidly argued demolition of pervasive, endlessly recycled, anti-animal source food propaganda, and a very welcome, closely argued, well-reasoned defence of our traditional omnivore diet (Joanna Blythman)

THE GREAT PLANT-BASED CON is persuasive, entertaining and well researched ... the book will help to alleviate the guilt many of us feel about our diets (Louise Eccles)

[A] forensic examination of the evidence ... Buxton is brilliant at reminding us of some basic statistical truths, ones that are usually forgotten these days ... It's refreshing to read a book which recognises that life is complicated (Mark Mason)

A calm, incisive dissection of veganism's salvationist claim to protect human health and the planet (John Lewis-Stempel)

THE GREAT PLANT-BASED CON is absolutely exceptional. When you've read works of Gary Taubes and Nina Teicholz, you'll need to add this to your essential reading list. I was ignorant of so much that is so elegantly explained (Professor Tim Noakes)

With incredible skill, Jayne Buxton captures the edifice of intellectual and cultural fraud behind today's mythology of the safety plant-based eating. Everyone needs this important and timely book (Sally K. Norton MPH, nutritional scientist and author of TOXIC SUPERFOODS)

Jayne Buxton's compelling read THE PLANT-BASED CON challenges the 'plant-biased' narrative sweeping across the globe and embedding itself into the very fabric of our society. Jayne takes a deep dive into the vested interests and religious ideology shaping the plant-based con, leaving no stone unturned ... I highly recommend this book! (Belinda Fettke, https://isupportgary.com)

A must read!

If I had 3 wishes one would be that every American would read/listen to this book. Great information.

should be required reading in all schools

fantastic compilation of stories and data showing why the solution to so many of our planet's current issues (climate change, soil destruction, water pollution and more) can all be solved with strategic management of livestock, and why plant based diets actually make all of those problems worse.

Great information.

The reading becomes robotic at times. But I feel I'm better off for having the information presented in this book. I thank the author, the performer, and everyone else behind the scenes who brought it to me. Bravo!

The unified case against the plant narrative

This book is the first to my knowledge to cover all the major criticisms against the misleading but popular “good for your health and the planet” - plant based narrative. Thorough and powerful, Buxtons book builds well on established critiques and also brings some fresh findings to this broad and challenging debate. The biggest achievement is however to weave all the threads of the debate into a very readable and coherent story. Well done, I will certainly recommend this book to others!

Simply outstanding!

This book completely destroys the plant based narrative but unfortunately, I doubt any vegans will even read it and for the few who do, they’ll be suffering from cognitive dissonance and likely won’t change their warped minds.