Can you build muscle on a plant-based diet?

The short answer is yes, you can build muscle on a plant-based diet. 

However, it can take a lot more effort to obtain the protein that you need from your diet when you focus exclusively on plant-based foods.  Not all plant-based diets exclude meat, fish, dairy and eggs, but those that do can sometimes lack adequate amounts of protein.

Some studies show more favourable results from animal protein sources when it comes to building lean body mass, than plant-based sources. This is thought to be due to the difference in the amino acid profiles of these foods (protein contains amino acids and these differ in profile from food to food - some foods have amino acid profiles that are better than others when it comes to lean muscle growth). 

Despite what you might see in the media, quality, robust research that focuses on a controlled comparison of animal-based vs plant-based protein sources together with matched resistance training is sparse, but animal based protein sources seem to give us an edge in the bulk of the research that we do have, and that’s why it’s considered to be more effective when it comes to building muscle than plant-based protein sources are.

This doesn’t mean that plant-based sources of protein are ineffective, though. What it means is that it might take you a little longer with plant-based protein sources, and that you might need to plan your nutrition more carefully.

It’s important to note that not all plant-based diets are exclusively plant-based or exclude animal products entirely.  ‘Plant-based’ is a catch-all term - you can follow an omnivorous or vegetarian diet that is plant-based (For more on this read my article What is a plant-based diet?). So yes, it is entirely possible to build muscle on a plant-based diet, but if you choose to obtain all of your protein from plant-based sources it might take some extra care and planning to achieve the results that you want to see.