Greta Thunberg’s Diet: Is Veganism Taking a Toll on Her Health?

Greta Thunberg’s face: Vegan diet under scrutiny

Two photos separated by two years and a hand in the foreground. This material renews the same debate about Greta Thunberg’s appearance every few months. The comparison came with observations about sunken lips, fragile skin, and a physique that, according to those sharing it, looks older than her passport says. None of this is a diagnosis. It all stems from a hypothesis: that a vegan diet takes a toll in the medium term.

What is compared when comparing a face

The starting point is an image from two years ago next to a later one. Those analyzing it point to a change in complexion, from rounded antiestéticatures to a drier profile, and read it as deterioration. Others see simple growth. The discussion relies on debatable details—the state of the skin, the thickness of a wrist—to draw conclusions that the available evidence does not support. This is the underlying problem: judging a specific body based on retouched photos, studio lighting, and a puberty that ends when it ends.

The most repeated thesis is brutal in form and vague in content: veganism as slowed starvation. As a slogan, it works. As an argument, it falls halfway, because it confuses two different things—not eating anything of animal origin and not eating well—and puts them in the same bucket.

Vegan is not vegetarian: The difference that changes the result

Here appears the nuance that is repeated most: it is not the same to give up meat as to give up all animal products. A vegetarian diet, with eggs, cheese, and milk, allows for a sustainable long-term balance according to the shared experience: a young woman of 22 years, 1.72 meters and vegetarian for four, described as a case without problems. Strict veganism requires more attention and is not always planned.

This is the axis. The risk is not in the label, but in how it is executed. Some have lived for years with a vegan diet without issues, while others gave up at the first ham sandwich, arguing that their body asked for something else. The evidence available does not allow generalizing for either case.

B12, iron, and iodine: The three points where the diet is judged

In nutritional detail, the terrain narrows. Vitamin B12 is the only nutrient that a plant-based diet does not cover on its own and requires supplementation. Iron is defended with legumes and cereals. Iodine is the most treacherous: excess algae and a subclinical hypothyroidism condition appears. And the combination of amino acids is no longer considered mandatory in every meal, because the liver stores them and forms proteins later. These are statements from a participant in the debate, not from a cited study.

In contrast, the narrative of rapid deterioration. At growing ages, the deficit weighs more, and teeth, hair, and bones are listed as frequent casualties, along with menstrual delays. These are statements launched without citing a study. The case that does bring a source is that of actor Liam Hemsworth, who attributed a kidney stone to his vegan stage. It is also clarified that Ariana Grande is not vegan, contrary to what is repeated.

Plants feel: The counterargument that always returns

When the conversation gets stuck in ethics, the botanical joker appears. Scientist Daniel Chamovitz, from the Manna Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University, is cited to defend that plants perceive their environment with mechanisms comparable to humans, warn each other, and store memory. The data is real in its popular formulation; the conclusion with which it is used—that eating vegetables would be equivalent to eating animals—does not trinc from it.

Did she leave veganism? The resurgence that closes nothing

The last twist comes when it is claimed that she would have abandoned the diet and gained weight. Without confirmation, without dates, and without a source. If it were true, it would prove nothing about veganism in general, only about a specific case with too many variables involved. And if it is not, the episode illustrates the mechanism better: a photo is taken, compared with another, and a curve is drawn.

What remains standing is the complete itinerary. From the activist singled out for her appearance to the alleged return to animal protein, passing through a season without dairy or eggs. Not a single published blood test. All available material remains photographs.