I get the feeling the research question might have been more like “do the data suggest vegan diets can be healthy compared to the standard american diet/common diets?” rather than “are vegan diets superior to other diets?” since a lot of people are still convinced it’s impossible for vegans to be healthy.

Edit: I went to the original study linked within the link and the stated purpose was “To examine whether healthful vs unhealthful plant-based dietary patterns are associated with mortality and major chronic diseases among UK adults.” So it’s just healthy vegan vs unhealthy vegan, not healthy vegan vs all other diets. Seems…a bit…redundant, but okay.

Never met a data I didn’t like

This one depends on the country, masters degrees are usually prerequisites to doctoral degrees where I live.

When we eat the plants, the matter ultimately undergoes cellular respiration, which is the opposite reaction of photosynthesis, so all the water “captured” by the plants is converted back into water by consumers, and is eventually either excreted or released upon the organism’s death so the water cycle continues. The overall reaction is C6H12O6 + 6O2 -> 6H2O + 6CO2, and has water as a product.