Yeah but I wonder if they looked at or had a population that was say only eating animal products without any of the junk food listed above, and if that would have similar risk reductions. I looked at the food intake in the pdf and animal foods were higher in those who ate the most junk food. However they used a plant based health score and didn't make a model where meat could be healthy.

Plant-based diets are considered to be beneficial for planetary health.7,37 In addition, healthful PBDs are largely compatible with dietary recommendations for the prevention of chronic diseases across the globe,38 including those for a planetary health diet by the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health.39 Our results provide further evidence to substantiate that PBD quality may be essential for individual health—that is, that PBDs are not beneficial per se and can even be detrimental to health depending on their composition. Interestingly, although we observed that the hPDI was associated with a lower risk of mortality, CVD, and cancer, we found no associations with hemorrhagic stroke and fracture. The latter have been reported to be more common among participants in the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Oxford cohort who consumed a vegetarian or vegan diet,40,41 who have otherwise lower cardiometabolic disease risk.42 Our findings suggest that a healthful flexitarian type of PBD including lower amounts of animal foods may protect against such potential adverse effects of vegan or vegetarian diets.

Sounds like they lumped all non-vegan diets together there, so looking at the average healthiness non-vegan diet.