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LadyConstanze -> RE: The health effects of vegetarianism... (5/14/2009 9:41:13 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: samboct
Like many myths, the health effects of vegetarianism are well known. It's much healthier to eat vegetarian than say, an omnivores diet which includes things like red meat- right?
Well, not so fast...in the May 1, 2009 edition of Science there's an article which reports on a meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (March 31- April 4 of this year) where some new data led to some surprising conclusions. The study presented was the first large scale study of 11,000 human skeletal remains which where pooled from 72 researchers- a meta study if you will. These European individuals lived from 3,000 years ago till about 200 years ago. Note that most anthropological studies on humans have been done with relatively few skeletons from burial sites- often where the sick folks got buried. Hence, they weren't very representative of the population as a whole, but this meta study is.
What they found was that as humans transitioned from hunter gatherers to a more agrarian existence- they got sicker based on skeletal analysis. They document shrinking sizes, (the average human male decreased from 173 cm in 400 BCE to 166 cm in the 1600s) along with diseases such as leprosy, tuberculosis, and all sorts of awful dental decay which was based on a more limited diet and one with more sugars. The one advantage to living in towns was that they suffered less bone trauma- i.e. fewer broken bones, but living in towns definitely made people sicker. In the Middle Ages, living on a farm led to taller individuals, generally a sign of better nutrition. In town, if you weren't part of an elite, you were pretty sick.
My conclusions on this one- eating a restricted diet- including one heavy in grains, is not the healthiest thing to do. Be an omnivore- eat everything.
In terms of modern day data, humans in the US are shrinking since the 1950s- coupled with increasing rates of obesity. What does this suggest about our modern diet? Much as I'd like to say that it shows the dangers of vegetarianism (I thought about putting this post in the politics and religion forum- it seems to me that proselytizing vegetarianism is indeed some form of religion.) I think it probably shows that modern day highly processed foods aren't a good idea either. The data on vegetarianism is shown by the study on historical humans. Food for thought?
Sam (ducking and running...)
I think it is a myth that vegetarianism makes you sick, eating bad food makes you sick, simple as that. A vegetarian who lives of veggy fast food is just as likely to get sick as your regular fast food addict.
As to your Middle Ages theory, I would suggest you check the facts again, if you OWNED a farm, you might have lived better and healthier, if you were a serf, you had hard work, bad food and usually died fairly early, so no difference to the town situation.
I know a few people with heart problems, a lot of their problems have been solved by switching them to a diet that is free of red meat.
Have you checked what too much animal proteins do to your arteries and heart? Most of our modern day diseases are due to nutrition, nobody would expect a car engine to run well on low quality food, yet we expect our bodies to run well on crap food.
Additionally, our bodies are all different, what might be the ideal diet for one person will not work for the next person, our metabolisms are pretty individual. I'm not a gung ho vegetarian, I never got into vegetarianism as a fashion statement, but from an early age on I didn't like eating certain types of meat, most meat causes me to feel really bad, sluggish, bloated and for me it just doesn't taste good, a pretty good sign that it is not right for my metabolism. I do like fish though, so about once week I'll have fish, but if you'd be offering me pork or lamb, I'd turn green, even the smell of it is nauseating for me.
Highly processed food is poison for your system, most people don't have enough fibers in their diet, the salad leaf in a burger (no matter if meat or veggy) doesn't make up for a balanced diet, as a whole we don't exercise enough and eat too much and the wrong food.
I think a vegetarian can live just as healthy as an omnivore, provided both approach their diet clear headed and look for balanced meals.
Actually, you know the whole data you threw up with more diseases now, you could easily link that to people now eating more meat than they used to. Think about something like gout, it was something only rich people got because they were the ones who could afford to eat meat regularly, for the poorer classes (country and city) meat was something that was served on Sunday, now people not only have it every day, a lot of them have it at least 3 times a day, and not always the most healthy kind, highly processed, etc. If you think about the way that meat is "produced", animals are given everything to grow in weight as fast as possible, drugs to stop them from getting diseases because they are living in conditions that are contrary to their normal conditions, drugs to keep them alive during the transport... Where do you think all that stuff goes? The blood stream will transport it in each and everyone of their cells and every piece of meat you eat will have it in it. Sounds very very healthy to me...
As to your point of dental decay, brush your teeth regularly, floss, keep up a good and steady dental hygiene and visit a dentist at least twice a year for checkups. It makes a hell lot of a difference because he will see a problem appearing and can treat it before your teeth start rotting away.
I dare say while my diet is very very low on meat, I'm a good deal fitter and healthier than most of my peers and I'm not following fad diets. I had eating disorders in my teens, but I haven't counted calories in years, it's fairly simple, I exercise regularly, take a bike instead of a car and walk, ignore lifts and take the stairs and I don't do fast food or ready meals. Last time my dentist needed to do something (apart from the regular check-up and polishing session with the hygienist) was 3 years ago when I broke a piece of a molar off (gotta love it if you bite on a tiny piece of stone that somehow found its way into your lunch), I don't think that including steaks or pork into my diet would make me much healthier or fitter.
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