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Side effects of becoming vegetarian
Eating a vegetarian diet offers numerous health benefits, but some medical studies cite a few potential problems.
Wed, May 02 2012 at 4:51 PM
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There are several medical studies linking vegetarian diets to lower incidences of certain types of cancers, heart disease, Type II diabetes and other chronic diseases. Many news headlines say vegetarians live longer than meat eaters.
Thinking about going veggie? Before permanently clearing out the steak knives from your kitchen, consider some of the following possible side effects of becoming vegetarian:
1. Low cholesterol levels: Virtually every medical study on vegetarian populations, including the prominent Oxford Vegetarian Study of 5,000 vegetarian subjects, have concluded that vegetarians have lower cholesterol levels than non-vegetarians. Most in the mainstream medical community, including the American Heart Association, recommend keeping total cholesterol levels under 200.
However, another study by the Honolulu Heart Program — which focused on the cholesterol levels more than 3,500 Japanese-American men aged 71-93 years, not necessary what eating trends produced those cholesterol levels — concluded that “Only the group with low cholesterol concentration … had a significant association with mortality.” The Heart Program study, according to at least one medical doctor, demonstrates that having continuously, extremely low levels of cholesterol may lead to an early death.
2. Increased risk of colorectal cancer: One would assume that heavy meat eaters would have a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer but a review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition of the aforementioned Oxford study reveals, “Within the study, the incidence of all cancers combined was lower among vegetarians than among meat eaters, but the incidence of colorectal cancer was higher in vegetarians than in meat eaters.”
Vegetarians demonstrated a 39 percent higher incidence of colorectal cancer, which is confounding, given that eating red meat leads to higher colorectal cancer rates. The study’s researchers, although not unequivocal in being able to explain the findings, theorize that the vegetarian participants were perhaps not eating sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables.
3. Lower bone mineral density: While it’s possible for vegetarians to consume adequate amounts of protein, calcium, iron and vitamin D (if supplementing properly or getting enough sunlight) to ensure proper muscle and bone development, one study concluded that vegetarians had approximately 5 percent lower bone-mineral density (BMD) than non-vegetarians. The results of the study, the authors conclude, suggest that vegetarian diets — especially vegan diets — are associated with lower BMD. But don’t despair if you’re a vegetarian or thinking about becoming one. The authors claim that the “magnitude of the association is clinically insignificant.”
4. Lower levels of vitamin B12: A study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry says that omnivores have a significantly higher cluster of cardiovascular risk factors than vegetarians. But one potential risk of becoming a vegetarian seems to be the preponderance of lower vitamin B12 in the blood. B12 helps with metabolism, converting food into stable energy, utilizing iron, producing healthy red blood cells, and a host of other benefits.
The risk of low B12 levels, according to the study’s authors, can result in arteriosclerosis. Several vegetarian-friendly foods such as cereals are fortified with vitamin B12. If you’re a lacto-ovo vegetarian and eat dairy and eggs, you are likely consuming adequate amounts of B12. Yeast extracts are a good choice for vegetarians abstaining from dairy and eggs.
5. Insufficient levels of omega-3 fatty acids: A paper published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition claims that vegetarians have lower levels long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, particularly EPA and DHA [See related: Omega-3’s for vegetarians]. Sufficient levels of long-chain omega-3s are beneficial for cardiovascular health, say the study’s authors, who also concluded that DHA supplementation at a dose of about 2 grams per day eventually decreased plasma cholesterol.
Katie Minor, a senior instructor of nutrition at the University of Idaho, tells MNN.com, “Nuts and flaxseed can supply enough sources of essential fatty acids. I haven’t seen evidence that vegetarians are lacking in essential fatty acids. They seem to be adequate.”
Based on the conclusions of numerous medical studies, eating a vegetarian diet offers numerous health benefits. However, the same advice can be offered for vegetarians as for omnivores: exercise regularly, eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit every day and avoid processed foods.
One last morsel for thought: if you’re concerned at all about side effects of becoming vegetarian, Minor says to consider being a “flexitarian.”
“Flexitarians are people who are vegetarian most of the time, but once in a while will consume an animal protein,” she says. “The more restrictive you are with your diet, the more you’ll have to closely monitor what you’re consuming and the more likely your need will be to supplement. Work with a registered dietician to make sure you’re not at risk for dietary deficiencies.”
Do you think there are side effects of being vegetarian? Let us know below.
Judd Handler is a health writer in Encinitas, Calif., and can be reached at mailto:CoachJudd@gmail.com.
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Sorry to tell you, you are not a vegetarian if you eat fish. I would have thought that was obvious but I guess not!!
Um, you do know that fish are animals, right? That doesn't make you a vegetarian. That makes you a pescatarian.
I have to jump in here to Lucy's defense. Rather than condemn Lucy, educate her! Lucy: The diet you describe is Pescetarianism, not vegetarianism.
Pescetarianism is the practice of a diet that includes seafood but not the flesh of other animals. A pescetarian diet shares many of its components with a vegetarian diet and includes vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains, beans, eggs, and dairy, but unlike a vegetarian diet, also includes fish and shellfish.
How can you be a vegetarian that eats fish? It's like saying you're a vegan that drinks cow's milk, or a Muslim that eats pork.
But you do eat animals.
Eat, drink and be merry! Life is its own purpose, and there is nothing further to achieve - quality of life today is more important than health and longevity 'tomorrow'. You don't need to kill other sentient beings to be healthy and enjoy your own life, so why deprive another creature of its own health and happiness?
how do we know plants and vegetables aren't sentient beings, too?
Because they're delicious
I don't know if I necessarily agree with everything in the article but it's definitely something to think about!
Jhoh if you want more information/medical facts please watch~ http://www.forksoverknives.com/ It is the strongest information I've seen yet on this debate and essentially was the impetus to become vegetarian. available on Netflix fyi
The author (and researchers) do not adequately distinguish between vegan and vegetarian diets. Of course vegetarians have a high rate of colorectal cancer -- they eat cheese and eggs. Removing animals from our diet is the best step toward living healthfully.
How does that explain how these rates in vegetarians are higher than those of meat eaters, who eat more animal products and yet have lower colorectal cancer rates than vegetarians?
Did you actually bother to read the study? The findings were incredibly close to not being significant & the authors wrote:
"Our observation that the incidence of colorectal cancer is higher among vegetarians than among meat eaters in the EPIC-Oxford study is surprising; this difference
might be partly due to chance and speculatively might be related to other dietary differences between the groups."
There is a sentence in the article that states, meat eaters have a higher colorectal cancer overall, so I take the other statistic? with a grain of salt.
The most informative paragraph in this article is the 3rd paragraph from the bottom. Which generally states that a vegetarian diet has numerous health benefits, but everybody still has to exercise regularly, eat fresh fruits and veggies, and stay away from processed foods.
The rest of the information in the article is neutered, and a waste of time to read.
Going vegan also benefits our environment and takes nowhere near the toll on our home planet as the Standard American Diet (SAD) does.
So why is something called Mother Nature News against a diet which is more beneficial to the environment?
Are the dead animal companies and those behind the SAD supporting them?
Something that calls itself "Mother Nature Network" shouldn't be hypocritical.
The minerals are no longer in the soil to provide nutrition and the meat is fed corn ,hormones and anti-biotics..if your going vegan see a nutritionist so you can replace all the vitimins,minerals and other nutrients missing in your new diet,Start off with a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.Luck.
Even non-vegeratians are vegetarians, after all our food eats your food.
Eating vegetarians does not make you a vegetarian. If it did, lions would be considered vegetarians instead of carnivores.
There are lots of junk food vegetarians out there, but a great number of us actually know what we are doing. Since cutting meat out of my diet, my cholesterol levels have improved and my vitamin levels are all in very good shape (I get tested annually). There is a full world of vegetarian food beyond salads, eggs, and cheese.
Unless one eats at least 50% fruits and vegetables at least 50 gms of protein, only complex carbs, no fried foods but good fats(ghee, walnut oil, avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil), limited cheese/yoghurt or low fat milk but plenty of buttermilk. Vegetarianism is not very useful
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