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veganism.md

health

  • «Most vegetarian diets are rich in LA, (Davis and Kris-Etherton, 2003) a dietary source of n-6 which can be converted to the longer chain AA in the n-6 metabolic pathway (DeFilippis and Sperling, 2006). The increasing popularity of vegetable oils such as corn, sunflower, and safflower has lead to a rise in n-6 fatty acid intakes in US and Western diets (Simopoulos, 2002), whilst intakes of n-3 have declined (Bailey,2009). In the metabolic pathway n-3 and n-6 fatty acids compete for the enzyme that is able to convert them (Davis and Kris-Etherton, 2003). Diets with a high ratio of LA:ALA can suppress DHA synthesis in favor of docosapentenoic acid(22:5n-6; DPA) which takes the place of DHA in the retinal and neural tissues (Sanders, 2009). Delta-6 desaturase is the enzyme responsible for synthesizing LCPUFA’s from ALA and LA. The activity of this enzyme can be reduced by aging, stress,diabetes, eczema, and some types of infection. Various dietary and lifestyle factors can impair LCPUFA synthesis including high intakes of saturated, hydrogenated or “trans”-fatty acids, a lack of vitamin and mineral cofactors and lifestyle choices such as smoking and the use of alcohol and caffeine (Bailey, 2009). Therefore, usually, very little ALA is converted to EPA and even less, if any to DHA (Sanderson et al., 2002). Consequently, non-fish eaters could represent a portion of the population who may be at risk from the health consequences of a decreased LC3PUFA status.» - "Bioavailability and Potential Uses of Vegetarian Sources of Omega-3 Fatty Acids: A Review of the Literature" (2014)

  • "Compared with meat eaters and after adjustment for socio-economic factors, lifestyle confounders, and body mass index (BMI), the risks of hip fracture were higher in fish eaters (hazard ratio 1.26; 95% CI 1.02–1.54), vegetarians (1.25; 1.04–1.50), and vegans (2.31; 1.66–3.22), equivalent to rate differences of 2.9 (0.6–5.7), 2.9 (0.9–5.2), and 14.9 (7.9–24.5) more cases for every 1000 people over 10 years, respectively. The vegans also had higher risks of total (1.43; 1.20–1.70), leg (2.05; 1.23–3.41), and other main site fractures (1.59; 1.02–2.50) than meat eaters." - "Vegetarian and vegan diets and risks of total and site-specific fractures: results from the prospective EPIC-Oxford study" (2020)

  • "Vegetarians but not occasional meat-eaters or pescatarians were at a higher risk of hip fracture than regular meat-eaters in this cohort of UK women. There was no clear evidence of effect modification by BMI across diet groups. The risk differences remained after accounting for confounders and were not explained by differences in key nutrient intakes related to bone health between vegetarians and regular meat-eaters, implying the potential importance of other unaccounted factors." - "Risk of hip fracture in meat-eaters, pescatarians, and vegetarians: results from the UK Women’s Cohort Study" (2022)

  • "Results: Vegans showed a significantly lower mean serum iron level (p < .001) and vitamin B12 (p < .001). Wound diastasis was more frequent in vegans (p = .008). After 6 months, vegan patients had a higher modified SCAR score than omnivores (p < .001), showing the worst scar spread (p < .001), more frequent atrophic scars (p < .001), and worse overall impression (p < .001).

  • Conclusion: This study suggests that a vegan diet may negatively influence the outcome of surgical scars." - "Comparison of Postsurgical Scars Between Vegan and Omnivore Patients" (2020)

  • "Thus, I was surprised to learn from a new review article by Daniel Rosenfeld of Cornell University in the journal Appetite that reported vegetarians are more likely to be depressed than meat-eaters. Intrigued, I took a deeper look at this body of research. I located 11 peer-reviewed papers on the topic published between 2007 and 2018. Rosenfeld was right. Here’s what I found in each of them" - "The Baffling Link Between Vegetarianism and Depression" (2018)

  • "Those patients who may have depression because of insufficient omega-3 fatty acids can respond well to the diet containing high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and can show positive signs regarding treatment of depression." - "Omega-3 fatty acids and the treatment of depression: a review of scientific evidence" (2015)

  • "Worldwide, bivariate correlation analyses revealed that meat intake is positively correlated with life expectancies. This relationship remained significant when influences of caloric intake, urbanization, obesity, education and carbohydrate crops were statistically controlled. Stepwise linear regression selected meat intake, not carbohydrate crops, as one of the significant predictors of life expectancy. In contrast, carbohydrate crops showed weak and negative correlation with life expectancy." - "Total Meat Intake is Associated with Life Expectancy: A Cross-Sectional Data Analysis of 175 Contemporary Populations" (2022)

  • "We found a positive association between the prevalence of depressive episodes and a meatless diet. Meat non-consumers experienced approximately twice the frequency of depressive episodes of meat consumers, PRs ranging from 2.05 (95%CI 1.00–4.18) in the crude model to 2.37 (95%CI 1.24–4.51) in the fully adjusted model." - "Association between meatless diet and depressive episodes: A cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the longitudinal study of adult health (ELSA-Brasil)" (2022)

  • "Worldwide, bivariate correlation analyses revealed that meat intake is positively correlated with life expectancies. This relationship remained significant when influences of caloric intake, urbanization, obesity, education and carbohydrate crops were statistically controlled. Stepwise linear regression selected meat intake, not carbohydrate crops, as one of the significant predictors of life expectancy. In contrast, carbohydrate crops showed weak and negative correlation with life expectancy." - "Total Meat Intake is Associated with Life Expectancy: A Cross-Sectional Data Analysis of 175 Contemporary Populations" (2022)

B6

  • "Those who consume a vegetarian-type diet might shortchange themselves on vitamin B-6 because they could be eating foods that contain a less usable form of the vitamin.

    Women are more likely than men to have a B-6 deficiency, which can weaken the immune system and make them more susceptible to heart disease.

    Scientists from Oregon State University have found that some plant foods, like beans, contain as much as a third of their B-6 in the glycosylated form - a form not readily used by the body."

    "Potatoes are a moderately good source of B6, but part of it is glycosylated." - "Vegetarians may not get the good vitamin B-6" (2009)

  • "to get the minimum amount of vitamin B6 required each day (1.3 mg) from one of the richest plant sources, potatoes, you’d have to eat about five cups’ worth (equivalent to roughly 750g or 1.6lb)" - "How a vegan diet could affect your intelligence" (2020)

B12

choline

trans-vaccenic acid

  • "[...] dietary trans-vaccenic acid (TVA) directly promotes effector CD8+ T cell function and anti-tumour immunity in vivo. TVA is the predominant form of trans-fatty acids enriched in human milk, but the human body cannot produce TVA endogenously. Circulating TVA in humans is mainly from ruminant-derived foods including beef, lamb and dairy products such as milk and butter [...]" - "Trans-vaccenic acid reprograms CD8+ T cells and anti-tumour immunity" (2023)

children

  • "Over the past few years, we have observed increasing consumption of inappropriate plant milks as an alternative to infant milk formula. Some families believe that foods labeled as natural are the most healthy and an appropriate nutritional choice. However, their composition does not respect European recommendations. They are always hypocaloric and protein, vitamin, and mineral concentrations are inadequate. The aim of this study was to report severe nutritional complications after inappropriate plant milk consumption. Between 2008 and 2011, we studied severe nutritional deficiencies caused by consumption of plant milks bought in health food stores or online shops. Infants were identified in our centers and examined through medical history, physical examination, and laboratory testing. Nine cases of infants aged from 4 to 14 months were observed. In all cases, these milks were used as an alternative to milk formulas for supposed cow's milk allergy. At diagnosis, four patients were aged 6 months or less. They had received plant milk exclusively for 1-3 months. The beverages consumed were rice, soya, almond and sweet chestnut milks. In three cases, infants presented severe protein-calorie malnutrition with substantial hypoalbuminemia (<20 g/L) and diffuse edema. In the other cases, the nutritional disorders were revealed by a refractory status epilepticus related to severe hypocalcemia (one case), growth arrest of both height and weight secondary to insufficient caloric intake (five cases), and severe cutaneous involvement (one case). Five children had severe iron deficiency anemia (<70 g/L), three children had a very low 25-hydroxy vitamin D level (nutritional rickets), and two had severe hyponatremia (<130 mmoL/L). Milk alternative beverages expose infants to severe nutritional deficiencies. Serious complications can occur. Early, exclusive, and extended use is riskier. These diseases are preventable, and parental education should be provided. Statutory measures forbidding their use in young infants should be organized to slow down the progress of this social trend." - "Severe nutritional deficiencies in young infants with inappropriate plant milk consumption" (2014)

  • "Severe nutritional disorders, including kwashiorkor, marasmus, and rickets, were seen in four children and were due to parental food faddism, which should perhaps be regarded as a form of child abuse. All disorders were corrected with more normal diets and vitamin supplements.

    In view of the potentially serious consequences of restrictive diets being fed to children, families at risk should be identified and acceptable nutritional advice given. When children are found to be suffering from undernutrition due to parental food faddism a court order will normally be a necessary step in providing adequate treatment and supervision." - "Malnutrition in infants receiving cult diets: a form of child abuse." (1979)

  • "Nutritional rickets in Asian children living in the United Kingdom has been the subject of much discussion during the past 20 years and increasingly in the past decade. We diagnosed nutritional rickets in four black Rastafarian children and believe we have identified another population at risk."

    "They were breast fed until the second half of the first year of life, when thye were weaned unto an essentially vegetarian diet known as I-tal." - "Nutritional rickets in Rastafarian children." (1982)

  • "Vitamin B12 deficiency under a vegetarian diet (measured by MMA and holoTCII) has been reported in 25%–86% of children." - "Vegan diets: review of nutritional and health benefits and risks (2018)"

  • "Compared with omnivorous mothers, vegans had a higher prevalence of preeclampsia and their offspring had on average −240 g (95% confidence interval −450 to −30) lower birth weight." - "Adherence to different forms of plant-based diets and pregnancy outcomes in the Danish National Birth Cohort: A prospective observational study" (2024)

intelligence

  • "Surprisingly, the children who were given the soup containing meat each day seemed to have a significant edge. By the end of the study, they outperformed all the other children on a test for non-verbal reasoning." - https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200127-how-a-vegan-diet-could-affect-your-intelligence

  • "In this work, we tested the hypothesis that oral creatine supplementation (5 g d(-1) for six weeks) would enhance intelligence test scores and working memory performance in 45 young adult, vegetarian subjects in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over design. Creatine supplementation had a significant positive effect (p < 0.0001) on both working memory (backward digit span) and intelligence (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices), both tasks that require speed of processing." - "Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves brain performance: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial" (2003)

  • "Approximately half of this creatine lost to creatinine can be replaced, in omnivorous individuals, by dietary creatine. However, since dietary creatine is only provided in animal products, principally in meat and fish, virtually all of the creatine loss in vegetarians must be replaced via endogenous synthesis. Creatine synthesis does not appear to place a major burden on glycine metabolism in adults since this amino acid is readily synthesized. However, creatine synthesis does account for approximately 40% of all of the labile methyl groups provided by S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and, as such, places an appreciable burden on the provision of such methyl groups, either from the diet or via de novo methylneogenesis. Creatine synthesis consumes some 20-30% of arginine's amidino groups, whether provided in the diet or synthesized within the body. Creatine synthesis is, therefore, a quantitatively major pathway in amino acid metabolism and imposes an appreciable burden on the metabolism of methionine and of arginine." - "The metabolic burden of creatine synthesis" (2011)

humans as a scavenger species

  • "It is interesting to note that humans, uniquely among the primates so far considered, appear to have stomach pH values more akin to those of carrion feeders than to those of most carnivores and omnivores. In the absence of good data on the pH of other hominoids, it is difficult to predict when such an acidic environment evolved. Baboons (Papio spp) have been argued to exhibit the most human–like of feeding and foraging strategies in terms of eclectic omnivory, but their stomachs – while considered generally acidic (pH = 3.7) – do not exhibit the extremely low pH seen in modern humans (pH = 1.5). One explanation for such acidity may be that carrion feeding was more important in humans (and more generally hominin) evolution than currently considered to be the case [...]" - "The Evolution of Stomach Acidity and Its Relevance to the Human Microbiome" (2015)

cheating

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

  • "The present paper argues that the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics ignores or gives short shrift to direct and indirect evidence that vegetarianism may be associated with serious risks for brain and body development in fetuses and children. Regular supplementation with iron, zinc, and B12 will not mitigate all of these risks. Consequently, we cannot say decisively that vegetarianism or veganism is safe for children." - "Is vegetarianism healthy for children?" (2018)

  • "AND and its Foundation assist the food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and agribusiness industries through their large network of professionals and students, their lax internal policies on corporate partnerships and their topical position papers. The AND/ANDF have been supported financially by these corporations throughout the years despite public criticism and internal organisational changes. With a registration as a trade association, the AND and corporations interact symbiotically. This sets a precedent for close corporate relationships with the food and nutrition profession in the USA, which may negatively affect the public health agenda in the USA and internationally." - "The corporate capture of the nutrition profession in the USA: the case of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics" (2022)

  • "In 1982, the organization faced mass resignations from members over a decision to support President Ronald Reagan's cuts in food stamps and school lunch programs."

    "A 1995 report, noted the Academy received funding from companies like McDonald's, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company, Sara Lee, Abbott Nutrition, General Mills, Kellogg's, Mars, McNeil Nutritionals, SOYJOY, Truvia, Unilever, and The Sugar Association as corporate sponsorship. The Academy also partners with ConAgra Foods, which produces Orville Redenbacker, Slim Jims"), Hunt's Ketchup, SnackPacks, and Hebrew National hot dogs, to maintain the American Dietetic Association/ConAgra Foods Home Food Safety...It's in Your Hands program. Additionally, the Academy earns revenue from corporations by selling space at its booth during conventions, doing this for soft drinks and candy makers."

    "In April 2013, a dietitian working on a panel charged with setting policy on genetically modified foods for the academy contended she was removed for pointing out that two of its members had ties to Monsanto, one of the biggest makers of genetically modified seeds."

    «Watchdogs note that the Academy rarely criticizes food companies, believing it to be out of fear of "biting the hand that feeds them."»

    "A 2011 survey, found that 80% of Academy members are critical of the Academy's position. They believe that the Academy is endorsing corporate sponsors and their products when it allows their sponsorship."

    "In March 2015, Academy had endorsed Kraft Singles cheese product with the 'Kids Eat Right' label."

    "The organization also publishes nutrition facts sheets for the general public, which food companies pay $20,000 to take part in writing the documents."

    "This industry funding also gives food companies the ability to offer official educational seminars to teach dietitians how to advise their clients in a way that advances the interests of the food company. For instance, in a Coca-Cola sponsored seminar for dietitians, the speaker promoted free sugars consumption for children as a healthy choice." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Nutrition_and_Dietetics#Controversies

cattle GHG

passenger cars

See https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi?Dockey=P100ZK4P.pdf

So passenger cars in US produced 777.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases in 2018, out of a total 1,883.9 tonnes for the entire transportation sector. That's 41.27%.

Now, 41.27% out of the 28.2% of total GHG emissions by the transport sector gives us this wonderful result: 11.63% of all GHG US emissions are due to passenger cars.

Now compare this to the 9.9% due to the whole agricultural sector or the 3.3% we can blame on beef cattle production.

methane production

A constant number of cows produce a constant amount of methane which plateaus quickly due to its very small atmospheric half-life.

  • "Additional methane emission categories such as rice cultivation (RIC), ruminant animal (ANI), North American shale gas extraction (SHA), and tropical wetlands (TRO) have been investigated as potential causes of the resuming methane growth starting from 2007. In agreement with recent studies, we find that a methane increase of 15.4 Tg yr−1 in 2007 and subsequent years, of which 50 % are from RIC (7.68 Tg yr−1), 46 % from SHA (7.15 Tg yr−1), and 4 % from TRO (0.58 Tg yr−1), can optimally explain the trend up to 2013." - "Model simulations of atmospheric methane (1997–2016) and their evaluation using NOAA and AGAGE surface and IAGOS-CARIBIC aircraft observations" (2020)

  • "On November 17, 2003 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the concentration of the potent greenhouse gas methane in the atmosphere was leveling off and it appears to have remained at this 1999 level (Figure 1). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 acknowledged that methane concentrations have plateaued, with emissions being equivalent to removals. These changes in methane atmospheric dynamics have raised questions about the relative importance of ruminant livestock in global methane accounting and the value of pursuing means of further suppressing methane production from ruminants. At this time there is no relationship between increasing ruminant numbers and changes in atmospheric methane concentrations changes, a break from previously assumed role of ruminants in greenhouse gases (Figure 1)." - "Belching Ruminants, a minor player in atmospheric methane" (2008)

  • «If there was an increase in atmospheric CH4 mixing ratio and the increase was caused by agricultural sources, specifically livestock emissions, the trends in atmospheric CH4 should correspond to dynamics in global livestock populations. During 1999 to 2006, however, when atmospheric CH4 mixing ratio plateaued, global cattle and buffalo populations (these species make up 84% of all livestock enteric CH4 emissions; FAOSTAT, 2017) continued to increase from 1.46 (1999) to 1.59 (2006) billion head (FAOSTAT, 2017), at a rate of approximately 18.8 million head/yr, which apparently did not affect atmospheric CH4 over the same period. Since 2006, the rate of increase for the populations of these ruminant species declined to 7.3 million head/yr (FAOSTAT, 2017); we note that FAOSTAT does not specify uncertainty for their estimates, which is likely large for cattle inventories (and emission factors) in developing countries. Thus, it appears that the global dynamics in large ruminant inventories do not support the suggested farmed livestock origin of the increase in atmospheric CH4 from 2006 to 2015. Potential increases in CH4 emission from non-livestock agricultural sources to the global CH4 budget cannot be excluded. Globally, the area harvested for paddy rice (emissions from which are typically 22 to 24% of the emissions from livestock), for example, had increased 42% from the 1960s to 2015 (FAOSTAT, 2017), although new rice varieties (i.e., water-saving and drought-resistance rice, or WDR; Luo, 2010) require less water and thus emit less CH4 (Sun et al., 2016).»

    «As pointed out by Turner et al. (2017), fossil fuel CH4 is not entirely thermogenic in origin (based on its isotopic signature), with over 20% of the world's natural gas reserves generated by microbial activities (i.e., carrying biogenic isotopic signature). Thus, collectively, we can conclude that quantitative attribution of changes in atmospheric CH4 concentrations to CH4 sources based on δ13CH4 data is at least questionable.» - "Symposium review: Uncertainties in enteric methane inventories, measurement techniques, and prediction models" (2018)

  • "we find that city-level emissions are 1.4 to 2.6 times larger than reported in commonly used emission inventories and that the landfills contribute 6 to 50% of those emissions" - "Using satellites to uncover large methane emissions from landfills" (2022)

  • "The research team found that the increase in rice production in Africa accounted for approximately 31% of the increases in methane emissions for all of Africa from 2006 to 2017, and 7% of the global rise in methane emissions for the same period." - "Increase in rice farming in sub-Saharan Africa found to be producing rising amounts of methane (2024)"

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