Veganism is trendy and since 2017 a lot of people have started to go vegan, claiming it is better for their health.  How true are those claims?

In a word, they aren’t.  The vegan diet forgoes all animal derivatives from the diet, instead their diets are made up from plant-based sources, nuts and seeds.  On the face of it this doesn’t seem too bad.  Not eating animals saves lives and without mass production and consumption of meat there will be a significant benefit to the environment. 

However there is no evidence whatsoever that the vegan diet is healthier than eating a balanced diet containing meat.  And try as they might to link meat consumption to cancer, the vegan community is yet to find any evidence for this.  This brings me to another point here.  Vegans have an agenda.  And I think it’s important that this is made clear at the outset.  One of the key difference between someone who is vegan and someone who is vegetarian is that vegans have taken a moral position on food.  They believe that eating animals and animal products, indeed using animal products, is wrong.  I can respect this view, but I can’t agree with it and it frustrates me when vegans try to press their moral objections onto others and use fear mongering and false information to press their agenda.  Hence why I said that vegans are trying to link meat to cancer, as I’ve encountered those that have.

So let’s lay out the facts.  The human brain grew significantly in size when humans began cooking and consuming meat.  Put simply humans would not have reached the status we did without meat.  You can see from human teeth that we have evolved to eat both meat and vegetables in our diet.  Recently the research into ketones has discovered the benefits of ketosis to the brain.  I won’t go into this here, but ketones have been shown to reduce inflammation and benefit cognitive function far more than glycogen, which is the primary fuel the body gets from vegetables and grains.

There are no allergies or intolerances to meat.  Diary apart, they are from vegetable sources.  Vegetation doesn’t want to be eaten, and the fact that we get these reactions to it is indicative that we can’t sustain a diet wholly on these sources of food. 

When we delve into nutrition further, you can see that many vegans are lacking in iron, iodine, zinc, calcium, omega 3, Vitamin D and Vitamin B12.

And then there is creatine.  Creatine is naturally occurring in the human body.  It helps muscle output in activities.  It is freely available in meat.  Vegans who have supplemented with creatine have seen their IQs boosted.  That doesn’t happen for any other group. 

I don’t believe the vegan lifestyle is that realistic.  After all, notwithstanding the lack of nutrients as mentioned above, vegans can’t have avocadoes, cherries, or almonds as all require bees to grow, and vegans have objections to beekeeping.  Equally, they can’t use leather, wool, feathers or down.  I’m not sure how you navigate a world where you can’t use these things.  After all, the underground carriages have leather on the seats, as do a lot of cars.  I presume they forgo transportation if they contain these things?

You have to make peace with the fact that in order for you to live healthily other animals must die.  That doesn’t mean we have to go around slaughtering animals willy-nilly, but it does indicate that in order for us to live well some meat and meat products must be consumed.  Most people don’t eat enough vegetables in their diet, and tend to overconsume low quality meats and pre-prepared meals.  If there is one area in this debate I think the vegans have got things right it is encouraging people to eat more of a variety of vegetables.