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Vegetarians

News & Research:

• Veganism: Vitamin B12 is well supplemented, iodine is a matter of concern - Science Daily, 11/10/20 - "Of those participating (18 women and men respectively per group aged 30-60 years), almost all those following a vegan diet and one third following a mixed diet took different food supplements ... The study results were particularly noteworthy with regard to the trace element iodine. Iodine excretion measured in urine samples provides information on how well the body is supplied with the trace element. The majority of the participants had a deficiency. The deficiency was significantly more pronounced among vegans -- in one third of them, the level was below 20 micrograms per litre (?g/L), the limit defined by the World Health Organization (WHO); anything below this represents a serious shortage. A vegan diet has, however, also shown health benefits, such as a higher fibre intake and lower cholesterol levels. For both diets, about 10% of participants had an iron deficiency" - See iodine at Amazon.com and iHerb.
• Is the Impossible Burger healthier than beef? - CNET, 10/3/19 - "While the macronutrient profiles of real beef and Impossible ground beef are comparable, their levels of processing are not. Because it doesn't occur in nature, plant-based beef is highly processed, comprised of a variety of plant ingredients, colorings, extracts and preservatives to mimic the taste, texture and aroma of real beef ... One version of the Impossible Burger -- the Impossible Whopper at Burger King -- contains 1,240 milligrams of sodium, which is even more than what's in a regular Whopper ... The last couple generations of Americans have spent their lives fearing red meat, only to find out that saturated fat really isn't as bad as we thought" - Here's the article they cite on saturated fat:
  • Saturated fat does not clog the arteries: coronary heart disease is a chronic inflammatory condition, the risk of which can be effectively reduced from healthy lifestyle interventions - British Journal of Sports Medicine, Aug. 2017 - "Despite popular belief among doctors and the public, the conceptual model of dietary saturated fat clogging a pipe is just plain wrong. A landmark systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies showed no association between saturated fat consumption and (1) all-cause mortality, (2) coronary heart disease (CHD), (3) CHD mortality, (4) ischaemic stroke or (5) type 2 diabetes in healthy adults.1 Similarly in the secondary prevention of CHD there is no benefit from reduced fat, including saturated fat, on myocardial infarction, cardiovascular or all-cause mortality.2 It is instructive to note that in an angiographic study of postmenopausal women with CHD, greater intake of saturated fat was associated with less progression of atherosclerosis whereas carbohydrate and polyunsaturated fat intake were associated with greater progression"
• Is it really possible that plant-based foods such as the Impossible Whopper are healthful? - Washington Post, 9/9/19 - "Using the term “plant-based” on fast food labels is just another attempt by marketers to re-brand junk food. True plant-based eating doesn’t mean opting for an Impossible Whopper in the drive-through or scrambling up some 15-ingredient plant-based “egg alternative.” It means a diet that includes nourishing options such as black beans, broccoli and brown rice. We’re always looking for some magical way to eat junky food and achieve health. Don’t be fooled by this plant-based pretense."
• Vegetarianism Linked to Depression - Medscape, 10/11/17 - "The men also completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) between weeks 18 and 20 of their partner's gestation. A score >10 indicated a high probability of mild to moderate depression ... The unadjusted odds ratio (OR) for an EPDS score >10 was 1.75 for the vegetarians/vegans (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.26 - 2.43). After fully adjusting for a variety of confounders, including age, family history of depression, and religion, the OR was still 1.67 ... Dr Jacka noted that she grew up as a vegetarian, "but that changed with the research. I noticed growing up that I was probably very deficient in iron, and I was constantly falling asleep in class. Red meat is actually important for zinc and iron, etc," she said"
• Vegan Diet, Position of the German Nutrition Society (DGE) - Ernaehrungs Umschau international, 4/2016 - "On the basis of current scientific literature, the German Nutrition Society (DGE) has developed a position on the vegan diet. With a pure plant-based diet, it is difficult or impossible to attain an adequate supply of some nutrients. The most critical nutrient is vitamin B12. Other potentially critical nutrients in a vegan diet include protein resp. indispensable amino acids, long-chain n-3 fatty acids, other vitamins (riboflavin, vitamin D) and minerals (calcium, iron, iodine, zinc and selenium). The DGE does not recommend a vegan diet for pregnant women, lactating women, infants, children or adolescents. Persons who nevertheless wish to follow a vegan diet should permanently take a vitamin B12 supplement, pay attention to an adequate intake of nutrients, especially critical nutrients, and possibly use fortified foods or dietary supplements. They should receive advice from a nutrition counsellor and their supply of critical nutrients should be regularly checked by a physician" - [Nutra USA]
• Vegans may lack essential nutrient intake, study reports - Science Daily, 3/16/16 - "Nutrients of concern are vitamin B-12, iron, calcium, vitamin D, protein and omega-3 fatty acids ... We found that some of these nutrients, which can have implications in neurologic disorders, anemia, bone strength and other health concerns, can be deficient in poorly planned vegan diets ... Vegans have not been shown to be deficient in protein intake or in any specific amino acids ... The Mayo Clinic review team recommends that health care providers monitor vegan patients for adequate blood levels of vitamin B-12, iron, ferritin, calcium and vitamin D"
• Vegetarian diets associated with lower risk of death - Science Daily, 6/3/13 - "The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality in all vegetarians combined vs. nonvegetarians was 0.88, or 12 percent lower, according to the study results. The association also appears to be better for men with significant reduction in cardiovascular disease mortality and IHD death in vegetarians vs. nonvegetarians. In women, there were no significant reductions in these categories of mortality, the results indicate"
• Vegetarians 'cut heart risk by 32% - BBC News, 1/30/13 - "A study of 44,500 people in England and Scotland showed vegetarians were 32% less likely to die or need hospital treatment as a result of heart disease ... vegetarians had lower blood pressure, lower levels of "bad" cholesterol and were more likely to have a healthy weight"
• Vegetarian diet may protect against common bowel disorder - Science Daily, 7/19/11
• What you body is missing when your diet goes all-veggie - The Daily, 5/24/11 - "The finding, recently published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, point to the most prominent deficiencies associated with vegan and vegetarian lifestyles: iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and omega-3 acids. Andrew Weil, founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, said, “Inadequate intake of these nutrients can set the stage for many disorders including anemia, osteoporosis and neurologic problems, and lessens the effectiveness of the immune system, increasing the risk of infections.” Moreover, these deficiencies often lead to elevated blood levels of homocysteine and decreased levels of HDL, the “good” form of cholesterol. Both are risk factors for heart disease."
• Vegetarians may be at lower risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke - Science Daily, 4/13/11 - "Vegetarians experience a 36 percent lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome than non-vegetarians ... It indicates that lifestyle factors such as diet can be important in the prevention of metabolic syndrome ... On average, the vegetarians and semi-vegetarians were three years older than non-vegetarians. Despite their slightly older age, vegetarians had lower triglycerides, glucose levels, blood pressure, waist circumference, and body mass index (BMI). Semi-vegetarians also had a significantly lower BMI and waist circumference compared to those who ate meat more regularly"
• Vegans' elevated heart risk requires omega-3s and B12, study suggests - Science Daily, 2/2/11 - "meat eaters are known for having a significantly higher combination of cardiovascular risk factors than vegetarians. Lower-risk vegans, however, may not be immune. Their diets tend to be lacking several key nutrients -- including iron, zinc, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fatty acids. While a balanced vegetarian diet can provide enough protein, this isn't always the case when it comes to fat and fatty acids. As a result, vegans tend to have elevated blood levels of homocysteine and decreased levels of HDL, the "good" form of cholesterol. Both are risk factors for heart disease"
• Vegetarian Diets Can Help Prevent Chronic Diseases, American Dietetic Association Says - Science Daily, 7/1/09
• Veterinarians At High Risk For Viral, Bacterial Infections From Animals - Science Daily, 5/15/09

Abstracts:

• Depression and Vegetarians: Association between Dietary Vitamin B6, B12 and Folate Intake and Global and Subcortical Brain Volumes - Nutrients 2021 May 24 - "Deficiency of vitamin B6 and vitamin B12, mostly in vegetarians, is found to be associated with depression and adverse neurological function. We investigated whether vitamin B6, B12, and folate have an effect on brain structure, especially among depressed people who follow a specific diet ... Depression was more prevalent, and intake of vitamin B6 and B12 was lower among vegetarians, while non-vegetarians had a lower intake of folate. Overall, no significant association was observed between vitamin B6, B12, and folate intakes and both global and subcortical brain volumes among participants with depression. However, vitamin B12 intake was positively associated with right pallidum among non-depressed participants, and a significant interaction between vitamin B12 intake and depression status on the right pallidum was observed. Also, a significant interaction between folate intake and depression status on grey matter (GM) volume and left thalamus was observed. Upon diet stratification, folate intake is associated with total brain volume and GM volume among vegetarians with depression. Furthermore, no significant associations were observed for subcortical regions. Our findings suggest that dietary intake of vitamin B6 and B12 might have an effect on brain structure. Vegetarians, particularly those who suffer from depression may benefit from supplementing their diets with vitamins B6, B12, and folate to ensure brain health" - See B complex supplements at Amazon.com.
• Increased Consumption of Plant Foods Is Associated with Increased Bone Mineral Density - J Nutr Health Aging. 2020;24(4):388-397 - "Participants were recruited from the Sydney Adventist hospital and the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia ... principle component analysis (PCA) ... In a healthy middle aged population with normal BMD, an increase in plant food consumption, either alone or in combination with a diet containing meat, is associated with improved bone mineralisation markers. This positive relationship is most likely due to the extensive range of micronutrients and phytochemicals packaged within plants"
• Longer Life, Lower Rates of Cancer in US Seventh-Day Adventists - Medscape, 11/26/19 - "Seventh-Day Adventists follow a healthy lifestyle as part of their religion. For many, that includes a vegetarian diet, not smoking, not drinking alcohol, limiting caffeine, getting regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight/body mass index. Social and religious factors that may boost social support and community may also play a role. ... Adventists aged 65 years had 36% lower risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.64 - 0.69) and Adventists aged 85 years had 22% lower risk (HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.75 - 0.81)."
• Depressive Symptoms and Vegetarian Diets: Results from the Constances Cohort - Nutrients. 2018 Nov 6;10(11) - "Depressive symptoms are associated with the exclusion of any food group from the diet, including but not restricted to animal products"
• Plasma n-3 and n-6 fatty acids and inflammatory markers in Chinese vegetarians - Lipids Health Dis. 2014 Sep 29;13(1):151 - "Vegetarians have higher plasma n-6 PUFA and IL-6, but lower LTB4, n-3 PUFA, 22:6n-3, COX2 and PGE2 levels. It would seem appropriate for vegetarians to increase their dietary n-3 PUFA, while reduce dietary n-6 PUFA and thus reduce the risk of chronic inflammatory-related diseases" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.
• Animal Protein Intake Is Associated with Higher-Level Functional Capacity in Elderly Adults: The Ohasama Study - J Am Geriatr Soc. 2014 Feb 27 - "Participants were divided into quartiles according to intake levels of total, animal, and plant protein ... men in the highest quartile of animal protein intake had significantly lower risk of higher-level functional decline than those in the lowest quartile (odds ratio (OR) = 0.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.20-0.83; P for trend .01). These associations were not seen in women (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.41-1.34; P for trend .37)"
• A Low-Fat, Plant-Based Lifestyle and Serum HDL Levels - Medscape, 12/4/13 - "HDL levels decreased by 8.7% (p<0.001) despite significant reductions (p<0.001) in BMI (-3.2%), systolic BP (-5.2%), diastolic BP (-5.2%), triglycerides (TG; -7.7%), FPG (-6.3%), LDL (-13.0%), total cholesterol (TC, -11.1%), TC: HDL ratio (-3.2%), and LDL: HDL ratio (-5.3%). While 323 participants classified as having MetS at program entry no longer had this status after the 30 days, 112 participants acquired the MetS classification as a result of reduction in their HDL levels"
• Risk of hospitalization or death from ischemic heart disease among British vegetarians and nonvegetarians: results from the EPIC-Oxford cohort study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Jan 30 - "Vegetarians had a 32% lower risk"
• Vegetarian diets and the incidence of cancer in a low-risk population - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2012 Nov 20 - "cancer incidence among 69,120 participants of the Adventist Health Study-2 ... The multivariate HR of overall cancer risk among vegetarians compared to non-vegetarians was statistically significant (HR=0.92; 95%CI: 0.85, 0.99) for both genders combined. Also, a statistically significant association was found between vegetarian diet and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract (HR=0.76; 95%CI: 0.63, 0.90). When analyzing the association of specific vegetarian dietary patterns, vegan diets showed statistically significant protection for overall cancer incidence (HR=0.84; 95%CI: 0.72, 0.99) in both genders combined and for female-specific cancers (HR=0.66; 95%CI: 0.47, 0.92). Lacto-ovo-vegetarians appeared to be associated with decreased risk of cancers of the gastrointestinal system (HR=0.75; 95%CI: 0.60, 0.92)"
• Vitamin B-12 supplementation improves arterial function in vegetarians with subnormal vitamin B-12 status - J Nutr Health Aging. 2012;16(6):569-73 - "Vegetarians are more vascular-healthy but those with subnormal vitamin B-12 status have impaired arterial endothelial function and increased intima-media thickness ... Vitamin B-12 (500µg/day) or identical placebo were given for 12 weeks with 10 weeks of placebo-washout before crossover (n=43), and then open label vitamin B-12 for additional 24 weeks ... After vitamin B-12 supplementation but not placebo, significant improvement of brachial FMD (6.3+/-1.8% to 6.9+/-1.9%; p<0.0001) and in carotid IMT (0.69+/-0.09mm to 0.67+/-0.09 mm, p<0.05) were found, with further improvement in FMD (to 7.4+/-1.7%; p<0.0001) and IMT (to 0.65+/-0.09mm; p<0.001) after 24 weeks open label vitamin B-12" - See vitamin B12 at Amazon.com.
• Vegetarian diets and blood pressure among white subjects: results from the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) - Public Health Nutr. 2012 Jan 10:1-8 - "Covariate-adjusted regression analyses demonstrated that the vegan vegetarians had lower systolic and diastolic BP (mmHg) than omnivorous Adventists (β = -6.8, P < 0.05 and β = -6.9, P < 0.001). Findings for lacto-ovo vegetarians (β = -9.1, P < 0.001 and β = -5.8, P < 0.001) were similar. The vegetarians (mainly the vegans) were also less likely to be using antihypertensive medications. Defining hypertension as systolic BP > 139 mmHg or diastolic BP > 89 mmHg or use of antihypertensive medications, the odds ratio of hypertension compared with omnivores was 0.37 (95 % CI 0.19, 0.74), 0.57 (95 % CI 0.36, 0.92) and 0.92 (95 % CI 0.50, 1.70), respectively, for vegans, lacto-ovo vegetarians and partial vegetarians. Effects were reduced after adjustment for BMI ... CONCLUSIONS: We conclude from this relatively large study that vegetarians, especially vegans, with otherwise diverse characteristics but stable diets, do have lower systolic and diastolic BP and less hypertension than omnivores. This is only partly due to their lower body mass"
• Diet, vegetarianism, and cataract risk - Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Mar 23 - "There was a strong relation between cataract risk and diet group, with a progressive decrease in risk of cataract in high meat eaters to low meat eaters, fish eaters (participants who ate fish but not meat), vegetarians, and vegans. After multivariable adjustment, incidence rate ratios (95% CIs) for moderate meat eaters (50-99 g meat/d), low meat eaters (<50 g meat/d), fish eaters, vegetarians, and vegans compared with high-meat eaters (≥100 g meat/d) were 0.96 (0.84, 1.11), 0.85 (0.72, 0.99), 0.79 (0.65, 0.97), 0.70 (0.58, 0.84), and 0.60 (0.38, 0.96), respectively (P < 0.001 for heterogeneity). Associations between cataract risk and intakes of selected nutrients and foods generally reflected the strong association with diet group"
• Effect of vegetarian diets on bone mineral density: a Bayesian meta-analysis