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Denialism on veganism: a systemic blind spot among doctors regarding the health benefits of plant-based diets

“So, where do you get your protein?”

A fellow doctor asked this question after finding out I became a vegan. Imagine my surprise, considering that doctors should know that a person’s daily protein requirement was less than one gram per kilogram of body weight.

While avoiding meat, dairy, and poultry altogether may mean the rejection of an entire food source that has all the essential amino acids a person needs, this abstinence leads to a trade-off that is pretty much worth it. Instead of consuming cholesterol-laden meat, vegans can opt for a balanced diet that provides all the protein they need without any of the artery-clogging fat.

It seems that doctors, being the health experts that we are supposed to be, have a blind spot when it comes to veganism’s role in health. You might think the above anecdote is an isolated incident, but it isn’t. How many local medical societies have boldly released statements about the benefits of a vegan way of life? How many doctors have openly endorsed — and are also following — plant-based diets?

Medical practice as a whole still speaks of a general passivity, if not ignorance, regarding the major contribution of plant-based nutrition in the prevention of non-communicable diseases. These diseases, by the way, happen to be the top causes of mortality worldwide.

Denial in systemic addiction

Ask a person who eats bacon if they can live without it forever and their reaction runs the gamut from mild anxiety to violent refusal. However, barely any bacon-eating person will admit the unhealthy, almost-addictive nature of their food choices — even if that person was a doctor.

While not quite meeting the criteria for addiction, man’s obsession with meat and compulsion to consume it hint at an unhealthy dependence almost akin to addiction. After all, we have been warned against the negative impact of animal agriculture on health and ecology. In fact, eating meat comes with many defense mechanisms common in addiction, such as denial.

“Mmm, bacon.” These two words have become the most common retort to ward off vegan advocates. They also reveal how a barbaric way of life — one we are barely even aware of — has become widely accepted despite it being harmful not only to our health, but to our planet and the many animals with which we share it. Once addicted, the brain will deny that it is on the path to self-destruction.

“Meat bias”

Even a medical education does not necessarily spare a person from the pro-meat propaganda. I, for one, have eaten meat for almost 40 years. Despite doctors lobbying against cow’s milk for babies, we have somehow forgotten to lobby against it for adults.

This “meat bias” can be found across all medical fields. Even as rheumatologists are now aware that gout is not caused by legumes, they still forget to conclude that foregoing meat is a great way for the human body to heal. Even as the American Medical Association adopts a resolution asking hospitals to exclude processed meat from their meals, many cardiologists neglect to recommend plant-based diets to all their patients, especially those with heart and weight problems.

No; just because we benefit from cow’s milk does not mean it is okay to have male cows masturbated, female cows raped, and baby cows killed for it. We can get the exact same benefits through more compassionate, more sustainable means that do not involve the unnecessary mass murder of animals and exploitation of natural resources.

No; it does not make sense for rational human beings, especially doctors, to continue to passively support the meat industry. We should know better about how animal agriculture is one of the leading drivers of deforestation, air pollution, and water degradation.

Passive denialism in the health industry

The passive refusal of many health professionals to acknowledge veganism as the key to better health may be evident in the relative absence of lectures in some medical schools about the pros and cons of veganism; the traditional focus on curative instead of preventive medicine, especially in terms of nutrition; and the lack of active recommendations by other medical societies about plant-based diets being superior to meat-based ones.

In essence, our low-key denial becomes a systemic practice that reflects our blind acceptance of the cruel, unhealthy way we eat — and our collective refusal to actively espouse veganism becomes a form of denialism. When denial becomes ridiculously widespread that it clouds even the judgment of specialists and health experts, it becomes more than an isolated defense mechanism and deserves its own suffix.

Veganism as a health recommendation

Doctors have every reason to encourage patients to shift to plant-based diets. According to the American Dietetics Association, “The results of an evidence-based review showed that a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease. Vegetarians also appear to have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians. Furthermore, vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates.”

Veganism prevents not only disease but also climate change. As health professionals, the health of the only planet we live in should also be every doctor’s concern.

According to the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), raising cattle produces more greenhouse gases than transportation. Henning Steifeld of FAO said in a report that livestock turned out to be “one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems”, which included water pollution and deforestation.

It is in everyone’s best interest for all doctors to learn more about veganism. Neutrality regarding veganism isn’t a courtesy to people who eat meat; it is a form of denialism that endorses a cruel, unsustainable way of life despite its negative impact on our health, our fellow sentient creatures, and our planet.

*Conflicts of interest: I am a vegan doctor and the founder of Pangasinan Vegans.

The post Denialism on veganism: a systemic blind spot among doctors regarding the health benefits of plant-based diets appeared first on talkhealth Blog.

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How effective is a plant-based diet

A review of the effectiveness of a plant-based diet compared to a meat-eating diet on health, performance, and weight-loss.

 

When considering a plant-based diet, what option do you have to consider:

–   Vegan, complete removal of all animal products

–   Vegetarian does not eat meat or fish but may choose to eat some other animal products

–   Pescatarian still eats fish

–   Lacto or Ovo or Ovo-Lacto vegetarian, Lacto referring to lactose, which is found in dairy suggesting that this individual, still consumes dairy products. The word Ovo is referring to eggs, suggesting that this individual still consumes eggs.

–   Pollo-vegetarian means that these individuals still its chicken but avoids red meat, so not actually a vegetarian.

–   Flexitarian, simply refers to people who auto-regulate their amount/frequency of animal products to fit their morals or potentially sourcing from a higher quality provider oppose to supporting factory farming for example.

 

People choose to become some form of plant-based dieter because they believe it will help them lose weight, its better for their health, performance will improve or for ethical reasons.

 

In regards to health, we can look at the following studies and assess the levels of mortality in plant-based dieters in comparison to the general public that consumes meat.

 

–   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10479226

–   https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/78/3/533S/4689993

–   http://www.epic-oxford.org/oxford-vegetarian-study/

–   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15824171

–   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191896/

 

The collected data from the above studies found that mortality rates were no different when comparing vegans and vegetarians to comparable meat eaters. We use comparable meat eaters as a comparison as vegan or plant-based eaters are generally more health-conscious than the rest of the population so we evaluate the meat eaters lifestyle and compare, this includes things such as sleep (quality and length), exercise, work/life balance, relaxation techniques, overall quality of the diet (still consuming vegetables and fruits, not eating microwave meals etc.) and the consumption of alcohol and if they smoke or not.

 

It’s worth noting that both the plant-based diets and the comparable meat eaters both outperformed the general population, but between the plant-based diet and comparable meat eaters they found no difference in mortality rates.

 

One UK study found an outlier in that vegan diets performed just as bad as the general population in regards to health. This is hypothesized that many of the vegans in the UK become vegan because of ethical reasons and they don’t like animals to be killed for food, valid enough reason. But what comes with this is generally a lack of education around food and how to set up a diet for health when becoming a vegan, it is all too common that people become a plant-based dieter and still manage to eat next to no vegetables while living of refined carbohydrates and meat alternatives.

 

So essentially what we’re finding is un-surprisingly that people who focus on their health and make lifestyle choices to support this tend to have a better average rate of mortality than the general population who don’t focus on health in any way. This includes vegans, vegetarians, infrequent meat eaters, pescatarians and comparable meat eaters who on the whole all tend to take an interest in their health.

 

Is a plant-based diet BETTER for performance, no? Is it as good as a carnivorous diet if it is well planned out, yes? It is just practically speaking much harder to implement and adhere to when compared to a meat-eating protocol. What we have found is that if you’re are considering a plant-based diet for health reasons, performance or weight loss then you will not be provided with any benefits over a comparable meat-based diet from a physiological point of view, as we know calories, macronutrient proportions and food quality are the main driver behind performance, weight-loss and health. Which is perfectly fine as we don’t see any negative downsides either and if you’re choosing a plant-based diet for ethical reasons that is simply a personal decision that you choose to make. As long as the individual understands how to put together a plan for plant-based eating so they aren’t at a disadvantage

 

Some tips for going plant-based:

Lacto or Ovo or Lacto-ovo vegetarians tend to need to pay attention to B12 and iron levels, especially menstruating women. B12 can only be found in animal products and we store enough for a long time so symptoms only begin to develop when a plant-based diet has been adhered to for a long time. Whereas iron is found in vegetables but in a non-haem form, which is poorly absorbed therefor our uptake is very low.

Some additional nutrients worth paying attention to are EPA and DHA, which are very high in fish and easily supplemented from fish oil. We can get this from a vegetarian source such as algae oil but we rely on a conversion of the body to get the EPA and DHA from the algae but the conversion is very poor, usually, the conversion is done for us when the fish eat the algae and then we eat the fish. If performance is of interest to you then you may wish to look into supplementing creatine, beta-alanine, and carnitine all of which may assist you with your performance.

 

Now full-fledged vegans have to be careful of the above points also but have some extras to consider as well. These being protein quality, you may find that you have to supplement with vegan shakes quite a lot. Zinc and calcium are some others that you may become low in due to poor uptake, absorption of competing nutrients.

 

Vitamin D is needed from food when sun exposure is low. The food vitamin D is predominately found in are animal products such as oily fish and butter. Having said this most people even if they consume these products tend to be low in vitamin D so supplemental forms are required for most people.

 

Before beginning a supplement protocol it is always worth getting a blood test done to look for nutrient deficiencies so you can supplement correctly based on facts oppose to guessing deficiencies.

 

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