Medical Professionals and Veganism

The benefits of a vegan lifestyle are always up for debate in the medical and scientific realm. For those who don't know, a vegan diet is one that does not include meat, dairy, eggs and honey. To some people, this diet seems ultra-restrictive and lacking in key nutrients and vitamins. To other people, it encourages the consumption of more fruits and veggies, that have these vital things. And then, there is the big question: Where do vegans get their PROTEIN???

These are important things to think about when someone is considering changing what goes into their body. The food we eat has the potential to heal us or kill us slowly, so it's a big decision that requires a lot of research--on both sides of the argument. Because of this, I thought it would be interesting to get a few medical professionals' opinions on the matter of veganism, and see whether or not they agree with one another.

It can be hard to see past normalcy. As Americans, we become used to our standard diet, and are skeptical of anything that falls outside of this definition. No meat? No milk? Blasphemy. What we fail to do, however, is look at the entire picture and do the necessary research to get a full picture of the situation. Doctors make a living studying the human body, nutritionists make a living studying the human diet. What I want to do is examine points of view from medical doctors who support veganism and doctors who have been outspoken about its flaws. This will provide a sort of discourse between the two sides, and allow me to mediate with my own personal research. Being a vegan myself, I've done hours and hours of research through websites, books and documentaries. I wanted to learn as much as I could before I drastically altered my way of life.

To start, I looked at Dr. Garth Davis, a doctor and weight loss expert who wrote an article for Mind Body. He was actually responding to the author who I'll cite later on in this post, but here is what he had to say about veganism and the infamous Protein Debacle:

There is zero, and I mean zero, evidence that vegans get too little protein.

In fact, I've never seen a case of protein deficiency, as long as there's adequate consumption of calories. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for optimal protein intake is 0.8 kg/lean body mass. So that would be 44 grams for females (about the amount found in three cups of cooked beans) and 54 for males. This is enough protein for 99% of the population — and beans, nuts, grains and veggies, which have tons of protein, could cover this amount easily.

He later went on to say:

Also, if vegans aren't getting enough protein, then why in the Adventist Health Study do vegans live longer? Why do the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, the Nurses' Health Study and the EPIC-PANACEA study, to name just a few, show that higher protein is associated with diabetes, heart disease and cancer?

Being vegan, I can personally say that I do get asked pretty frequently about my protein intake. It's an issue that people just cannot seem to get past. Based on Dr. Davis, though, plenty of food contain adequate protein. For example, lentils have a whopping 18 grams of protein per cooked cup, while quinoa has 7-9 grams per half cup cooked. Nutritional yeast, a flaky and slightly cheesy condiment, has 12 grams per 3 tablespoons.You can look at these stats and more here.

With numbers like that, and the fact that grown men and women only need 54 and 44 grams respectively, it would be more than possible for vegans to get the required daily amount of protein from a myriad of sources. As far as the claims about life expectancy, I looked into the study that Davis mentioned and found out the details. The death percentage of vegans was over 1% lower than that of the nonvegetarians over the course of the study. And, the death percentage of the nonvegetarians was the highest of all the diets being tested.

For the sake of being open-minded, I thought I would look at the article that Dr. Davis was responding to. It was written by a medical professional, a nutritionist, except it was more focused on the flaws of the vegan diet, and why she had concerns about it. Now, Dr. Davis and myself already explained how vegans can easily get protein, and how an excess of protein, which is routinely found in Standard American Diets, can lead to ill health and disease. Another point Michelle Strong, the nutritionist, tries to make, was this:

The vegans and vegetarians I’ve worked with eat too many breads and cereals, often leading to extra fat around the midsection. They rely on these foods because they’re quick and convenient and vegans and vegetarians are (somewhat) limited in their protein options.

Now, I think it would be safe to say that many, MANY Americans eat too many simple carbs in general. I mean, the favorite foods of many Western cultures are things like pizza, cereal, toast, donuts, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, subs, nachos, etc. And I would also say that most people like these foods because of convenience, like Strong states. However, this is hardly isolated to vegans and vegetarians and goes directly against the study I cited above, which explicitly stated that vegans and vegetarians subjects were overall thinner and exercised more. So, how could vegans overall be more active and thinner but have extra fat on their stomachs? It doesn't make sense. Further in the article Strong stated:

Often the "fake meat" products are high in sodium and contain preservatives and genetically modified soy ingredients. If you look closely at their ingredients, you'll usually notice canola oil, wheat flour, dextrose, genetically engineered soybeans, and more. I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in eating any of those items. Your body doesn't know how to process these non-foods, which makes it hard to digest them.

Now, it goes without saying that there are plenty of healthy and preservative-free faux meat products. What I find especially confusing about Strong's claim is that the ingredients that she states are in COUNTLESS frozen meat and nonvegan foods. Preservatives are especially necessary when freezing things like animal products, because they go bad easier. Almond milk will always outlast cow's milk on the shelf. It's almost comical how Strong lists very typical prepared food ingredients like they are the chemicals and hormones often found in animal products. Dextrose is just another word for sugar, which is very common in prepared food. Wheat flour is a grain included in the famous food pyramid. Canola oil is just a binder and used in frozen food all of the time for breading, and soy is a completely healthy form of protein. But while we are on the subject of "genetically engineered" foods, I think that it's useful to point out the things that go into your meat:

Hormones are still used as growth promoters in cattle and sheep. It’s estimated that two-thirds of the cattle raised in the U.S. are given hormones (usually testosterone or estrogens) to boost growth.

The article also mentions the antibiotics that are typically added into these meat sources--not to mention the natural hormones that are in beef, sheep and chicken (although it is illegal to add hormones to chickens, but not cattle) that are not natural to our body. Long story short, it's unlikely you will ever get an unmodified glass of milk or burger, and even when you buy "Hormone Free" chicken, it's not really hormone free because of the natural growth hormones that the chicken produces. So, what would you rather eat, a typical genetically engineered soybean or antibiotic and hormone-filled burgers that lead to antibiotic-resistant bacteria to flourish in your body?

I, in no way, think that the vegan diet is better than other peoples', and something different works for every person out there. Also, every person approaches a vegan diet differently. One person may eat many fruits and vegetables, and another person will eat faux meat and vegan pizza. But, I think it is ludicrous to say that a vegan diet is more unhealthy than the Standard American Diet, which is high in cholesterol and saturated fats, or that vegans can't get the nutrients they need. No person eats an entirely rounded diet every single day--it just isn't possible without incredible monitoring. What I do know, is that the data doesn't lie: people lived longer and were more physically fit on a vegan diet. Some may say that the data is genetically biased, but if you look at the discretion used when picking subjects, you will see that this is not the case. The common variable was diet, and this diet worked for those people in a study done by scientific and unbiased doctors.