Are vegan and vegetarian diets better for your health?
Meat-free diets are all the rage these days. Whether the reason is due to ethical concerns or to promote health, many people have optimistically adopted a vegan or vegetarian diet. On the other hand there are those who claim these diets are anything but healthy.
So which side is right? Are vegan and vegetarian diets better for your health? The short answer is not necessarily. While there are certainly benefits from following a vegan or vegetarian diet, there are also some negative effects that should be considered.
What you eat matters
One of the main benefits of a vegan or vegetarian diet is that more emphasis is placed on consuming whole foods including vegetables and fruit. Eating more whole foods provides fiber as well as essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. However, some vegans and vegetarians end up over consuming processed foods such as plant based meat and refined carbohydrates.
It’s important to remember that just because a product is labeled vegan or vegetarian does not mean it’s nutritious. Processed foods are notoriously bad for our health due to the number of chemicals and artificial ingredients. As a general rule of thumb when checking nutrition labels, only purchase products that contain ingredients you would have in your kitchen. This means sticking with products made from whole foods as opposed to unknown and hard-to-pronounce ingredients.
Bad news for digestion
When we’re not consuming animal protein our bodies produce less stomach acid. This is because less is needed to break down plant based foods. However without adequate stomach acid the rest of the digestive process suffers. If not enough stomach acid is produced or if it is too alkaline, food particles cannot be properly broken down and pancreatic enzymes will not be released.
This becomes problematic since large food particles that aren’t broken down can go on to cause issues such as leaky gut which can then pave the way for food sensitivities. Furthermore, adequate stomach acid kills pathogens that enter the stomach. This prevents microbes such as parasites and harmful bacteria from getting into the microbiome.
Impact on nutritional status
Certain vitamins and minerals are more difficult to get from a strict vegan or vegetarian diet. B vitamins are mostly abundantly found in animal protein and are responsible for providing energy. Specifically, B12 is not found in plant based foods so it’s important to supplement with it if you’re on a vegan diet. Zinc is a mineral that is also primarily found in animal protein. Zinc is important for the production of stomach acid and also for promoting a robust immune system.
Although there is protein found in plant based foods, plant protein is not as easily absorbable as animal protein. Without adequate protein consumption our meals are not properly balanced and we set ourselves up for blood sugar imbalances. Omega-3s are a type of fatty acid that are also difficult to get from plant based sources. The best sources of omega-3s are fatty fish because they include DHA whereas plant based sources such as chia and flax seeds do not.
From a functional nutrition perspective there are several problems with a strict vegan or vegetarian diet. Although most people who switch to these diets feel great in the short term, the long-term effects of a meat-free diet must be taken into consideration.
