Food Freedom Friday Edition 331 - Nutrients In Plants & Animals

For decades, diet rhetoric has claimed that plant-based foods are healthy because fruits and vegetables are supposed to be a good source of fiber and antioxidants. Modern dietary advice has mistakenly stated that these powerful plant ingredients can fight off cancer and disease and promote health and longevity. Now, you might be aware of the lack of validity to those particular claims but you could continue to wonder whether plants are your best source of vitamins and minerals.

The question then becomes: How do the vitamins and minerals of plants compare to those found in animal products?”

Vitamins & Minerals

Vitamins and minerals are micronutrients. Whereas macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates) provide energy, micronutrients help release energy from these macronutrients while also performing multiple functions including healing wounds, bolstering the immune system, and repairing cellular damage.

Vitamins

Vitamins are organic compounds found in plants and animals. Because they are compounds they can be broken down by things like heat and acid. They are more “fragile” than minerals. And therefore, cooking, storage, and even air exposure can inactivate them.

There are 13 essential vitamins that you need to obtain from your diet:

·       Vitamin A

·       Vitamin B (there are 8 B vitamins)

·       Vitamin C

·       Vitamin D

·       Vitamin E

·       Vitamin K

Four of these vitamins are fat soluble (A, D, E and K)) and the other nine (C and B vitamins) are water soluble. This is important because fat soluble vitamins are stored in body tissues, mainly fatty tissues and your liver.

Overconsumption of any vitamin over a prolonged period of time can lead to hypervitaminosis (too much vitamin). Deficiencies in fat soluble vitamins can also occur especially with inadequate fat intake or a diet poor in these vitamins.

In contrast, the water-soluble vitamins, B and C, are not stored in the body. If you consume more than you need, the excess is excreted. However, unlike the fat-soluble vitamins, vitamins B and C must be continuously replenished through diet.

Minerals

Minerals are inorganic elements also found in both plant and animal foods. As elements, they hold their chemical structure and aren’t broken down like vitamins.

There are 16 essential minerals (meaning you need to get them from your diet):

·       Calcium

·       Phosphorus

·       Potassium

·       Sulfur

·       Sodium

·       Chloride

·       Magnesium

·       Iron

·       Zinc

·       Copper

·       Manganese

·       Iodine

·       Selenium

·       Molybdenum

·       Chromium

·       Fluoride

These minerals play important roles in every bodily function. They help regulate blood pressure and fluid balances. They keep muscle and nerve cells firing. They deliver oxygen and facilitate cellular growth and replication. As with vitamins, mineral deficiencies and toxicities can occur if intake is inadequate or excessive.

Vitamins & Minerals In Plants & Animals

It is vital to understand that plant-based food does not provide complete nutrition. It is missing in essential nutrients only available to humans through animal foods.

Meat provides complete nutrition. It contains all the macro and micronutrients humans need to function.

Throughout human history, animal-based foods were the only ones that would have been available year-round. If meat was unable provide complete nutrition, the human species would have become extinct.

Vitamins

There are 3 vitamins in particular that are inadequate/absent in most plant-based foods.

·       Vitamin B12

·       Vitamin D3

·       Vitamin K2

Without eating meat-based foods there is a serious risk of vitamin B12 deficiency. While trace amounts can be obtained in some plant foods, fungi, and eating soil, to get adequate amounts it is essential to either eat meat or supplement.

Vitamin B12 is important for the synthesis of DNA, RNA, and blood cells. A deficiency leads to exhaustion and weakness, megaloblastic anemia, and can devastate the nervous system. People who are deficient in vitamin B12 can experience a host of problems including imbalance, depression, confusion and dementia.

A deeper look at the differences between vitamins in plant and animal products reveal:

·       Vitamin A – is approximately 20 times more bioavailable in animal-based food than plant-based foods.

o   In fact, plant foods don’t actually have vitamin A. They have carotenoids which have to be converted to Vitamin A.

·       Vitamin B – Animal-based foods are the best source of B Vitamins. Especially B12.

·       Vitamin C – Plant-based foods are a better source of vitamin C, which may, or may not matter

·       Vitamin D – Plants don’t contain Vitamin D3 (the form your body needs). Sun and meat on the other hand contain the bioavailable form.

o   Plants have Vitamin D2, and our body can convert some D2 to D3

o   Fungi are also a source of vitamin D

·       Vitamin E – Plant-based foods have higher concentrations of vitamin E - for good reason. A plant-based diet requires additional protection from oxidation of PUFA which Vitamin E helps provide through its antioxidant properties. It’s still found in adequate supply in meat.

·       Vitamin K – Both plant and animal foods have the K1 version; however, plants do not contain K2 which is vital for human life.

o   K2 also has numerous forms. The essential kind we need is MK-4, which is only in animal food. We can convert some K1 to MK-4 but generally not enough to meet our needs.

(1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7)

Minerals

While all essential minerals can be found in both plant and animal foods, there is a vast difference in absorption of these micronutrients. Animal-based nutrients have higher bioavailability as well as less hindrance from the antinutrients that are always found in plant-based food.

Bioavailability & Antinutrients

Iron is a prime example of the difference in bioavailability between plant-based and animal-based minerals. Iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency in the world. Iron plays a vital role in carrying oxygen to cells throughout the body and deficiencies lead to fatigue, weakness, pallor, and anemia. Memory and cognitive problems are common symptoms when iron levels are sub-optimal.

There are two types of iron.

• None-hem iron found in plant foods

• Heme-iron found in animal foods

Non-heme iron is at least 3X less bioavailable than heme iron from animal sources. To make matters worse, plant-based foods contain antinutrients that further inhibit the absorption of numerous minerals, including iron. Phytates, for example, interfere with the absorption of plant iron, thereby exacerbating the problem.

Studies have shown that vegetarians often have similar iron intakes to omnivores on paper, yet they suffer a higher degree of iron deficiencies.

Antinutrients are a vast topic worth understanding, but in essence, plants contain phytochemicals used to deter predators from eating them. Many of these phytochemicals interfere with absorption of essential vitamins and minerals. Iron, calcium magnesium, and zinc are all hindered by various antinutrients. This means that when a plant-based food claims to contain 50% of your RDA of zinc, it may quite misleading.

In contrast, meat doesn’t contain these antinutrients, rather it contains vitamins and minerals in forms easy for you to absorb and utilize.  

Micronutrient Concentrations

Plant-based foods not only harder to absorb, tend to have smaller quantities of the nutrients we need in larger amounts.

For example, many plant-based foods are lower in iodine and zinc compared to animal foods.

When comparing plant and animal vitamin and minerals it is important to keep in mind

·       The concentration / quantity provided in the food source

·       The bioavailability of that micronutrient in its particular form (i.e. heme vs non-heme iron)

·       The antinutrients that further inhibit availability

Beyond Micronutrients

It’s important to evaluate other nutritional differences between plants and animal foods beyond their micronutrients.

Proteins

Most plant-based foods are incomplete proteins. This means various plant-based foods have to be combined to get all the amino acids needed. Exacerbating the situation, these proteins are mostly found in plant seeds which often contain the highest concentrations of antinutrients and phytochemicals that can impair human health. Animal-sourced protein is complete protein.

Fat

Plant and animal fat content are also quite different. EPA and DHA are essential fatty acids not found in most plant-based foods (algae is a notable exception).

Evidence suggest that a ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s should be around 1:1. However, vegetable oils greatly overwhelm this ratio towards pro-inflammatory omega-6s. Animals that are raised on their natural diet often have a ratio close to 1:1; however, animals raised on an unnatural diet can also skew this ratio towards omega-6s.

Carbohydrates

Animal foods are naturally low in carbohydrates. You can get some carbs in organ meats, some in dairy from the lactose, but for the most part, animal food is low in carbohydrates.

Plant-based foods are significantly higher in carbohydrates. Hyperinsulinemia (high insulin) underlies almost every modern chronic disease, leading to the conclusion that humans aren’t designed to tolerate excessive doses of carbohydrate. The agricultural revolution combined with the industrial revolution have resulted in a human diet based predominantly on refined, processed carbohydrates.

There are no essential carbohydrates. Humans do not need to eat carbs. In fact, a look at human anatomy through evolution reveals what humans are actually designed to eat. Hint: it’s mainly meat!

Glucose has an impact on micronutrient absorption. Looking at glucose and Vitamin C one can see that these molecules look very similar and they compete with each other for absorption. The less glucose one consumes, the less vitamin C one requires. Glucose also lowers plasma potassium levels and less glucose leads to better magnesium levels.

The presence or lack of carbohydrates in one’s diet alters micronutrient requirements. Thiamine is an excellent example with a high carbohydrate diet requiring almost double the amount to reach optimal levels.  

Cholesterol

Only animal-based foods provide dietary cholesterol. Evidence suggest this has significant health implications. Especially for the brain that requires 25% of all bodily cholesterol.

Fiber

Plants do contain another macronutrient that animal foods do not – fiber. Some people think this is why plant-based foods are necessary. However, contrary to popular belief, humans have no need for fiber, and can often be detrimental in the diet.

Many plant-based foods come packaged with insoluble fiber which can bind to magnesium. In this situation, fiber acts like an antinutrient preventing nutrient absorption.

Finally

If you choose eat plant-based foods for their vitamins and minerals, it is important to recognize that plant-based food offers incomplete nutrition requiring the mixing of various foods together, supplementing, or including animal foods in the diet.

Meat is complete nutrition. It doesn’t require the addition of plant-based foods or supplements to obtain all the macro and micronutrients you need.