Food Freedom Friday Edition 344 - Plant-Based Concerns

If you listen to mainstream media you would be led to believe that a vegan or plant-based diet would help you manage your weight and resolve any nagging health problems.

Sadly, you hear less about the health problems that can occur from a plant-based diet that excludes all animal products. It is time to dispel the myth that veganism is the healthiest diet and the one that will work best for you.  

What Is A Plant-Based Or Vegan Diet?

A vegan diet excludes any food that comes from an animal. This includes eggs, dairy, meat, fish, poultry, and even honey. Some people take a vegan diet even further and embrace it as a lifestyle, and will not purchase or use any clothing or personal care products that include animal-based ingredients.

A “whole foods, plant-based diet” is more often the term used for an approach that includes fewer processed foods, and a greater emphasis on fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds.

Vegan diets include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, soy, legumes (beans), nuts, and seeds. By definition, a vegan diet does not exclude a lot of processed foods, sugar, or gluten, highlighted by the popularity of fake meats which are incredibly processed and not a healthy, wholesome food.

Plant-Based Diet Concerns

Anemia

Iron-deficient anemia is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world, and both vegans and vegetarians are at higher risk of this condition. While plant foods contain a form of iron, it is called non-heme iron and it is much less bio-available to the body. 

Iron-deficient anemia can lead to serious symptoms including fatigue, and women of child-bearing age should be aware of how a vegan or vegetarian diet can quickly lead to anemia.

While iron supplements can be taken to help reverse or prevent anemia, most women dislike taking iron supplements because potential negative side effects including constipation. It can also be difficult to take enough iron supplements to overcome anemia, especially without eating animal sources of iron.

B12 Deficiency

Since vitamin B12 is only available in animal foods, vegans are often deficient in this vital nutrient. In fact, most nutrition professionals agree that those on a vegan or vegetarian diet must supplement with a high-quality vitamin B12 supplement to avoid irreversible health conditions that can result from deficiency.

It should also be noted that many people have a genetic variation known as MTHFR that can impact how B vitamins are absorbed. In this case, even certain B vitamin supplementation might not be enough to prevent a deficiency.

Zinc Malabsorption

Similar to vitamin B12, vegan and vegetarian diets can result in low zinc status. It is theorized that the problem in this case is that higher consumption of plant foods containing phytic acid may inhibit the ability of the body to absorb zinc.

Because of this potential issue with zinc absorption, it is often recommended by nutrition professionals that vegans and vegetarians should increase their intake of zinc up to 50% of the recommended daily allowance to ensure adequate levels.

Good zinc levels are really important for boosting the immune system 

Plant-based sources of zinc are not as bioavailable as animal sources. Too much zinc, especially from supplementation can have its own issues too.

Imbalanced Omega 3

Maintaining a balance between your Omega 3 and Omega 6 levels is critical to keeping systemic inflammation in check.  If your Omega 6 intake exceeds your Omega 3 intake, systemic inflammation will increase (so too will the negative secondary effects of systemic inflammation).

Unfortunately, there are far more foods that are rich in Omega 6's (vegetable oils are the biggest offender).  It is important to specifically include Omega 3's in your diet to maintain the optimal 1:1 balance between the two.

Omega 3's are found in plants, but often they're accompanied by even higher levels of Omega 6, meaning they aren't particularly useful for supplementation. There is one plant-based source with high Omega 3's and low-Omega 6's (flax seeds).

The problem is that there are several different types of Omega 3's and the form found in flax seeds (ALA) must be converted by the body into the different forms (DHA and EPA) before it can be utilized.  The body is very inefficient at doing this conversion.  Studies have shown that only around 2-3% of the ALA you eat will get converted to DHA and EPA.  This means you'll have to eat somewhere around 40 grams of flax oil for your body to get 1g of usable Omega 3's.

While it is possible to consume enough flax oil to get adequate Omega 3's, it is so much less efficient than eating krill or fish oil it seems silly.  Since the Omega 3's in krill and fish are already in the form of DHA and EPA, they are far more efficient sources.

Without a food source of omega-3 fatty acids from fish or fish oils and an increased consumption of omega-6 fatty acid from foods like nuts, vegans might be at higher risk of suffering from depression.

Algae-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids are an option, but they can be expensive and hard to find. And, since many vegan diets may include a higher than average intake of nuts, the balance of fatty acids in the body can still be in favor of omega 6.

There are multiple issues associated with low omega-3 intake and pregnant women also need to be extremely aware of their omega-3 intake as the fatty acids help nourish the fetal brain development.

Gut Permeability

Since a vegan diet excludes all forms of animal protein, vegan proponents often turn to legumes as a plant-based protein source. Legumes have high levels of antinutrients including lectins and phytates, both of which can increase intestinal permeability, also called leaky gut. They also contain compounds which inhibit the absorption of many nutrients

On the contrary, protein sources from animals do not contain anti-nutrients and are among the most nutrient dense sources of food in the most bioavailable way.

When people remove animal protein from their diet and replace it with higher amounts of legumes, there is an increased risk of gut inflammation. While there are no direct human studies on this topic, it is a potential risk that you should be aware of.

Hormone Disruptions

Again, as a result of excluding all forms of animal protein, many vegans turn to soy as a protein source. While unprocessed forms of soy may be okay for some people, processed forms of soy, including tofu, soy milk, and soy-based processed foods sold as meat substitutes are often what is most consumed

Processed soy foods are no better for human health than any other highly-processed foods, but with the added risk of hormone interference due to phytoestrogens found in all forms of soy. Soy has also been found to be a contributor to the intake of the toxic metal cadmium in vegans and vegetarians.

Low  Vitamin A/Beta-Carotene

Much like the Omega 3 problem, while you can get vitamin A from plant foods, it comes in a form that is difficult for the body to use.  Carrots and other plants contain beta-carotene, which the body must convert into retinol, retinal or retinoic acid before it can be used.

This is a very inefficient process, making carrots and other vegetables a poor source of vitamin A.  On the other hand, vitamin A from fish and fish oil-based supplements is already in the proper forms and thus very easy for the body to use.

Insufficient Fat-Soluble Vitamins

Vitamin A is not the only nutrient that plants do a poor job at providing.  Other fat-soluble vitamins (D and E) are difficult to get in adequate levels from plant foods.

Vitamin E is available in oil as a vegetarian supplement.  Vitamin D, however, is almost always found in dry form as a vegetarian supplement.

When consumed in dry form, most of the vitamin will pass through the digestive system unabsorbed.  The best vitamin D supplements come from fish oil sources.  

Recently, vegetarian oil-based vitamin D supplements have become available (derived from lichen).  They're quite expensive and hard to find, and fish-oil based sources remain your best bet.

Insufficient Short-Chain Fats 

There are a few highly valuable short chain fats (butyrate being the most notable one) that are simply not found in plant foods.  Butyrate is a valuable fuel for the brain and has been shown to have neuro-protective effects.  Butyrate also plays a critical role in maintaining a healthy gut flora and has anti-inflammatory properties.

This is a hugely beneficial nutrient you are sacrificing if you are not eating butter or ghee (the best sources).  It's important to note that if you're going to eat butter or ghee, make sure it is 100% grass-fed or pastured.  Commercially available butter and ghee have way lower quality of fats and are often contaminated with mold toxins from grains the cows are fed.

Too Much Carbohydrate

Vegan diets are generally lower in protein and can cause blood sugar swings in certain individuals. There is also the risk of over-consuming carbohydrates on a vegan diet, especially since legumes are often consumed as a protein source, but contain significantly more carbohydrate than protein.

Vegans may also replace the calories from protein sources with refined carbohydrates including bread, crackers, and cookies. Over-consuming carbohydrates can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, blood sugar dysregulation, and other troublesome symptoms.

Eating a diet that includes moderate to higher levels of protein has been shown to have a positive effect on satiety and weight management. It can be harder to find quality sources of protein on a vegan diet that aren’t also carbohydrate sources (like beans) or are soy-based.

Without a quality source of lean protein in the diet, vegans may experience fatigue or low exercise tolerance, lowered immunity, loss of bone mass and oral health issues to name a few.

Ethical Arguments Against Vegan Diets

Veganism is purported to be better for the environment and save animal lives. Compared to a standard Western diet, veganism absolutely is significantly better.

But subjected to a bit closer scrutiny, veganism no longer looks like the ethical gold-standard most vegans assume it to be.

To start with, many of the foods that vegans eat a lot of have major negative ecological impact (think soy and grains).  Beyond that, even the saving animal lives argument doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

The reality is, any time you eat a food that is farmed on a large scale, you are complicit in a huge number of animal deaths that happen during the harvesting process.  The industry refers to these as "tractor kills" and the animals are typically rodents and other small creatures.

On the other hand, if you ate local grass-fed, grass-finished beef every day for a year, you'd be responsible for killing about 2/3 of an animal.  This might be an opportune moment ot pause and consider how a vegan can be responsible for many more animal deaths over the course of a year than someone who eats beef every day, right?

Of course, eating only local, small-scale produce is the solution here, but this is often unattainable on a vegan diet in many northern countries.