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This is surprising to me, as in India a large part of the population is vegetarian. We don't seem to be susceptible to the same problems. The move away from Mi
by screye 9y ago
This is surprising to me, as in India a large part of the population is vegetarian. We don't seem to be susceptible to the same problems.
The move away from Milk products & Eggs seems to open a huge nutrient gap that the vegan population hasn't adequately identified how to fill.
- akg_67 9y agoActually, there are higher incident of B12 deficiency in Indian vegetarians as found by a study done in late 90s (sorry I don't have specific reference). Indians dont have a practice of regular/ preventive doctor visits, annual checkup and diagnostic testing. They only go to doctor when there are significant medical issues. So these issues are not found until they morph into bigger problems. I have a quite a few younger cousins who died in their 30's. Not a single one ever was tested for cholesterol despite poor eating habits and obesity. Recently I noticed a few startups in India focusing on diagnostic testing. But their user base seems to still be elderly than young people.
- nradov 9y agoThere is little evidence that annual checkups actually produce better health outcomes for people without serious chronic medical conditions.
- simonsarris 9y agoSome vegetarians in developing countries do not have a B12 problem (which also causes anemia) because their food and water are more dirty, and there (B12) bacteria producing. For those vegans at least, their best bet is to accidentally eat enough food contaminated with bacteria or feces to consume decent quantities of B12. Source: The Dietitian's Guide to Vegetarian Diets, 3rd edition, 2011. See page 192. https://books.google.com/books?id=eJ10HoYQ2woC&pg=PA183#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=eJ10HoYQ2woC&pg=PA183#v=on...
- zionic 9y agoThis comment was both disgusting and enlightening. Wow, who would have thought some people derive nutritional value from feces-laden water?!
- microcolonel 9y agoIt either destroys your civilization or causes it to thrive. ;- )
- asveikau 9y agoI feel like I have come across similar concepts. There is a theory for instance that developing countries get fewer auto-immune diseases because they are exposed to more germs.
- shitgoose 9y ago3rd edition, page 192... good call, buddy. otherwise, you would have been downvoted to death.
- chimeracoder 9y ago> This is surprising to me, as in India a large part of the population is vegetarian. We don't seem to be susceptible to the same problems. In India, vegetarians typically do eat dairy products (although not eggs). Dairy doesn't contain a ton of iron and cobalamin (vitamin B12), but it's a non-negligible amount, and it's possible that that alone accounts for the difference. Remember that vegetarians in India also eat a ton of lentils, which are a great source of iron when consumed in large quantities. (While it's hard to ingest the full daily recommended amount of each from dairy products alone, an otherwise-healthy individual can make do with a lot less than the recommended levels without developing anemia).
- dogma1138 9y agoAlso Indian food is often cooked with Ghee which is clarified butter. Ghee has plenty of fatty acids and vitamins and the vegetarian food you usually get in India is soaked in it. Indian food is also very heavy in spices many of which contain iron, zinc and many other minierals.
- EGreg 9y agoCan't you get enough iron from vegetables such as broccoli? Women lose iron during menstruation and feel anemic sometimes.
- scythe 9y agoIndia also has an established traditional eating pattern which is supportive of health and good nutrition. For example, cumin seeds are extremely high in iron, and make their way into lots of Indian cuisine. The mineral content of seeds generally isn't very bioavailable, but the extensive wet grinding and precooking of spices followed by cooking with starch and acid is a nearly ideal (and quite impressive) technique to convert locked-up metal phytates to bioavailable citrates and lactates. That prehistoric Indians were able to figure this out suggests that it brought significant benefits.
- mwfunk 9y agoVegan is a lot more restrictive than vegetarian though- I know many Indians who are vegetarians, but I don't think any of them are vegans.
- rhizome 9y agoI'd assume Jains have to be.
- Ar-Curunir 9y agoJains can have milk. They cannot have things that grow underground
- anilgulecha 9y agoPartially correct. [Source : I'm part of the Jain community] There's sects that enforce not eating underground veg (potato/onion/ginger/etc) at anytime. Others avoid eating these only during 4 months of monsoon. Others maintain no restrictions. One of the the core tenets is non-violence, and the Jain ideology provides levels of life, from animals, to trees, to wind and fire. Violence to sensory animals is seen as abhorrent, whereas violence to plants is unavoidable. Underground plants seem to have a higher level of life as many animals are part of their ecosystem. (One hypothesis I have is that these rules actually came about due to the seasonality of these vegetables during the inception of the ideology -- we no longer are similarly restricted in our farming.) Lapsed members such as myself form a large part of the community -- hence the above claim is only partially true. On a sidenote, more and more science fiction I've been reading seem to have elements (like Gaia) that provide a higher level of respect to vegetation than non-life, which has provided for some stimulating ideas.
- EGreg 9y agoHow do people with Lactose intolerance get their nutrients then?
- askvictor 9y agoProbably meat
- tathougies 9y agoIndians eat a fuck ton of dairy and eggs. Vegetarian diets aren't a problem -- human cultures have not eaten meat since basically forever. However, vegan diets are a modern thing. No civilization has ever adopted a completely vegan diet.