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Being a strict vegan and getting all the required nutrients to maintain optimal health is almost mutually exclusive. You can take pills and shots to make up fo

Being a strict vegan and getting all the required nutrients to maintain optimal health is almost mutually exclusive. You can take pills and shots to make up for the missing parts but these use animal products. It can be an insane amount of work for normal people. To say it would be easy if more people do it does not reflect the realities of nutrition. I wish you luck but it is not and can not be for everyone at leat not strict vegetarianism I also think that people who are pregnant and maintain the diet are amoral there is no shortage of research that show it can harm the infant. Note meat little meat and almost shurly less than optimal for health. I don't like the people that go against research.

dejb 16y ago
Dude you've mostly just stated a bunch of unsubstantiated opinions which I assert are factually in error. You specifically mentioned 'there is no shortage of research that show it can harm the infant'. If there is no shortage of this research then you should easily be able to provide at least one reference.
- zaphar 16y ago
  Rather than list all the studies here I'll just link you to a page with that lists them. http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/2008/VeganDiets.htm http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/2008/VeganDiets.htm That page lists studies showing B12 deficiencies, bone density issues, and elevated Homocystein issues. Also there is a very strong link to issues with pregnant and nursing women and their babies due to B12 deficiencies. The opinion of most researchers in this area appears to be that pregnant and nursing women should not follow a strict Vegan diet.
  - dejb 16y ago
    So the basic conclusion of this study is 'The evidence surrounding veganism appears to be mixed'. And further 'Overall, veganism is healthier than an omnivorous diet with respect to chronic diseases'. Did you manage to read these parts? With respect to B12 it seems that there is clearly good evidence for vegans to take a supplement. With regards to pregnant and nursing women the evidence seemed a bit less clear. There doesn't seem to be any mention of actual problems with vegan children, only correlations between them and children that did have problems. Despite the uncertainly It certain seems good enough evidence to take b12 supplement for vegans. So the takeaway I get from this is that (Vegan diet + b12/multivitamin) >> Omnivorous diet

dejb 16y ago

Dude you've mostly just stated a bunch of unsubstantiated opinions which I assert are factually in error. You specifically mentioned 'there is no shortage of research that show it can harm the infant'. If there is no shortage of this research then you should easily be able to provide at least one reference.

zaphar 16y ago
Rather than list all the studies here I'll just link you to a page with that lists them. http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/2008/VeganDiets.htm http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/2008/VeganDiets.htm That page lists studies showing B12 deficiencies, bone density issues, and elevated Homocystein issues. Also there is a very strong link to issues with pregnant and nursing women and their babies due to B12 deficiencies. The opinion of most researchers in this area appears to be that pregnant and nursing women should not follow a strict Vegan diet.
- dejb 16y ago
  So the basic conclusion of this study is 'The evidence surrounding veganism appears to be mixed'. And further 'Overall, veganism is healthier than an omnivorous diet with respect to chronic diseases'. Did you manage to read these parts? With respect to B12 it seems that there is clearly good evidence for vegans to take a supplement. With regards to pregnant and nursing women the evidence seemed a bit less clear. There doesn't seem to be any mention of actual problems with vegan children, only correlations between them and children that did have problems. Despite the uncertainly It certain seems good enough evidence to take b12 supplement for vegans. So the takeaway I get from this is that (Vegan diet + b12/multivitamin) >> Omnivorous diet