9 ms·

It is easy to lack some vitamins or nutrients while going on a vegan diet. Some of them have an impact on mental health. Unless you are very comited into calcu

• mfer 5y ago
  Many (most?) meat eaters are deficient in nutrients their body needs. The USDA found that only about 3% of people get their daily recommended amount of fiber. Eating meat doesn’t mean you get what your body needs
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  • jiggunjer 5y ago
    what diseases are linked to lack of fiber? you have a generous definition of "need". edit: I'm not disputing the benefits of fiber for the average person, but the implied necessity of fiber is just false. Fact: A zero fiber diet is not guaranteed cause disease, whereas essential nutrient deficiencies will cause disease.
    • chillingeffect 5y ago
      effects are listed among others here: https://selfhacked.com/blog/carnivore-diet/ https://selfhacked.com/blog/carnivore-diet/
      • jiggunjer 5y ago
        spare me the blogs please. Its not even relevant: don't compare a meat-only diet to a low-fiber diet. All A are B but not all B are A.
        • chillingeffect 5y ago
          I find your tone rude, dismissive, and unacceptable. Also, the page listed includes over 100 references and is reviewed by two doctors.
          • chillingeffect 5y ago
            Sorry to see you acting out when science doesn't support your personal opinions.
    • Omnitaus 5y ago
      bowel cancer, IBS, diverticulitis, heart disease
      • jiggunjer 5y ago
        But low fiber doesnt _cause_ those diseases in the same sense as low vitamin D causes rickets. Most fiber-related studies I've seen were small and published in obscure journals. I'd agree the average person (with an average diet and lifestyle) probably benefits from getting enough fibre. But that's in conjunction with other factors. I just disagree with the statement humans "need" fiber.
        • Omnitaus 5y ago
          Your gut cannot be healthy without fiber. It's important for the digestive process. There's a reason dietary guidelines include fiber, and I'm not sure where you're reading these journals but your agreement/disagreement is irrelevant to the point. A lack of fiber does _cause_ blood sugar fluctuations, cholesterol increases, constipation, etc. Just because it's not as severe as rickets or scurvy doesn't mean people should ignore the needs of their gut microflora, especially given that the majority of cells in our bodies are (mostly beneficial) bacteria.
      • bluedevil2k 5y ago
        Yet many claim keto diets have cured their digestive issues.
        • pvarangot 5y ago
          Eating less sugar and replacing it with nuts and seeds, and not eating starchy vegetables and replacing them with leafy greens will increase your fiber consumption like 4x or 5x. I seriously doubt someone doing like bacon butter and steak keto will claim improvements in their digestive issues unless they were like very sensitive to an allergen or something and didn't know it.
        • olyjohn 5y ago
          Like a lot of diets that benefit people, the big thing is probably just making more food at home, and eating less processed shit.
    • cyounkins 5y ago
      A bottle of Metamucil, a psyllium husk fiber supplement, indicates on it that helps with "heart health by lowering cholesterol" and "healthy blood sugar levels". I'm sure you can find studies that both support and deny these claims, but I understand the general consensus to be that these claims are supported by science. Heart disease is #1 killer of Americans, diabetes is #7 according to CDC [1]. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
      • jiggunjer 5y ago
        food supplements are not medicines. If you claim there is science behind the claims show it. But as you already admitted, it's probably weak evidence.
        • cyounkins 5y ago
          Search PubMed. I will throw a couple links at you but cannot establish consensus for you. American Heart Association says "Dietary fiber can help you improve blood cholesterol levels and lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, obesity and even type 2 diabetes" [1] American Diabetes Association says "eating foods higher in fiber can also improve your digestion, help you manage your blood sugar and reduce your risk of heart disease." [2] [1] https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/nutrition-basics/whole-grains-refined-grains-and-dietary-fiber https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-s... [2] https://diabetes.org/healthy-living/recipes-nutrition/understanding-carbs/get-to-know-carbs https://diabetes.org/healthy-living/recipes-nutrition/unders...
    • Maximus9000 5y ago
      https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/article-why-increasing-your-fibre-intake-can-add-years-to-your-life/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/arti... "Previous studies have linked a higher fibre diet to protection from heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and certain cancers."
  • dehrmann 5y ago
    Fiber is a funny choice because it's good for digestive health, but by definition, is food content you body has no interest in.
    • andai 5y ago
      Yeah, it's for the gut biome. Eating many different kinds of fiber is great for biodiversity in the gut. Dr. Rhonda Patrick has some great videos about this, as well as the effect of sugar on gut bacteria.
    • npteljes 5y ago
      Even if indirectly, your body absolutely needs it.
• TheDong 5y ago
  Do you have any specific vitamins/nutrients in mind that have relevant mental health impacts? Ones that meat diets get, but vegan/vegetarian diets don't? From what I can tell, meat eaters are even less likely than vegans to calculate their nutritional intake (naturally so, vegans are much more likely to read ingredient and nutrient lists because how else can you shop vegan?), and the claim that it's easy to not have enough nutrients on a vegan diet goes both ways. It's easy to miss having enough of specific nutrients on a meat diet too if you don't carefully calculate your intake. From what I can tell, in practice some amount of nutritional deficiency just isn't that big a deal for most people. College kids that live on a diet of 80% ramen still survive relatively well, as do people who spend time attempting to balance their nutritional intake. The level of impact varies by person I'm sure.
  • girvo 5y ago
    B12 is the only one that is commonly talked about needing to be supplemented as a vegan; though in Australia if you consume Soy milk, you likely already get enough as it is fortified with it. B12 deficiency can have quite profound neurological effects, though thats in pretty severe cases, IIRC
    • pvarangot 5y ago
      Vitamin D too. Also if you have methylation problems you may need to supplement B12 even if you are meat eater.
  • stephen_g 5y ago
    K2 seems to stick out to me as one vitamin that would be hard to get, but I'm not sure if it does anything for mental health. It's mostly in animal products (though can be made by bacteria or something which I think is how they make the supplements). If I recall correctly, B12 is potentially problematic too.
  • Iv 5y ago
    I am mostly thinking of B7, because I know 2 persons in my family who get seriously depressed when they lack it. Note that I did not say it is impossible to get these through a vegan diet, just that it takes some efforts and care to have the daily dose necessary to avoid a deficit. Yes, I agree that almost no one calculates their nutrients intake, but when you go full vegan, you remove more than half of your food diversity, it opens yourself more easily to deficits. > From what I can tell, in practice some amount of nutritional deficiency just isn't that big a deal for most people. College kids that live on a diet of 80% ramen still survive relatively well People with mild depression survive relatively well, and this is what is discussed here. I used to have very bad dietary habits when I was working like crazy at my first job, and managed to get a deficiency in vitamin C. As I was young and in good conditions, it did not trigger any medical problem, but I can tell you that my quality of life improved greatly after I started taking vitamins (and later just rebalancing my diet a bit). It was removing a constant fog from my brain. I think this is a reason why so many pseudo-scientific dietician advice abound: "surviving relatively well" is not a good enough criterion anymore, yet that's what the medical research focuses on. Well-being is also something that people seek to achieve. Being more alert, more focused, less depressed, less stressed are things that a diet can have an influence on, and the scientific data on that is pretty scarce.
• jdavis703 5y ago
  Look in to creatine. Studies suggest that it may increase cognition for vegetarians (but not omnivores). Again this has only been demonstrated in a couple of studies. But if you’re on a plant-based diet consider giving it a try. Omega-3 fats can also be important, but I’m not sure if there’s any vegan options there (it’s been a few years, maybe someone is synthesizing them now.)
  • AnonC 5y ago
    > Omega-3 fats can also be important, but I’m not sure if there’s any vegan options there (it’s been a few years, maybe someone is synthesizing them now.) Which Omega-3 fatty acids are you referring to? It can’t be all of them. There are plant sources like flax seeds, walnuts and others for ALA and EPA. DHA is the one that’s a bit difficult to get (or be synthesized in the body from the others). That has been solved by algal oil or algae based supplements (fish get DHA from algae).