3 ms·

I do regular blood work and I only eat plants, and I only supplement D3 and B12. My iron and zinc levels are great. I suppose the answer would be no, we would

I do regular blood work and I only eat plants, and I only supplement D3 and B12. My iron and zinc levels are great. I suppose the answer would be no, we would get sick and die without those. But it seems like you’re implying that we can’t get them without meat. If that’s correct, I’d say that’s a false assumption — I am doing great, and the rest of my family is as well. Although some nutrients appear less bioavailable in plants when tested in labs, evidently this is not true in situ. My gut feeling (ha) is that bioavailability (even with foods we consider highly available) depends quite a lot on healthy gut flora. There is some great and some more tenuous evidence of this depending on the food and nutrient in question, and I suspect it’s why some people don’t thrive on plants.

rcme 4y ago
Nothing like a purely anecdotal argument involving people all genetically related! I’m aggregate, vegetarians are more likely to be iron deficient: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6367879/#abstract-1title https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6367879/#abstra...
- steve_adams_86 4y ago
  Of course, I’m simply saying that it’s possible. I also acknowledged that this differs for some people; I know I’m a single data point and my experience is my own. I would contend that vegetarians being deficient still doesn’t say that the diet overall has to be deficient. It is also not uncommon or rare for vegetarians or vegans to be very healthy, so I know I’m not a special case. Most people, regardless of their choice of diet, are going to be deficient in something. For people who eat meat in North America, a serious and common deficiency is simply fibre. It’s much less likely to be true among vegetarians, but in both cases it doesn’t need to be true. My point is that with a monitored and balanced diet, eating plant-based is not inherently deficient in anything besides B12. I know some people have difficult experiences with plant-based diets, and I suspect it’s either due to gut issues or unbalanced/non-diverse eating tendencies.

rcme 4y ago

Nothing like a purely anecdotal argument involving people all genetically related! I’m aggregate, vegetarians are more likely to be iron deficient: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6367879/#abstract-1title https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6367879/#abstra...

steve_adams_86 4y ago
Of course, I’m simply saying that it’s possible. I also acknowledged that this differs for some people; I know I’m a single data point and my experience is my own. I would contend that vegetarians being deficient still doesn’t say that the diet overall has to be deficient. It is also not uncommon or rare for vegetarians or vegans to be very healthy, so I know I’m not a special case. Most people, regardless of their choice of diet, are going to be deficient in something. For people who eat meat in North America, a serious and common deficiency is simply fibre. It’s much less likely to be true among vegetarians, but in both cases it doesn’t need to be true. My point is that with a monitored and balanced diet, eating plant-based is not inherently deficient in anything besides B12. I know some people have difficult experiences with plant-based diets, and I suspect it’s either due to gut issues or unbalanced/non-diverse eating tendencies.