Eating Vegan Diet Bad for Your Heart?
Eating a vegan diet may increase your risk of blood clots and atherosclerosis, suggests a new study. Both are risk factors for heart attacks and stroke.
Unlike some vegetarian diets which permit milk and cheese, a vegan diet excludes all animal foods, including dairy products.
But the new study claims a vegan diet - usually touted for its health benefits - is critically low in several key nutrients, such as vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids, prompting experts to recommend vegans augment their diet, or take vitamin supplements.
Published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers reviewed dozens of articles on the biochemistry of vegetarianism over the past 30 years, and found people who avoid all animal foods may have an increased risk of developing blood clots and atherosclerosis.
High cholesterol can lead to atherosclerosis, which occurs when fatty material builds up and hardens (forming calcium deposits) along the walls of the arteries. The U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health warns that atherosclerosis can eventually block arteries.
A vegan or vegetarian diet is widely believed to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, unlike a meat-heavy diet, i.e. consuming too much saturated fat, which raises cholesterol and leads to heart disease.
But the researchers contend a vegan diet lacks sufficient iron, zinc, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fatty acids; causing vegans to have elevated blood levels of homocysteine and low levels of HDL (or "good") cholesterol. Both are risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Homocysteine is an amino acid found in the blood; high levels have been linked to heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, homocysteine levels are "strongly influenced" by diet.
To avoid the increased heart risks, and in order to get sufficient B12 and omega-3, the researchers recommend consuming oily fish, like salmon, certain nuts, such as walnuts, eggs, fortified milk, or taking supplements.
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The vegan diet clearly has certain risks. Humans evolved as omnivores and going away from that diet can cause health problems.
I suppose supplements can be added to a vegan diet to offset the dietary deficiencies, but the source of those supplements may not always fit into the vegan ethos.
The review also noted that the omnivores tend to have diet-related problems such as obesity and a higher risk of heart attacks.
The question is not is a vegan diet unhealthy. Any diet can and usually is unhealthy. The epidemic of chronic disease we are seeing in the west is we now know a result of unhealthy diets. The reason is that we humans are not living in a natural environment . For instance, B12 is abundant in nature. It is not because Vegans do not eat meat that they need to supplement but because of the sterile environment we all live in. So while it is true that meat eaters can get some of their B12 from eating animals which still live close to nature. It is not true that the RDA for B12 can be had by eating healthy amounts of meat. It can take up to 14 oz of meat a day to reach the RDA for B12 an amount which is as we know today extremely unhealthy to the human body. Low Omega 3's are another result our modern society. The human body needs a omega 3 omega 6 balance of around one to one. this was not a problem until the advent of vegetable oils which have all the omega 3's stripped out of them for longer shelf life. Omega 3 oils go rancid quite quickly at room temperature. So again it is not only the vegan population which needs to balance their omega oils intake. The same is true for the trace minerals. Today's industrial farming both plant and animal produce products which are raised in far from what can be considered a natural environment. Everyone is lacking these minerals unless again the person is eating huge amounts of meat. and then specifically meat which is not raised on cement. But again, there are health consequences to eating that much meat on a daily basis. A healthy diet looks a lot like this. Take your B12 supplement or 2 tablespoons of ground flax a day. Stay away from fish and fish oil unless you want your body to be toxic. take a good natural mineral supplement, take a vitamin D supplement, unless you are a nudist. and if you must eat meat limit your meat intake to 8 to 10 ounces a week. Oh and eat mostly fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, and some nuts and seeds for snacks.
Vegan diets do not have certain risks, Unhealthy Vegan diets are unhealthy just like most meat diets are unhealthy. Knowing and understanding human nutritional needs and providing your body with those nutrients is healthy.
Also humans DID NOT evolve as omnivores. Your dog is an omnivore. Humans evolved as Frugivores. As for eating meat, humans almost certainly did not eat meat until they migrated to climates where winter limited food availability. Hunting was only undertaken for survival when other foods were unavailable. Humans almost certainly did not hunt during warmer seasons when food was abundant. We know this because of the effort it takes for humans to catch animals with nothing but sharpened sticks and stones. early humans being intelligent would have eaten their natural diet when it was available. The herding culture began about 10,000 years ago. it was only at this point that meat became a major part of some humans diet, not long enough for humans to adapt to this unhealthy food.
Lastly supplements need to be added to any healthy diet whether they include small amounts of meat or not.
Dairy products will not repeat will not solve the problem of deficiency! On top of that Dairy products are one of the most unhealthy things a human can eat. Just take your vitamins leave the lactose alone.
Make no mistake if you are going to be healthy today you need to take supplements. you can not get the nutrition you need from food because of the unnatural environment we live in today. There are plenty of places to get good advice on vegan nutrition Dr. Greger is probably the best.
Stay away from the dairy that stuff will kill you!
walnuts and other nuts contain absolutely no bioavailable b12. vagans should take supplements or eat supplemented foods (milks and nutritional yeast).
and vegans can obtain omega 6 from algae-derived supplements.
in short, this article is dangerous misinformed garbage.
Actually the article notes that little is gained by adding dairy sources of B12. So, simply suppliment with B12 and flax oil - problem solved - well, if there was ever a problem.
The article also notes that carnivores have even bigger risks for cadiovasular risk clusters than do vegans.
It is also interesting, to note that the Framingham heart study (a forty plus year old study) has never experienced a heart disease related death yet when subjects maintain cholesterol levels attainable only by vegans.
you are correct the article is very unclear, lumping the various foods together as if they all do the same thing. of course walnuts contain omega 3's not B12. Vegans on the other hand can not get omega 6 from algae. Omega 3's are available from algae, the same place the fish get it and almost certainly where we got it when our brains were developing millions of years ago.
This article is based on a small hack study done in china and published in a agricultural journal. there are larger much better studies done in this country which are much more reliable. The jest of this study is that if you are vegan and eat an unhealthy diet you could be almost as unhealthy as a meat eater.
It is interesting news. Needs to be considered while deciding the diet. However, inclusion of dairy products - milk, yogurt, cheese can solve the problem of deficiency of vitamins. Then it would be worth taking.
I notice there are no statistics regarding the number of vegans who have developed heart problems directly related to their diet as opposed to the amount of meat and dairy consumers who have diet related heart problems. I get the feeling that it would be quite a rare thing to find a vegan with heart problems and if you did find one it's either non diet related or they eat alot of takeaway foods high in fat and salt and sugar and that it is this that has caused their heart problem not the lack of meat, dairy or fish.
I think I'll take my chances and stay vegan.