Veganism
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==Benefits== | ==Benefits== | ||
| + | *Lower fat diets (plants do have fat, too, although, see the next item). | ||
*Much lower saturated fats. | *Much lower saturated fats. | ||
*No animals were harmed in the making of your meals, clothes, etc. (unless they were used to harvest your plants - WINK!) | *No animals were harmed in the making of your meals, clothes, etc. (unless they were used to harvest your plants - WINK!) | ||
Revision as of 00:51, 21 June 2012
Veganism is a lifestyle, or to some a philosophy, that eschews the exploitation of animals in any way. As such it is a subset of vegetarianism.
Vegans go beyond conventional vegetarianism, which is a matter of diet, and will not wear leather, for example. Some even won't wear wool or silk. Vegans also typically go much further than vegetarians in their diets, eschewing, for example, honey, which is an animal product (from bees), as well as dairy-derived products such as whey and casein which can be found in many vegetarian foods. As with many ideas, individuals must still make their own judgments about where to draw the lines. A subset of vegans also practice raw foodism.
"Freegans" are a related sub-group of fussy eaters. Many are vegans who will not buy anything containing animal products - but may not have such an issue with eating or wearing them if they are thrown away or in second-hand stores. The motivation here appears to be unwillingness to financially support the animal agriculture industry while at the same time making sure nothing already derived from it goes to waste.
In line with the general belief of not exploiting animals in any way, vegans are absolutely opposed to sex with animals[1].
Contents |
Benefits
- Lower fat diets (plants do have fat, too, although, see the next item).
- Much lower saturated fats.
- No animals were harmed in the making of your meals, clothes, etc. (unless they were used to harvest your plants - WINK!)
- Vegetables require less water than animals (liters of water used in production/kilogram of food).
Problems
It is known that vegetarian diets, i.e., meat free diets that still contain animal products, have some health benefits, although it can be argued that such studies are not internally valid. However, vegan diets do remove vital nutrients from the diets of practitioners. Among the many subgroups of vegetarianism, vegans are especially at risk for nutritional deficiencies. Many of these deficiencies include:
- Vitamin B12 deficiency leading to anemia and/or neurological problems[2]
- Iodine deficiency leading to thyroid problems [3]
- Protein deficiency and absorption, especially in children.[4]
In 1926, Minot and Murphy found that a man was cured of pernicious anemia with liver extracts, a discovery for which they received the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1934. Ricke and Smith isolated crystalline vitamin B12 in liver extracts in 1948. Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) is a vitamin that is synthesized in nature only by microorganisms. It is necessary for animals and is present in every animal tissue at very low concentrations (1 ppm in the liver). A B12 deficiency causes pernicious anemia. The need for vitamin B12 in some animals is covered by taking or absorption of vitamin B12 produced by gut microorganisms. But humans only get vitamin B12 from food, since vitamin B12 synthesized by microorganisms in the intestine cannot be assimilated.
Only certain red and green algae (the Nori is one of them) and chlorella contain true vitamin B12[5]. Spirulina algae predominate in an inactive form of vitamin B12 and are not suitable as a source, and also interfere with normal absorption of authentic vitamin B12[6].
Quite a few vegans consider honey an unacceptable animal product; given that honey is a major byproduct of the critically important agricultural process of domesticated beekeeping, this is not just short-sighted, but just plain silly.[7]
See also
External links
- Beyond Milk and Honey: The Vegan Controversy by Nina Rubin
- Health Benefits of Veganism - Vegan 2000: Life style of the millennium
- Need some cooking lessons? Let Vegan Black Metal Chef show you how it's done. Warning: hilarious, and may be offensive to godbotherers and Satanic panic types.
Footnotes
- ↑ Excepting humans. Usually.
- ↑ [http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/29/5/391.long "The electroencephalogram in veganism, vegetarianism, vitamin B12 deficiency, and in controls"]
- ↑ "Iodine intake and iodine deficiency in vegans"
- ↑ [http://www.ajcn.org/content/48/3/868.full.pdf+html?sid=9ed39a03-0b12-4d2c-ba1e-5d7b94ee3c9a "Availability of essential amino acids and nitrogen in vegan diets"]
- ↑ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12656203?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=4&log$=relatedreviews&logdbfrom=pubmed
- ↑ "Is Vitamin B12 Available from Spirulina or Intestinal Synthesis?"
- ↑ A beekeeper speaks about the question of cruelty in a Salon letter.