Are there any health problems you can get if you don't eat meat? For example, anemia?
2007-01-23 05:46:22 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Food & Drink ➔ Vegetarian & Vegan
This is one of those fallacies which is bandied about rather a lot by (particularly) carnivores.
As stated by the last poster, a WELL-BALANCED vegetarian diet is absolutely fine. You just get your proteins and iron and everything else from different sources. Most cases of anaemia in vegetarians is not from a lack of iron, but from a potential lack of vitamin B12. This is found in eggs and milk so if you are a lacto-ovo vegetarian, then you can get it from these, and there is no reason why you shouldn't take some good quality vitamin supplements if you're worried.
The following should be noted:
"In the UK, by far the most common cause of vitamin B12 deficiency is a lack of 'intrinsic factor', a substance which is produced in the stomach and enables the body to absorb vitamin B12 from the diet." (From netdoctor.co.uk)
So it's not actually the lack of vitamin B12, it's the fact that the body can't actually absorb what you are getting.
Have a really good read of the Vegetarian Society website (link below) - this has fantastic information on all aspects of a vegetarian diet, especially the health side of things.
2007-01-23 06:29:58 · answer #1 · answered by emsr2d2 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Not if you eat a well balanced diet. Here is a website that shows what has iron in it.
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.htm#table1
2007-01-23 14:00:33 · answer #2 · answered by KathyS 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not if you eat a wide variety of healthy foods.
2007-01-23 15:16:25 · answer #3 · answered by lovely 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋