Would any of these stories make you eat meat?

Question

only answer if you have at least skimmed all links, they are only ~1 paragraph each.

[see "added details" for links]

Don't let me turn you off your morals this quick. This selection is a little biased of course so do your own research first. I just want to know if these sort of stories would make you reconsider you diet and/or look into in further.

Cadmium blood concentrations in relation to nutrition.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=PubMed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17152224&ordinalpos=5&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

nutritionally deficient breastmilk

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=PubMed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17130110&ordinalpos=8&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

neurological damage

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=11785055&ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

spianl damage

http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/internalmedicine/45/10/705/_pdf

has a couple of big icture, skip if you have a REALLY slo intyernet connection, most of the "big wirds" should be helped by wiki

diet choice by parents and carers

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=16082865&ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

multiple vitamin deficiencies and effects on development in an infant fed by vegan mother (bit long)

http://www.springerlink.com/content/mun0xp8w2hg79yjd/fulltext.html

A range of effects on an adolecent:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VKK-424KJKD-B&_user=10&_coverDate=01%2F31%2F2001&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f67a420d32369caa883aa95e3f0bfabf

(scroll-down for English translation)

Iodine deficiency.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=10211051&ordinalpos=14&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

p.s. my preliminary conclusion is that humans are lousy at making milk! (I'm sure if the designer was realy intelligent we could make propper milk)

human mothers often need to drink cow's milk (as the minimal animal product consumption) to have a healthy infant.

Sorry i don't think i explained that well. Women producing milk need to eat animal products to make nutritious milk. The bit i found ironic was that one of the things they could eat to make good milk is dairy products from other animals.

Not that i could ever give up my white coffee and yoghurt, but supposing i did no one has actually suggested some good sources of vitamin B12 (please provide refrence).

btw. i should have clarrified, though a lot of these abstracts show up on the same "government site" they are actually from a range of sources, just some of the original sources are subscription-based and qqq.pubmed.gov is the best place to get free summaries (the summaries are not biased, they are written by the original authors)

though, as i said, my selection was biased.

Answer 1

No.

I don't know how these doctors can prove neurological damage was caused by vegetarian diets. Also, they made no mention of Intrinsic Factor; which the body requires to manufacture B12. If the individual is low in Intrinsic Factor he or she will have to get B12 from other sources--but they made no indication that even considered the metabolic disorder of Pernicious Anemia before jumping to conclusions. In addition, there was no mention of the people's alcohol habits; alcoholics often have anemia. They really should have ruled out those cause before declaring it to be caused by vegetarianism.

The only article that I will take seriously is the one that mentions deficient breast milk; but that too could have been caused by Pernicious Anemia in the mother or child, or an alcoholic mother.

Answer 2

No, because all of these stories have similar things in common.

They have very small samples sets (1 person, or 10 or 20 people), and they basically refer to a lack of proper nutrition.

If you eat a diet that lacks the proper nutrition, whether it is meat or vegetarian, then you will have problems. That is the key, no matter what you are eating. BTW, a significant number of people in the world (~50%+) don't consume milk from other animals.

You may wish to look at this summary which cites a lot of studies. Its conclusion is that if you eat a well balanced vegetarian diet one can actually benefit from it.
http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/92/9/531

Answer 3

No.

"High cadmium content in the soil leads to high cadmium concentrations in certain plants"

This theory is exactly the same for humans as it is animals. If the soil that animals are grazed on is contaminated they will have higher levels in thier blood, eating the animal exposes you to them.

When you think of the food chain, either you eat plants, or you eat animals that eat plants (eventually at least). at some point the food comes from the ground and the soil in most cases.

the contaminated of the soil and subsequently the food is the issue here. not the potential foods that can be contaminated by the poison.
: )

There are many things that effect the bodys vitamin b12 levels. this is one big sticking point that many people constantly bring up in regard to vegetarianism and veganism.

Firstly a vegetarian and vegan diet does not imply a healthy diet. it is very easy to be unhealthy on these diets if you choose too.

Most vitamin B complexes are based on an underlying trace element bound with other elements by bacteria. with a sufficiently alkaline and healthy digestive tract including the proper range of gut flora most vitamin B complexes have been proven to be producible within the body, though personally i believe that they all can be. the healthier a human body is the greater ability we also have to recycle the sub B complexes, im not sure where it occurs in the body but at the point where the vitamins are used to body can recycle them and maintain the levels.

I think the reason that we have vitamin B deficiencies in the modern world is because we no longer have exposure to bacteria like we used to. most people don't eat their food straight from the ground anymore (where theres plenty of bacteria, good and bad) we get it in packets, and even if its fresh we wash the bujesus out of it for fear of pesticides and glazes, and rightly so. we also disinfect everything around us and consume massive amounts of anti-biotics which constantly devastate our gut flora.

Also theres research out there pointing at processed soy foods like milk and tofu, indicating that they contain vitamin B12 analogs, which are not absorbed and actually increase the requirement for B12.

Im not sure about other studies backing up the claims but if its true it would play a massive role in this whole 'vegans dont get b12' stuff considering how much things like tofu and soy milk are consumed in vegan diets.

Honestly though, if the only single thing that can go bad from a vegan diet is a single sub vitamin group deficiency....

then compared to the massive health consequences from consuming meat like the huge increased risk of heart disease which is one of the top killers in the modern world today! then i know which one i will be choosing.


**EDIT

stop editing the question!!!

A lot of those new ones are single cases, which is absurd to base anything on.

Answer 4

I could write pages and pages on how vegetarianism is better than a meat-based diet all around, but I think that has been covered by other posters.

So I will just say this. Both my brother and I were breast fed by a vegetarian mother, and we were both big babies, neither of us got the usual 'baby illnesses' (read- jaundice, ear infections, URI's, etc.). In school, we were both at the head of our class, grew the same rate as our peers, and to this day we are both fit, healthy, and happy.

So no, your silly little government websites are not going to make me want to go get a hamburger.

Answer 5

First off, this forum is for asking helpful questions and answers, it is NOT a podium for vegetarians or vegans to try an force thier opinions on everyone else. on top of the fact that both sides are bashing your entire question becuase you obviously don't know what your doing. Although this is a community bsed forum for exchanging tips, facts, and personal experience in a way of helping each other, your attempt at changing minds to a certain lifestyle is abhorant. If you want a real answer to a REAL question, then by all means. post it, and we will try and help you, if you want to continue (and this goes to all Veg heads that post on here) posting "cruelty to animals, beef is bad, and how can you eat this " type bullshit questions, then go somewhere else, it is not what this forum is for.

Answer 6

No, they would not make me think about eating meat. Notice that most of your links are from government sites. The government heavily endorses, supports, and subsidises the meat industry. Their reports are biased, unproven, and based strictly on government standards. My young daughter and I have been vegetarian for years, and recent blood profiles done on both of us showed that all of our vitamin, mineral and nutritional needs are being more than adequately met on a plant and grain based diet. I have blood profiles done every year, and they are always great. My daughters pediatrician says he wishes all of his patients would follow our diet. We take no supplements at all, and get everything we need from nature. Contrary to what many people are led to believe, meat does NOT naturally contain B vitamins, iron, etc. It is fed to the cattle in their feed, especially B12. No reason a human cant eat the foods in their natural state and get the same effect. The negative effects of meat, such as cholesterol, purines, amines, growth hormones, steroids, antibiotics, parasites, disease, and other questionable stuff far outweighs any perceived "benefits" to eating meat. We manage quite well without consuming decaying animal flesh, and are healthier for it. We both have perfect skin, hair, teeth, nails, and are of perfect weight and proportion, so no, I cant say we would be better off with meat in our diet-its simply not necessary to thrive. A well balanced vegetarian diet is the key-not the "junk food vegetarian" diet that many follow. We avoid all processed food, and make everything homemade and organic. My daughter (age 12) is blemish free, but ALL of her meat eating peers are battling acne, weight, and digestive issues, none of which my daughter has to contend with. It works for us.

Answer 7

Regarding your first link: And people who eat animal products usually have higher cholesterol. Problems with cholesterol kill half the people in this country. That seems like a far bigger risk, dontchya think? And the last bit there about how vegetarians have more antioxidants in their bodies that probably cancel out the added toxicity...that is pretty significant.

Your second link made me have to restart my computer. But it would appear that it's yet another report about how vegans don't get enough B12. The FACT is that there are other sources of B12 than animal products. The only reason animal products have B12 is because the animals the products come from eat plant food tainted with B12. This is pretty common knowledge. We wash our food better than we would if we were less civilized and in the process wash away the B12-giving microbes. If it's been found that some vegan breastmilk is lacking in B12 then I would say that indicates we need more education for vegans and vegetarians. Unfortunately, since the rest of the mainstream world doesn't really want to acknowledge us, that education has to come from other veg*ns and that's not always feasible unless someone seeks it out on the web or in books. Maybe nutrition needs to be taught better in our schools. Actually, there's no "maybe" about it.

Would repeated scientific studies that have proven that eliminating animal products can prevent cancer and even stop it in its tracks make you not want to eat meat, dairy, and eggs? If it had been proven that a vegan diet can be incredibly healthy would you even consider it? If eliminating animal foods could GREATLY cut your risk of dying of a heart attack would you try to quit eating them? If the largest study on nutrition ever undertaken and conducted by Cornell and Oxford Universities concluded that we should stop eating so many animal products would you look into it further?
http://www.nutrition.cornell.edu/ChinaProject/
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/01/6.28.01/China_Study_II.html
http://thechinastudy.com <---READ THIS BOOK PLEEEASE!
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML.htm

EDIT:
Regarding the latest links you've posted:

- That forum post (?) you posted a link to (titled: "Strict vegan, low-calorie diet administered by caregiving daughter to elderly mother--is this elder abuse?") makes me think you're doing nothing more than googling crap and posting links. There is no good arguement in anything you've posted. All it indicates is that some vegans don't eat properly because they're not educated about thier diet. It proves that we live in a world SO saturated with animal food products that a lot of people are completely lost when they decide they don't want to eat that crap anymore.

I will argue this issue with you all you'd like, but you need to be more specific. You can't just keep posting links to individual cases and not address the specifics. Every instance you've posted can be attributed to poor choices in their diet and that poor choice is NOT not eating meat. These people clearly aren't educated about proper vegetarian nutrition.

-B-12 has been addressed.
-Education about proper nutrition has been addressed.
-Iodine deficiencies can be attributed to greater intake of processed soy, which happens with a lot of vegans (it happened to me - I stopped eating so much soy - guess what - no more iodine deficiency).
-As for humans being lousy milk-makers...Nature does not make mistakes. if you spend your whole life eating a crap diet and then just give up animal products and don't totally relearn how to eat (because everything you've been taught up to that point is complete hogwash) then of course your milk is probably going to be deficient. Please tell me you seriously dont' think the most prolific species on this planet would have to depend on a frickin cow for their survival.
-What else you got? Because I'm not even CLOSE to wanting to eat meat.

Answer 8

that is a load of bull crap. nothing would EVER make me want to eat meat! Now, will any of these videos make you NOT want to eat meat?
http://www.goveg.com/factoryfarming.asp...
http://www.goveg.com/factoryfarming.asp...

PS- vegetarianism is WAYY healthy no matter wut you say. There are a few people that get malnourished just because they don't know wut they are doing. go the the dietitian and you will find it is actually really easy to be healthy on a vegetarian diet

Answer 9

no way being veg is so much better for you and the environment. check out vegsource.com, vegan.com, or vegan .org.

Answer 10

NO!
nothing could make me eat meat!