People decide to go vegan for many different reasons. For example because they are concerned about the environment, or because they are interested in animal welfare or factory farming issues. However, many people go vegan simply because they are concerned about their health.
The Health Advantages of the Vegan Diet
There are many health advantages to be gained from following a vegan diet. Studies have shown that when compared with omnivores:
- Vegans tend, on average, to be slimmer and are less likely to suffer from obesity and obesity-related illnesses.
- Vegans are less likely to suffer from: osteoporosis, gallstones, diverticular disease, arteriosclerosis, non-insulin dependent diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke and certain cancers e.g. colon cancer.
- Pregnant vegan women have a reduced risk of developing toxemia in pregnancy.
- Vegan children are less likely to develop allergies.
- Vegans usually have lower blood pressure and lower blood cholesterol levels.
- The breast milk of vegan mothers contains smaller amounts of contaminants such as pesticides, antibiotics and hormones. These chemicals are a potential hazard to the newborn baby whose brain and endocrine glands are still developing after it is born.
As well as preventing the development of certain diseases, the vegan diet has also been used to successfully treat many established diseases, too. In fact, some patients' conditions improve so much, when they are on a vegan diet that they are able to reduce the dose of their medication, or in some fortunate cases even stop taking it completely! Vegan nutrition has been shown to be particularly useful for treating conditions such as: arthritis, eczema, angina, asthma, PMT and it has also been used to lower blood pressure/blood cholesterol levels or to reduce the blood sugar levels in diabetic patients. When used in conjunction with exercise and other techniques, such as stress management, a vegan diet can reopen blocked arteries and can thus reduce the need for heart surgery. And many overweight people find that they no longer suffer from weight problems when they change to a vegan diet. A recent study in Sweden showed that when slimmers were placed on a vegan diet, although they actually consumed more calories than people in a control group following a non-vegan diet, the vegans lost an average of 9% of their body weight.
Vegan Health and Nutrition - Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do Vegans Get Deficiency Diseases?
A varied, vegan wholefood diet is able to provide all essential dietary nutrients, as well as sufficient protein and energy and deficiency diseases are, in fact, rare in vegans. However, meals do need to be planned carefully and you will find meal planning easier if you understand the principles of vegan nutrition. I would, therefore, recommend that you read Vegan Nutrition Pure and Simple, by Dr Michael Klaper, which contains a lot of useful information as well as many recipes and some sample meal plans. The book Vegan Nutrition by Dr Gill Langley, is also well worth looking at, as it reviews many of the scientific health studies which have been carried out on vegans and is very reassuring reading. You may also like to check out the article 'Veg Out Time?' which was published in the Guardian recently (February 3 1998). This article, which is not so reassuring, covers both vegans and vegetarians and takes the view that the vegetarian diet can be harmful. It highlights some of the areas which can cause problems, but unfortunately it tends to present vegetarians in a rather negative way - as a rather malnourished and anaemic lot - who are sometimes too worn out to cook properly! Illustrated with a photograph of several exceptionally glum-looking vegetarians, it nevertheless provides an interesting contrast to the vital, healthy-looking vegan specimens who are following a vegan, wholefood diet in Dr Michael Klaper's books. A reminder, perhaps, that we all need to pay attention to our diet and make sure that it is well-balanced with plenty of wholegrains, legumes and fresh fruit and vegetables. The article also questions (quite rightly) whether vegetarian convenience foods are healthy. In fact many ready-prepared, convenience foods - whether they are vegetarian or not - contain too much fat, salt, sugar and additives and in my opinion these often expensive and overpackaged products, should be avoided whenever possible. As there are now so many quick and easily-prepared, vegan recipes available it should not be necessary to purchase these products very often, anyway.
2. Does the Vegan Diet Provide Enough Protein?
It has been shown that vegans can easily obtain sufficient protein from their diet, providing that they consume sufficient calories and eat a variety of unrefined grains, legumes, green vegetables and nuts/seeds on a daily basis. Good sources of protein in the vegan diet include: beans, peanut butter, tahini, brown rice, nuts and soya products e.g. soya milk, yogurt, TVP and tofu. Studies have shown that vegans usually obtain an average of 10-11% of their daily energy from protein which is very close to the figure of 10% which is recommended by NACNE. In fact, the amount of protein required by the human body is small - only about 20-40g each day and consuming too much protein can, in fact, be harmful leading to kidney damage or to an increased risk of developing 'brittle bone' disease (osteoporosis).
3. Can the Vegan Diet Supply Enough Energy?
Concern has sometimes been expressed by nutritionists that vegan children may not be able to obtain enough calories from the vegan diet, as it tends to be high in fibre and rather bulky for small stomachs. However, medical studies have shown that vegan children grow up to be just as tall and strong as their meat-eating peers, although they are often slimmer. However, in order to obtain enough calories and protein, vegan children do need to consume more low fibre, energy-dense foods than vegan adults. Suitable energy-dense foods include: nut butters, tahini, fruit spreads, chickpea hummus, pureed beans and avocados.
4. Do Vegans Get Enough Calcium?
5. Will I Become Anaemic?
6. How Do I get Enough Vitamins?
7. Can Vegans Produce Healthy Babies?
Nutrients which are of particular importance during pregnancy and are needed in larger amounts include: iron, folic acid, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12 and zinc. Protein requirements also increase slightly during pregnancy and it is recommended that a vegan pregnant woman should consume about 60 g (74 g in the USA) of protein each day. To achieve this intake of protein, make sure that you eat a varied diet which includes high protein foods, such as soya milk/tofu, beans, nuts, grains and green leafy vegetables. Also, try to eat four helpings/day of the calcium-rich foods mentioned earlier and don't forget to expose your face and hands to the sun for a slightly longer time each day than recommended for vegan adults, in order to obtain extra vitamin D. The amount of iron-rich foods in the diet should also be increased, but as it can be difficult to obtain enough iron from the diet alone in pregnancy, a iron supplement is often prescribed for pregnant women. Good sources of zinc include: mushrooms, nuts and seeds, nutritional yeast, wheatgerm and whole grains. Folic acid is needed in substantially larger amounts in pregnancy and it is a good idea to increase your intake of folic acid for several months before you get pregnant. It is found in dark green leafy vegetables, whole grains, nuts, dates, legumes and oranges.
7. Do I Need to Change My Diet if I Breast Feed?
Further Reading:
- Vegan Nutrition Pure and Simple by Dr Michael Klaper. (Gentle World) Book Review
- Pregnancy Children and the Vegan Diet by Dr Michael Klaper. (Gentle World)
- Vegan Nutrition by Dr Gill Langley. (Published by the Vegan Society.)
- Simply Vegan by Debra Wasserman.
- Plant-Based Nutrition and Health by Stephan Walsh. Information added in March 2009.
Other Health-Related Vegan Websites: