The Mainstreaming of Vegan Diets

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Totally agreed. I have been a Vegan for over 20 years and all the problems I used to have with headaches, bronchitis and a variety of chest infections are all gone. I am a fit and healthy 62 year old and can still climb mountains!

Jayne Dold 1:34AM December 28, 2011

Nice article. The huge mountain of compelling peer-reviewed scientific data indicates consistently that a well-planned vegan diet being the most effective and most economical form of disease prevention and management. Helping to educate people about this is perhaps the single most important thing we can do to relieve human suffering and at the same time reduce the enormous expenditures on the US healthcare system. Preventing chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease is vastly more economical than trying to treat it. Let's turn up the volume on prevention by eating right-- and the scientific data shows that eating right means eating vegan.

D of NY 12:00AM December 28, 2011

Vegan and Vegetarian diets are kinder on the body and the planet. Even if you do not have an ethical problem with eating the flesh (or products) of animals - consider vegetables, nuts, pusles, grains, beans and their products to be the largest part of your diet. I stopped eating animals 12 months ago , and animal products 3 months ago and int hat time lost an amazing 70 pounds of weight that I had struggled with for years. Feel fantastic, look fantastic... I learned something fromt his article regarding spinach and iron - being absorbed int he presence of vitamin C! thanks!

Morgan 11:01PM December 27, 2011

Please get rid of the tired and inaccurate statements that plant foods are not "complete proteins." Proteins are linked chains of 20 kinds of amino acids. Eight are essential for adults - that is, must come from diet. ONLY plants can make essential amino acids. No animals can make these molecules. So all animal protein is nothing but recycled plant protein. Where are these dietitians getting such bad "information?" Eat a whole foods, plant-based diet and you will thrive. Here is how. http://perfectformuladiet.com/plant-based-nutrition/science-based-nutrition-and-health/

Janice Stanger of CA 9:52PM December 27, 2011

I always crack up at articles like this. So safe.
Being vegan lowers cholesterol, lowers blood pressure, lowers your weight, reduces greatly your chance of heart disease, but the author must made sure you know you're getting enough protein.
It's such a tired question "Where do I get my protein?". How bout from where all the animals we eat get it from: plants.
Tell me--When was the last time someone in US died of lack of protein in one's diet? 75 years ago?

mike crosby of CA 9:46PM December 27, 2011

Dumb article! Get a copy of "The 80-10-10 Diet" by Douglas Graham @ http://www.FoodnSport.com to bring yourselves out of those stone age myth-perceptions about living Vegan.

Erskien Lenier of CA 7:34PM December 27, 2011

As someone who follows all the research on vegetarian diets very closely, I thought Andrea Giancoli did a better than normal job of describing the issues in vegan diets than a typical ADA spokesperson does. However, her statement that "It's true that most plant foods don't contain all the essential amino acids," is not true. Most plant foods do contain all the essential amino acids. However, with a few exception most plant foods are low in one of the essential amino acids. But this could mean simply eating more of a given food to make up for the lower amount of that amino acid.
A vegan diet can easily meet protein needs if legume products (beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, soyfoods) are consumed at most meals. If they are not, then it can be difficult to get ideal amounts of the amino acid lysine. Lysine is also found in significant amounts in quinoa and pistachios.

Jack Norris, RD of CA 7:09PM December 27, 2011

From a recent study on salmon, omega-3 and contamination:
"Until renewable sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids -derived from plant, algae, yeast or other unicellular organisms - become more generally available, it would seem responisble to refrain from advocating to people in developed contries that they increase their intake of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids through fish consumption."

larry bird of MA 6:36PM December 27, 2011

Some misleading statements here -- dairy is not the best source of calcium. The article should have sought out an expert in plant-based nutrition who could have easily listed some superior sources of calcium that are plant-based, such as various beans, kale, some greens and broccoli. Same goes for iron. Also, many omnivores who eat diets heavy in animal flesh and dairy are presenting with B12 deficiencies, so it is inaccurate to state that animal products are adequate (let alone great) sources of B12. The changes in livestock diets due to factory farming, which involves unnatural cheap "feed" for the animals, may be a reason that modern-day meats are lacking nutrients.

Rob Tierney of FL 6:28PM December 27, 2011

Long ago (October 21, 2000), I began an article as follows:
I'm often asked if I'm a vegetarian. I always respond in the negative, for several reasons. One is that I am far too fond of seafood, and while there are many kinds of vegetarians, it hardly seems sensible to have a vegetarian subcategory for folks like myself who eat just about anything available from the sea, a lake or even a pond! For another, I'm a meat eater!
Wow. Who was that guy? Was that me? Hard to believe today. I no longer eat seafood or meat-and I don't eat anything dairy, either. What happened?
Well, it's not very dramatic. I was not led to a vegan-like diet by any crisis or need to reform for health reasons. I was not suffering from any condition, I was not overweight and my blood lipid panel was fine. In fact, when I started the plant- based diet, my readings were good if not great. Here are the values from blood drawn on 8/24/11:
Cholesterol 182
HDL 51
Trig 87
LDL 114
Before explaining the motive for the shift to plants and away from seafood, meat and dairy, let me quote from that 2000 essay on vegetarianism:
I respect vegetarians and I think their diet patterns are much healthier than the dining habits of most Americans. Many of my friends who are dedicated athletes, especially runners and triathletes, are vegetarians and are doing quiet nicely on meatless diets. In fact, a recent article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition offered an impressive profile of vegetarian runners:
* They run more miles per week than non-veggie runners (14% more), though I'm not sure this is such a good thing.
* They have slimmer waists than omnivorous runners, at least up to a certain mileage level. (Beyond 100 miles a week, ALL runners have tiny waists-and emaciated bodies.)
* They have lower total and low density (LDL) cholesterol (3 to 5% lower).
* They drink less alcohol.
Another group of investigators reported similar findings in the popular newsletter Running and FitNews (March 1998).
Sounds good, doesn't it? Why did I wait so long? Let's go back to the year 2000 to review what I was thinking then.
What we don't know is more consequential than what we know. For example, do vegetarians enjoy what they eat more than the rest of us? Do they live longer, or better? Do vegetarian runners have more fun, are they better looking, do they run FASTER, do they exhibit more perspective, do they have a better feel for meaning and purpose in life? Also, one wonders if they have more and better, safer sex than the rest of us carnivores?
Of course, the chances are good that eating meat or not eating meat is not a critical variable in these just mentioned life quality measures. I think we need more studies!
Wellness seekers want the best for everyone, including those who will inherit a future that will be shaped in part by the way we live today. Certainly, everyone who cares very much about REAL wellness values of effective decision-making, exuberant living for themselves and others, environments that enable healthful living (including nutritious foods and opportunities for abundant exercise) and personal and social freedoms will want to support sound population policies.