So a few things. 1) The abstract of the study states "...the aim of our study was to analyze differences between different dietary habit groups in terms of health-related variables." That's a very different thing than saying "the aim of our study was to analyze differences between different DIETS in terms of health-related variables." So we're talking about vegetarians... not a vegetarian diet. And we're talking about girls only, for all intents and purposes - 40% under 30, 76% female. If you wanted to take a swing at a meat-free diet, this isn't how you'd do it. If you wanted to conclude that young vegetarian women are less healthy than they think they are, bam. FTA:
2) Moby put a little factoid in the liner notes of one of his albums arguing that one cow consumes as many resources as like five acres of wheat or something like that. Yeah, Moby, but I only have to eat one cow. That's the point. Predators exist because herbavores are excellent concentrators of nutrients and energy. That's why ungulates stand out in the middle of a field chewing all goddamn day but lions only mosey out from under the trees every couple days to work up a sweat and tear up some flesh. Adventurers have relied on hardtack and pemmican for millennia, not fruits and berries. If you had to map the Louisiana Purchase without depending on meat you'd be fucked. 3) There are advantages to a vegetarian lifestyle from a health perspective but you really have to work at it. My wife has vegetarian patients regularly - women who are building babies without eating meat. And unlike non-pregnant vegetarians, these women get regular blood tests and health examinations... which means my wife can quote their own lab results when she says "you're gonna need a lot more protein." It's a slog matching a vegetarian diet to a carnivorous diet nutrient-for-nutrient. Calorie-for-calorie? No sweat. Carbs are everywhere. Protein's a bitch, though. Nuts are no match for fish. Fish is no match for chicken. Chicken is no match for pork. And beef? beef's got some protein. My vegetarian friends tend to be pragmatic vegetarians - when they're overseas, they eat meat because being a vegetarian in Vietnam or Thailand is a laughable pursuit. You just can't find the protein. We've got pointy teeth. We've got a digestive system evolved to process high concentrations of fat and protein. That doesn't mean we have to eat meat, but if we don't, we're at a disadvantage. That disadvantage typically manifests itself as increased cost, increased effort and increased vigilance. Should you lack any of these three you end up with a substandard nutritional balance and a substandard nutritional balance leads to health concerns. This study doesn't say "a vegetarian diet is unhealthy" it says "the people surveyed had poorer health outcomes the less meat they ate." We're also talking exclusively about Austrians. I don't know that much about the Austrian diet, but if it's anything like the Swiss diet, avoiding meat is a stone-cold bitch. Might as well be in Vietnam. Your friends might very well be those uber-healthy vegetarians that have a perfectly balanced diet. If so, good on 'em. Let 'em be offended. They might not be, though. It's been my experience (and, vicariously, my wife's experience, 'cuz she's worked with a lot of vegetarian women and looked at a lot of data) that vegetarians tend to be less healthy than they think they are because they underestimate the amount of energy they're getting from carbs and overestimate the amount of nutrients their diet provides. And that's pretty much what the study says - "you're not as healthy as you think" not "the core philosophy of your diet is flawed."Therefore, public health programs are needed in order to reduce the health risk due to nutritional factors.
| I don't know that much about the Austrian diet, but if it's anything like the Swiss diet, avoiding meat is a stone-cold bitch. As a Swiss vegetarian, I have no idea what you are talking about. They even sell Quorn here (a meat substitute from funghi). Plus, meat is super expensive. I'd say being a vegetarian here is as easy or as hard as in the rest of the western world. Being vegan could be super hard though, you'd have to avoid all the great cheese... As for the study: I think it is interesting, and if it was shown that a vegetarian diet is indeed detrimental to health, I would consider eating meat every now and then. However, as many already mentioned, the paper does not even make this point. It's unfortunate they did not ask the vegetarians why they are vegetarians and at least mention how many of them follow a vegetarian diet for health reasons.
Cool, thank you. I hadn't considered that your wife's perspectives could be helpful here. To be honest, I've been vegetarian at times in the past. I've also had friends that were told by their doctors that they needed to start eating meat because they were anemic, or their protein levels (however that is measured) were too low. I've read a fair amount of literature about vegetarianism, including stuff by crazy ex-vegans who say that everyone who claims to be a vegan really "cheats" and that it doesn't work - that stuff, probably mostly craziness, maybe some small element of truth. It is fucking hard to be vegan. I knew a guy who was vegan from birth, raised by his vegan parents, and I'd still turn around every once in a while and be like "You eat this? But it's totally not vegan..." and blow something out of his acceptable foods...because, fuck, I read a lot. About varied subjects, especially what I'm interested in. I did note that the study was of Austrians - although among the study's sources is a study of Australian women that also finds that vegetarians tend to have higher rates of mental issues. That was one of the more interesting points the study made, and they provide three sources - but I haven't had the time, or really the incliation, to go read three more studies on the topic. I gave it a full enough read and look at the sources to understand that, even if my friends were outraged, and giving what I understood of statistics, the findings of the study were still present. oky has raised some valid points that are all reasonably comprehensible to me and that I appreciate as providing additional insight.
Haha, brings back memories. I was at a late night diner with my ex years ago, and there wasn't much vegetarian on the menu. She ordered a bowl of lemon rice soup. Thoughtfully to my mind, I piped up that it was made with chicken broth. She looked at me with the "I'm hungry" death eyes, and said, "Why would you say that? You know I'm hungry!" And spent the rest of the night being a bitch to me.I've read a fair amount of literature about vegetarianism, including stuff by crazy ex-vegans who say that everyone who claims to be a vegan really "cheats" and that it doesn't work - that stuff, probably mostly craziness...
I'd wonder about causation. Does a vegetarian diet drive you crazy - or are crazy people more likely to eat vegetarian? Ritual restriction plays a big part in lots of mental illness so it's a tough one to separate. The study itself draws some pretty pure points - of the people they surveyed, the vegetarians were less healthy. Extending that out into some bombastic Daily Mail shitshow is inappropriate but drearily predictable. More often than not, you can improve your health by eating less meat. Improving your health by eating no meat is trickier. I generally eat beef only once or twice a week and try to go for a meat-free day once a week or so. I'd eat a lot more fish if I didn't live in Los Angeles, which has exactly zero understanding of fish. As in most things, pragmatism is your best approach, I think.I did note that the study was of Austrians - although among the study's sources is a study of Australian women that also finds that vegetarians tend to have higher rates of mental issues.
So, not the Australian study, but there was a study of German participants, and they found actually that participants were likely to have mental instability before adopting a vegetarian diet. I like the Michael Pollan approach. Meat as a side dish, not a main; less meat, but not no meat.