Meat-Free Monday and limiting animal products for plant-based products is becoming trendy and commonplace. Many people try out veganism or vegetarianism in an effort to lose weight or find relief from health problems.
New York Public Schools has started Meat-Free Fridays for the children’s school lunch program. Eating plant-based is touted as a healthier option to traditional animal products.
The “plant-based is healthier” argument rests on the idea that plants have all the nutrition we need to live and thrive, and therefore eating meat is optional. Spinach has iron. Chia seeds are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids. Beans and lentils have all the protein you need!
Yes. Plants have nutrients. But that’s not the whole story. And the whole story is why so many of us wreak havoc on our bodies by skimping on animal products.
What’s missing from this conversation?
Nutrition in plants is often not readily bioavailable, and it is dangerous to assume, as many do, that because a food contains a nutrient we are able to absorb that nutrient.
This is the danger of vegan and vegetarian diets.
Meat-Eating in Traditional Diets
Weston A. Price, a 20th century dentist, observed cultures without access to processed foods, and he determined that, as a consequence, these peoples had far superior health in comparison to modern Westerners. He traveled the globe and studied primitive cultures in an effort to restore knowledge lost in industrialized societies. The Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) is dedicated to educating people today about how to use traditional foods and therapies to heal from the diseases of modernity, using the diet of our pre-industrialized ancestors.
The WAPF has digested Price’s work and synthesized 11 principles to help guide our dietary choices. This article is the second in a series to address and add context to each of the principles. The second principle of the Weston A. Price Foundation’s “Principles of Traditional Diets” states:
“All traditional cultures consume some sort of animal food, such as fish and shellfish; land and water fowl; land and sea mammals; eggs; milk and milk products; reptiles; and insects. The whole animal is consumed—muscle meat, organs, bones and fat, with the organ meats and fats preferred.”
Are Vegan and Vegetarian Diets Deficient?
The number one reason why vegan and vegetarian diets are deficient is because of nutrient bioavailability.
Plants have nutrients. People must digest the plants in order to absorb and utilize those nutrients. Often, these nutrients are trapped in anti-nutrients like oxalates, phytates, and lectins. More often, we don’t have the necessary enzymes to convert the nutrient precursor into their fully bio-available form.
Example: Vitamin A from Carrots vs. Beef Liver
Let’s start with an example.
There’s an association between carrots, sweet potatoes, and other orange and yellow vegetables and vitamin A, with their pigmentation as an indicator of beta-carotene. It’s a common misconception that beta-carotene is vitamin A. In truth, carotenes are a precursor to vitamin A, and most humans can convert beta-carotene to vitamin A. Our genetics and gut health determine if, and to what extent, we are able to convert beta-carotene into usable vitamin A.
Let’s compare carrots and beef liver. 100 grams of cooked carrot contains about 10,200 mcg of vitamin A in beta-carotene form, but only 852 mcg will be converted to active retinal form, given favorable genetics and good gut health.
Only 8% of the beta-carotene was converted to active vitamin A in this case. In stark contrast, 100 grams of cooked beef liver contains 7700 mcg of vitamin A, all of it preformed and ready to be absorbed.
If one wanted to get the same amount of vitamin A from carrots as are in 100 grams of cooked beef liver, one would have to eat about 20 carrots.
The danger is most vegans and vegetarians aren’t eating 20 carrots at a sitting.
This example underscores how nutrient dense animal foods are. Small amounts of animal foods pack more nutrition than buckets of vegetables.
Vitamin A in retinol form is not an optional nutrient for people who want to thrive. Vitamin A is essential for reproduction, vision, and immune system function, and deficits in vitamin A is a leading cause of common ailments like night blindness, frequent colds or other acute illnesses, and infertility.
Example: Omega-3s from Chia Seeds vs. Salmon
Chia seeds, another popular food “high in omega-3s” is bolstered as an alternative to eating animal-based foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, nutrition that is critical for brain and neurological function.
The story is complicated because chia seeds are a rich source of one kind of omega-3 fatty acid: alpha linoleic acid (ALA). Salmon is a rich source of three of the omega-3 fatty acids, EPA, DHA, and DPA. All of these are critical for brain, neurologic, and cardiovascular health.
A vegan or vegetarian may eat chia seeds diligently thinking they are getting all of their healthy omega-3s, and they are, but they aren’t getting all of them. Some people can convert ALA to the brain-boosting EPA and DHA, but not everyone can, and the degree to which one can convert these acids is genetic.
For people eating a diet high in saturated fat (not vegans and vegetarians), the average person can convert 6% of ALA to EPA and 3.8% of ALA to DHA. Those with diets low in saturated fat convert about 50% less.
Nutrients Only Found in Animal Foods
Vitamin D3
Vitamin B12
Choline
Cholesterol
Heme Iron
Creatine, Carnosine, Taurine
Many people feel better when initially following a plant-based diet because they cut out all the junk and give their bodies a chance to cleanse. However, what many don’t realize is it’s a matter of time before their health begins to deteriorate after their bodies deplete their nutritional reserves.
In a survey of about 11,000 Americans, the results showed that 84 percent of vegetarians and vegans return to eating meat. Most lapse within a year, while nearly a third don’t last more than three months. The study falls in line with previous research.
The 84 percent are listening to their bodies because their bodies need animal products to thrive.
The good news is most vegans and vegetarians that grew up in America grew up eating meat and probably have excellent nutritional reserves from which their body can pull nutrition during times of stress or famine, like while eating a deficient diet. Even more good news is that our bodies can heal!
Eating high quality animal products like organic, grass fed and finished beef can go a long way to restoring depleted nutrient stores.
Compared to conventionally raised beef, organic grass fed and finished beef is:
10X higher in vitamin A
3X higher in vitamin E
Substantially higher in calcium, magnesium, potassium, and B vitamins
Lower in cholesterol
Rich in stearic acid, which lowers cholesterol
Abundant source of anti-cancer conjugated linoleic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid)
Vegans and vegetarians have excellent intentions, and the facts surrounding nutrient bioavailability simply can’t be ignored. Animal products are not optional for those who want to live with energy and vitality.