I've encountered claims of this sort on countless occasions over the years:
"Vegans are prone to a whole slew of health complications."
And while this may be true, I've never encountered any evidence which actually demonstrates that vegans are in fact any less healthy than the general populace. Moreover, I live in a nation where two-thirds of the populace are overweight and suffer associated health problems, and I'm fairly certain that vegans are disproportionately under-represented amongst such.
So, is there any such evidence?
Personally, I've known a few people who, for one reason or another, could not subsist in good health on a vegan diet--but not many. I've done so with no ill-effect for over 25 years. On few occasions, I've eaten dairy and/or eggs, i.e., in restaurants, as a guest in someone's home, etc. Also, I've lived in the bush a fair bit, and on rare occasion have eaten bugs. But otherwise...
But the thing is, while I've read plenty on the subject, I personally don't pay a whole lot of attention to nutrition. My general dietary rule has always been this: eat mostly FOOD. IOW fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, etc. are food (obviously). The further you get from this, the less likely it is to be food-- packaged things with a list of things that don't really sound like food probably aren't. Also, I'd have to pay attention to all the things which may be derived from animal products, and most importantly--in my case--I'm epileptic, and I've had some pretty severe reactions to unusual sounding ingredients. Yes, there may be some correlation/causation issues--but why not err on the side of caution?
(Also, I'm poor and cheap: good packaged food is expensive, and the cheap stuff is just gross.)
Besides not having any health problems (apart from epilepsy owing to head trauma), I'm--IMHO--in all-around excellent health: I'm active (though I've never "exercised" in my life) and could (and have for months on end) get on a beater bike and ride 120 miles or more on any day, pulling a hundred pound trailer carrying my dog and all kinds of shit.
In order to spare someone the time and effort of having to type out a missive on how many acres of arable land, or how many gallons of water, it takes to grow a soybean (I've grown 'em, I know)--or, that humans have canines and such-and-such a digestive system--I'll repeat my sole query, in bold:
Is there any substantive evidence demonstrating that people subsisting on a vegan diet suffer any more health complications than do the general population?
"Vegans are prone to a whole slew of health complications."
And while this may be true, I've never encountered any evidence which actually demonstrates that vegans are in fact any less healthy than the general populace. Moreover, I live in a nation where two-thirds of the populace are overweight and suffer associated health problems, and I'm fairly certain that vegans are disproportionately under-represented amongst such.
So, is there any such evidence?
Personally, I've known a few people who, for one reason or another, could not subsist in good health on a vegan diet--but not many. I've done so with no ill-effect for over 25 years. On few occasions, I've eaten dairy and/or eggs, i.e., in restaurants, as a guest in someone's home, etc. Also, I've lived in the bush a fair bit, and on rare occasion have eaten bugs. But otherwise...
But the thing is, while I've read plenty on the subject, I personally don't pay a whole lot of attention to nutrition. My general dietary rule has always been this: eat mostly FOOD. IOW fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, etc. are food (obviously). The further you get from this, the less likely it is to be food-- packaged things with a list of things that don't really sound like food probably aren't. Also, I'd have to pay attention to all the things which may be derived from animal products, and most importantly--in my case--I'm epileptic, and I've had some pretty severe reactions to unusual sounding ingredients. Yes, there may be some correlation/causation issues--but why not err on the side of caution?
(Also, I'm poor and cheap: good packaged food is expensive, and the cheap stuff is just gross.)
Besides not having any health problems (apart from epilepsy owing to head trauma), I'm--IMHO--in all-around excellent health: I'm active (though I've never "exercised" in my life) and could (and have for months on end) get on a beater bike and ride 120 miles or more on any day, pulling a hundred pound trailer carrying my dog and all kinds of shit.
In order to spare someone the time and effort of having to type out a missive on how many acres of arable land, or how many gallons of water, it takes to grow a soybean (I've grown 'em, I know)--or, that humans have canines and such-and-such a digestive system--I'll repeat my sole query, in bold:
Is there any substantive evidence demonstrating that people subsisting on a vegan diet suffer any more health complications than do the general population?