Vegans are better informed about risks

Expert: Vegan lifestyle can be health beneficial

28/11/2014

Vegans abstain from all animal foods as well as products containing animal ingredients. Fruit, vegetables, nuts and cereal products are therefore on the menu. Meat, fish, dairy products, eggs and honey are taboo. This is why vegans often do not or only rarely absorb certain nutrients such as vitamin B12 and calcium. In the run-up to the Berlin Congress "VegMed", the nutritionist Markus Keller, in conversation with the news agency "dpa", points out that most vegans are well-informed about possible deficiencies and would take corresponding preparations for prevention. With a balanced food selection, the vegan lifestyle is conducive to health, the expert said.

Vegan diet can lead to deficiencies
Vegans are better informed than ever about possible nutritional deficiencies due to a purely plant-based diet. "Most vegans now know that you should pay special attention to the supply of certain critical nutrients such as vitamin B12 and calcium," explains Keller. Both nutrients are mainly or exclusively contained in animal products.

The nutritionist researches at the Institute for Alternative and Sustainable Nutrition in Gießen. As part of his studies, he rarely meets vegans who would not take vitamin B12 supplements, Keller said. Frequently, however, the dosage is not optimal or the ingestion is too irregular. A well-balanced, full-fledged vegan diet could be healthy. That had been proven by studies. However, the number of vegan subjects is usually very low. In addition, there is still lack of studies on the vegan diet of pregnant women, nursing women, children and athletes. "Even the two largest epidemiological studies that compare the health of vegetarians and non-vegetarians, had in a total of more than 150,000 subjects only a relatively small proportion of vegans," says the expert.

With vegan diet prevent cardiovascular disease
According to Keller, people who eat purely plant-based foods have the least risk of obesity and obesity, type 2 diabetes and other diet-related illnesses. Thus, the vegan diet can protect against cardiovascular disease and help with weight loss because of their low-cholesterol and low-fat diet. In addition, fruits and vegetables contain many valuable antioxidants that are said to have an anti-cancer effect. In contrast, the risk of cancer is even increased by the consumption of red meat.

Many vegans have a healthier lifestyle overall because they are more aware of their diet. The image of the "typical vegan" has also changed in public, explains Keller. The growing offer of special cookbooks, cafés and information events will also make that possible. "The diet is now more associated with health than lack."

According to Keller, most vegans abstain from animal food for ethical reasons. Factory farming and environmental degradation are common motivations. According to the Vegetarian Federation, seven million vegetarians and around 900,000 vegans live in Germany. (Ag)