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Although many may think that having a vegan diet may be healthy, it is quite the opposite. For those of you who may be unaware of what a vegan diet is, it is a diet in which you eat no meat or animal products inclusive of eggs, dairy, honey and other products that are made by animals. There are many health risks due to the vegan diet this includes a B12 deficiency, risk of anemia, and an increased risk for depression.
Vitamin B12 is a vitamin only found in animal products; therefore, vegans have a higher risk of B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 helps to produce DNA and red blood cells. Vitamin B12 Deficiency can cause serious problems such as lightheadedness, heart palpitations, pale skin, bowel problems, vision loss, erectile problems and mental issues or neurological damage. Due to neurological damage, one may become disorientated and for example, stand in front of a car and are run over. Reproduction may also become an issue due to erectile issues. A good way to prevent a B12 deficiency is to eat foods such as meat and poultry or if you would prefer to stick to a vegetarian diet eat dairy products and eggs. Vegetarians, however also have a risk of B12 deficiency due to lack of meat.
Eating a vegan diet can lead to a higher risk of anemia. Anemia occurs when you have a lack of healthy red blood cells to carry enough oxygen to your body tissues. Consequences of anemia include irregular heartbeats, headaches and lightheadedness, fatigue, shortness of breath and pale skin. The worst part is that in the start you will not even be able to tell you to have this condition due to how little it shows, however, this will evolve into something nasty if medical treatment is not sought out immediately. This can also relate to B12 deficiency, due to the lack of B12, the body produces less red blood cells, therefore, there will be less oxygen sent to your body tissues. Your body also requires iron and folate. Iron and folate can be found in vegan-friendly foods though, but the body requires other animal-based foods containing vitamin B12 and protein.
Those of which follow a vegan-based diet may also be unaware that they have a higher risk of thyroid problems. If you were to follow the vegan diet you would not eat fish, eggs and dairy, all of which contain iodine, which is essential for producing thyroid hormones. Thyroid hormones have the job of increasing basal metabolic rate, protein biosynthesis and long bone growth. Basal metabolic rate or BMR affects the rate in which one burns off calories; therefore, determining whether one will gain or lose weight. Protein biosynthesis is when cells produce proteins. Proteins do the vast majority of work in a cell and are required for structure and function. Long bone growth is caused mostly due to the extension of the diaphysis. Without thyroid hormones, you would have troubles putting on or losing weight, protein deficiency, and bone growth issues and your body would be altogether failing.
Some vegan parents will enforce a vegan diet on their newborn child. A newborn child cannot survive on a vegan diet. As mentioned previously, the vegan diet restricts animal products such as dairy and eggs. Human breast milk is technically an animal product and the baby formula contains milk powders. Some vegan parents will substitute breast milk or baby formula with soymilk. Soymilk does not provide the nutrients and vitamins that are found in breast milk. In 2017 a Belgium couple was imprisoned for the death of their seven-month-old infant. The infant died at nine pounds, this is seven pounds underweight and had organs that shrunk to half the size that they should have been, this was all due to a vegan diet being enforced on an infant.
The everyday vegan would claim that consuming animal products is unethical. I suppose in the perfect world we would want to live in peace, and have no animal be killed, however, we do not live in the perfect world and we do kill animals. Say hypothetically, the turtle was at the top of the food chain and had the same intellect as we do, say they were also a carnivore. The turtles would kill and eat us; it is just the way things work. It may be unethical, but it is the way of survival. Animals in the wild hunt and kill, why can’t we? The vegan diet even restricts animal-based products including eggs, honey and dairy. What are animals going to do with unfertilised eggs? Animals have no use for unfertilised eggs. Cows go through pain if not milked after a specific amount of time, even if they didn’t why not make use of their milk, they have no use for it after their calf has grown. Supplements can be taken if you wish to follow a vegan diet, however, why spend money on supplements when you can eat healthily?
The vegan diet is unhealthy and unethical on yourself. Vegans potentially risk their own lives instead of eating healthily. The vegan diet restricts all animal products that are vital for human survival. Without supplements, illness would take over and they would most likely die. At least move down to vegetarian so that you can keep yourself healthy and alive. Veganism is horrifically unhealthy and can be life-threatening.
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