Plant-Based Diets are just as good if not better than Animal-Based Diets/diets with animal products

There are lots of inaccurate statements made by the CON in Round 1.1. "Nutrition - PBD do not contain performed Vitamin A, Vitamin B12, and Vitamin D."Wrong. As stated before, a herbivore can get ALL those things from a varied PBD. Vitamin A is in lots of plants...carrots, for example. Vitamin D comes from direct sunlight & fortified food. You also missed my statement that both omnivores and herbivores alike are prone to being Vitamin D-deficient...this is not related to being vegan but being HUMAN. Regardless of diet, we should consider taking a Vitamin D supplement & going out into direct sunlight during the early afternoon hours. Simple. Not related to a specific diet. And B12? You missed my point, that it is easy to get B12 in these modern times regardless of your diet.2. "Micro-nutrient deficiency is often a result of PBD.""An estimated 25,000 different micronutrients exist in the plant kingdom." http://www.fi.edu..."Individuals who eat a typical Western diet generally have reduced intakes of several micronutrients, compared with individuals who primarily eat plant-based diets." http://www.tcolincampbell.org..."Vegans obtained a higher percentage of total energy from carbohydrates than did omnivores and had higher intakes of polyunsaturated fat, monosaccharides, dietary fiber, folate, vitamin C, vitamin E, and magnesium. Furthermore, female vegans had lower intakes of total and monounsaturated fat and a higher intake of iron than did female omnivores. Male vegans had lower intakes of alcohol and sodium than did male omnivores." http://ajcn.nutrition.org...Proper research will teach you about the antioxidants and micro-nutrients found in plants that are necessary for sustaining life.3. "Vegetarian diets are linked to menstrual problems in young women."Wrong. Being FEMALE is linked to iron deficiency. No healthy diet should result in menstrual problems. A vegetarian who is not getting proper iron sources is probably going to have problems. But an ABD that is not well-planned could also result in this."Female vegans had a higher iron intake (excluding supplements) than female omnivores, which does not support a previous finding (28). However, intake was similar when including supplements. Low iron status was as frequent among omnivores as among vegans, despite the vegans' intake of nonheme iron only, which has a lower absorption rate than does heme iron (48), and higher intakes of dietary fiber and possibly phytic acid, which decrease the bioavailability of iron."You mentioned that AFS gives nutrients like iron in forms that the human body can use more readily. No problem. "Iron bioavailability may be increased by combining iron intake with intake of food items high in vitamin C." (http://ajcn.nutrition.org...) Any informed person, whether they subscribe to PBD or ABD, will take advantage of this information - where do you get Vitamin C from? Fruits and veggies (and/or supplements).4. "It takes intelligence and hard work to maintain a healthy PBD."This is speculation. My statement would be more like: it takes an informed person to eat a well-balanced, ethical diet, regardless of whether it is a PBD or ABD. This is a much more accurate statement, in my opinion.5. Unnecessary food rules? There are no food rules here. Opening yourself to the possibilities away from the limitations of an ABD is actually freeing. There's no way to miss every single animal byproduct, mostly because our culture has allowed this, NOT because a PBD is any less healthy.More and more foods are becoming clearly labeled as vegan and animal-free! There is the certified Vegan label, which will let people know there are absolutely no animal-products in them. This is growing, thank God. Although there are still many "hidden" animal ingredients, more producers are starting to get the point that this is NOT ok to keep hidden. The CON side didn't seem to get that I am speaking from an American's perspective. My point is that no one in a developed country needs milk. This still stands. The ones who need dairy are those in developing countries (or in less agricultural areas -- but likely they have access to imported foods) which DOES NOT PROVE that ABD are better, just that they can be helpful for those who don't have access to all the macro & micro-nutrients that the typical American does. I was pointing out that the typical Westerner or anyone with access to markets and groceries DOES NOT NEED DAIRY.B12 -- this is not an argument for an ABD, haha. This is proving that you can get every single other nutrient you need apart from B12 from plants, and with modern times, you can get B12 in an absorbable form either in your foods or supplements. Most uninformed people assume that vegetarians/vegans are highly deficient in nutrients that they can't get from plants. This is not so! Clearly both those on ABD & PBD have to carefully monitor their nutrient levels -- this takes education and information ON BOTH SIDES. But it is easy to get all the nutrients you need, and much more, from a PBD. Economics and sustainability are very much a part of what makes PBD a better OVERALL diet than ABD, in addition to superior nutrition. I take the ethics & responsibility of individuals in account, because well, they are relevant to diet. Read this article, "Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler." http://www.nytimes.com...The malnutrition from cultures -- simple. Let's stop eating as much meat and dairy since some myths about needing them have been debunked, and give those resources and nutrition to them. You handed me that one. Please note that I'm not saying every single person should stop eating meat and dairy. For some reason, omnivores get the idea that vegans are telling them they think EVERYONE should stop eating ALL meat. Not so. Obese American dietary problems, which are highly relevant to other cultures because they are following in our footsteps (American meat consumption is decreasing, while other developing countries are INCREASING their meat intake by following our former lead -- http://www.researchscape.com...), have a heavy foundation in animal-based diets. The majority of Americans and any of the other many westernized countries with similar diets are on animal-based diets. So there is an issue here, and clearly, if most of these diets are animal-based, these heavy animal-based diets must be causing problems. Cause and effect. "These are often convenience products targeted to an overworked population, as well as to younger consumers who may lack cooking experience or skills." Bad government contributes to world hunger. This is true, however it is not the full story. We are the consumers. We buy the unethical products & allow world hunger to continue through overconsumption of meats & dairy -- which is not done out of respect for nutrition, but for taste/wealth/status (you yourself said that bacon is tasty...so? Who cares? LOTS of things are tasty! Get over it!)."A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today. As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) international panel of sustainable resource management." http://www.guardian.co.uk...PBD are not bad at all. They are just as good if not better than ABD -- nutrition-wise AND ethically speaking. Only when stepping out of a heavy animal product based diet does one see that a PBD can actually be much more varied than the typical ABD.