From: altar@beaufort.sfu.ca (Ted Wayn Altar)
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
Subject: Re: True Vegeterian - is it OK?
Date: 8 Jan 93 16:44:11 GMT
Distribution: sci.med.nutrition
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada

revesz@msc.cornell.edu (Peter Revesz) writes:


>Question of hard-core Vegeterian:

>Is it possible to have a ballanced, healthy diet
>if someone does not eat meat, fish, eggs, milk AT ALL?

>Thank you for the advice.

You are talking about "vegans" and the short answer 
to your query is a resounding "yes!".  

Vitamin B12 could be a problem, but it's actual
risk has been exaggerated in the popular mind
B12 is a potential problem for vegan infants, but the
actual incidence of real B12 deficiency disease among
vegans has not actually been documented to be any greater
than among omnivores.  The problem of getting the numbers
is due to its rarity to begin with, and that 95% of B12
deficiency disease is NOT due to dietary inadequance but
to absorption problems (as caused by disease, injury, drugs,
old age, etc.)

In anycase, many soy products are supplemented with
B12, and B12 supplements (made from bacteria culture on
soybean mash) are cheap and easy to take on an intermittent
basis.  .

Vitamin D could be an another problem if one doesn't get
enough sunshine though the year.  But this is easy to
remedy by simply ensuring that one expose one's face
to the sun for about 15 mins. on average throughout
the year (less if you expose more of your body :-)  )
(alternatively, uv transmitable glass or full spectrum 
indoor lights).

And yes, you can store a sizable supply for future needs
by longer exposures.  Again, the incidence of D deficiency
among healthy adults is really quite rare.
To date, no cases of osteomalacia related directed to a vegan
diet has been reported and no surveys of vegans have suggested
any symptoms of this condition. There are a couple of reports of rickets
in infants raised on vegan diets.  One pertained to a black
vegan religious community (black skinned people are more
suspectible to D deficiency than fair-skinned people living
in the same latitude).

As you know, the standard nutritional recommendation regarding
the consumption of fat is that it constitute no more than
30% of your total caloric intake, and that saturated fat
be no more than 10%.    Other nutritionists have put
this upper limit to be 25% fat by total calories, and
even lower for individuals at high risk for heart disease.
It turns out that the only large mixed population who is
most closely achieves this goal of 30% fat by calories happens
to be vegans.  This is not to say that one can't achieve
a lower fat intake and still consume meat and dairy products,
but it does appear easier to achieve if one is a vegan.
The same seems to also apply to other nutrition recommendations like
the ingestion of more fiber, vitamin E, folic acid, vitamin
C, etc.

Not only is it possible to have a "balanced", healthy diet, 
it is apparently easier to do so as a vegan than as an
omnivore.  .

If you are interested in a good review of the research on this
matter, take a look at Gill Langley's VEGAN NUTRITION: A SURVEY
OF THE RESEARCH, 1988.

					ted
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition