Sunday, March 24, 2024

Can a person live without meat and be healthy: the answer of a professor from Harvard

 Meat is important for preventing depression and anxiety. And giving up this product completely can be harmful to mental health.

This is reported by RBC-Ukraine (Styler project) with reference to Harvard University nutrition and metabolism psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Ede in the Daily Mail, UAINFO.org informs.

Dr. Ede has been studying the connection between what we eat and our mental and physical health for several years. She claims that the human brain needs meat, because without it we put our mental health at risk.

"The brain needs meat. We're used to thinking that meat is bad for our overall health, including our brain health, and plants really are the best way to nourish and protect our brains. But the truth is, it's actually - upside down and backwards," says the specialist.

She emphasizes that while adequate protein has long been a concern in vegan diets, meat consumption is about more than protein.

"It's not really about the protein, it's about all the other nutrients that are in the meat. You can meet your protein needs with a vegan and vegetarian diet if you plan it carefully," says Dr. Ede.

Proteins are made up of chemicals called amino acids that build and repair muscles and bones.

While animal products like eggs, meat, cheese, and Greek yogurt are high in protein, it can also be found in vegan foods like lentils and broccoli.

"But many other essential nutrients are much harder to find, and in some cases they cannot be obtained from plants," the scientist added.

She noted that meat is "the only food that contains all the nutrients we need in the right form, and is the safest food for blood sugar and insulin levels."

These nutrients include vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, choline, iron, and iodine.

Vitamin B12, for example, helps in the formation of oxygenated red blood cells and DNA. However, it has also been linked to the regulation of mood-elevating serotonin, and low levels of serotonin are associated with an increased risk of depression and anxiety.

A 2021 systematic review of 18 studies compared meat eaters and non-meat eaters. The study involved 160,257 participants aged 11 to 96 (53 percent of whom were women), including 149,559 meat eaters and 8,584 meat avoiders.

Of these, 11 studies found that meat-free diets were associated with poorer mental health. One of these studies found that vegetarians had a 35.2 percent chance of developing major depression, compared to 19.1 percent for meat eaters.

Additionally, vegetarians were 31.5 percent more likely to develop an anxiety disorder, compared to 18.4 percent for meat eaters.

One study, published in 2022, surveyed 14,000 Brazilians between the ages of 35 and 74 and found that those who followed a vegan diet were twice as likely to suffer from depression — even though they consumed the same nutrients as meat-eaters.

And a meta-analysis published in 2020 that included 160,000 meat-eaters and 8,500 meat-eaters also found that those who cut meat out of their diet were significantly more likely to suffer from depression.

In addition, meat, eggs and milk are "especially vital" for children, young people and the elderly, as well as pregnant and lactating women.

A 2019 paper also found that vitamin B12 deficiency, which is more common in vegans, may increase the risk of stroke.

This is because its absence prevents the removal of proteins from the bloodstream, which leads to inflammation, which, in turn, increases the likelihood of damage to blood vessels. It is a key risk factor for stroke.

Adults need about 2.4 mg of vitamin B12 per day to function normally.

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