Vegetarian diet can lead to iron and zinc deficiency

Just when you thought all the veg stories were getting rosy... Along comes this article from Germany's The Raw Story.

I won't deny that iron and zinc deficiencies are common among some vegetarians. Dr. Michael A. Klaper's Vegan Health Study makes that clear. In fact, Iodine is even more commonly deficient than iron or zinc in vegan diets. The VHS points out the other common nutritional concerns vegans ought to be aware of and smart about, so you'd be wise to print it out and clip it to your fridge or something. There's nothing in it that a conscientious vegan can't properly manage with an appropriate diet.

But this is the kind of backward-thinking notion that supports industry claims without any basis in reality:

Wisker stressed that it was nutritionally harmful to avoid an entire food group. "A person who stops consuming dairy products altogether, for example, will soon have a calcium deficiency.

It makes you wonder how long ago Professor Elisabeth Wisker studied nutrition, and what influenced her education.

Let's not forget that most humans have still not mutated to be drinking the lactation of any species as adults. Does this nutritional scientist have any clue that people drinking milk still have calcium deficiencies, and are thus taking supplements? Many people who eat animal products take all sorts of supplements, and for good reason. Is she aware that calcium can also be found in plant-based foods, all without the imbalancing pH of animal foods?

What about the health benefits of vegetarianism? Totally ignored. At least she acknowledges that "Eating meat isn't essential." If even someone as backward as she can recognize that meat-eating is unnecessary, then we may well be on the road to radically reducing and even eliminating its consumption.

Tags: iron | zinc | nutrition | health