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The Vegan Brain, by Georgia Ede MD

Once again, an offering that is only new to me, but she has such awesome things to say I wanted to share.

In The Vegan Brain: Plant-based diets, micronutrients, and mental health, Dr. Ede declares:

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Most people think of fruits and vegetables as teeming with the vitamins, minerals, and powerful antioxidants we need to live and thrive. It is true that many plant foods are rich in many of these substances, but just because a food contains a particular nutrient doesn’t mean we can access it.

And BOOM! It's ON.

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Below I summarize the most important potential brain nutrient deficiencies that ALL plant-eaters—vegans, vegetarians and omnivores— need to be aware of, as well as key deficiency risks unique to vegans and vegetarians.

Well, I picked the right day to start Keto. :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Contrary to popular belief, plant foods are lousy sources of vitamin A. In fact, they contain no vitamin A at all! Instead, they contain carotenoids, which we must then convert into retinol, the form of vitamin A our bodies can use. This is 12 to 24 times more difficult than obtaining retinol from animal foods.

Maybe I can tell this to my mother as many times as she told me to eat my vegetables (which I never, ever, liked as a kid, and to this day.)

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The form of vitamin D our bodies need is vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). We can make Vitamin D3 from sunshine or obtain it from animal foods. The form of vitamin D found in plant foods is vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol). Our bodies can convert some D2 to D3, but D2 is less potent, doesn’t last as long in the bloodstream, and may be harder to store in our body fat for rainy days and dark winters.

Also, it is fairly well known now that the ability to synthesize Vitamin D from sunlight drops as we age, which is why I supplement with both D3 and K2.

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The MK-4 form of vitamin K2 only exists in animal foods.

All I can say is "See?!?!?!"

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Vegan diets contain virtually no vitamin B12, and severe, prolonged B12 deficiency is fatal. Most vegans and vegetarians are aware of this danger and either take supplements or consume fortified yeast (unfortified yeast doesn’t naturally contain any vitamin B12).

This is probably the most recognized deficiency, and the most likely to be admitted to by vegans. "But I supplement!" is not the panacea they imagine. In Thinking of going vegan? Read this first. the warning is:

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Vitamin B12 deficiency was once thought to be rare in vegetarians, but is now known to be common among people on all the different vegetarian variations. Researchers have observed stage 3 vitamin B12 deficiency in over 60% of vegetarians.

Stage 3 is the WORST level. It comes down to bio-availability, which is 50% in meat and fish, but only 9% in eggs. What's more, I think plant-based diets are so deficient in so many things it interferes with full absorption and ability to use it correctly in the body.

Back to Dr. Ede:

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The brain is a high-energy organ, so even temporary, mild deficiencies of a single B vitamin can significantly disrupt normal brain function. All of the B vitamins except for B12 can be found in plant foods, yet some studies find that vegans are more likely to be deficient in vitamin B3 (niacin), B6 (pyridoxine), and B2 (riboflavin).

Like I said.

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Many plant foods are lower in iron than animal foods, and to make matters worse, plants contain a form of iron that is far more difficult to absorb than heme iron, the form found in animal foods.

How many vegans and vegetarians show up at the doctor for anemia? Lots, though they are loathe to admit it. And this can turn into pernicious anemia, which can kill you.

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Plant foods are far lower in zinc than animal foods. Zinc deficiency is much more common among vegans than iron deficiency, and yet gets far less attention. A 2017 Swiss study found that 47% of vegans had inadequate zinc levels compared to only 10% of omnivores.

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Vegan diets contain absolutely no DHA or EPA, and vegetarian diets contain only small amounts from eggs and dairy. In comparison to omnivores, DHA and EPA levels can be about 30% lower in vegetarians and more than 50% lower in vegans. This is because the form of omega-3 (ALA) found in plant foods is very difficult for the body to convert into DHA. At best, women convert only about 9% of the ALA they consume into DHA, whereas men convert a dismal 0-4%.

In closing, Dr. Ede declares:

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The science is clear on this point: unsupplemented vegan diets pose great danger to brain health. It is my hope that this article will help call attention to these other critical nutrients the brain needs in order to operate at the top of its game.

Personally? I think the Vegan Brain is why they act so irrational. It's sad, it really is. As an animal rights activist since the age of 12, I understand: but they are going about it all the wrong way, with lies and stubbornness instead of adult moral decisions and actual science.

I think a far better solution to animal issues are to push for:

more and better guidelines for the use of animals in research
humane and sustainable farming
less waste of resources exemplified by the processed food industry, which levels natural habitats to make unnatural foods
helping people realize BETTER food is cheaper in the long run that CHEAP food

This is a highly personal thing to me, as ya'll can probably tell. :lol: Plus I live with four rescue cats, who are obligate carnivores. I also fight for them.

Excellent. Thanks!

:)

I volunteered in a shelter with two of my girls at different times, for 18 years. Over population is the biggest problem, obviously. Spay and neuter is my mantra. Right now in my area, there are probably 2000 pit bulls that are homeless and in various shelters just here. It does make me mad that ignorant people would do this. The first thing I do with my pets is fix them.

I have also raised livestock for a good part of my life and one thing my father instilled in me is to respect the animals. He taught me the same thing about hunting, don't kill anything you don't eat. I have no problem with knowing that the animals are used for human consumption, as long as it is done humanly.

That being said, I know that vegans have it all wrong. There is a lot more going on with some of them than just wanting to eat a certain way for some mystical greater good of animals in general.

I have a friend who barely eats meat. She's chronically deficient in Iron. She also doesn't eat many vegetables, she just eats lots of carbs, pies, cakes instead of meals of meat and veggies. She has moments of memory lapses and she's told me about cognitive issues she is having.She even passed out at a carnival and attributed it to the heat and being dehydrated.
I tell her to eat more meat but she won't listen. I gave her an Atkins book but it fell on deaf ears.

I have also met many animal "rescuers" through the years. Sorry to say that I found many of them to be animal hoarders who figured out a way to legitimize their affliction and elevate their behavior to the level of a savior. The last time I adopted a dog, the lady rescuer, at the last minute wanted to meet me at a Petsmart instead of her house. (she didn't want me to see the animals or conditions) So I ended up doing exactly what you are never supposed to do, which is what I told her, buying a puppy in a parking lot. I had driven a couple of hundred miles to get the pup and traded emails for weeks and I was ready for this pup to be paart of our family, so she got me. Then she told me she just had her fixed the day before by an unlicensed person on her kitchen table (I kid you not). When I got back with the pup, I went straight to the vet because the incision was already getting infected. This lady has a web-site, she does pet adoptions at pet marts with her group, I was referred to her, she was supposed to be legit and that's what I ended up with.

It's hard to say what drives these people, maybe it's some sense of belonging to a group of like minded people, however misguided they are, IDK but I definitely know that being deficient in B-12 isn't helping the vegans think clearly.

I couldn’t agree more, Meme #1. People who write scenarios and cast themselves at the lead should pursue a theatrical outlet, not try to make their fantasies fit into real life.

Yesterday in The Daily Mail:

DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: Sorry vegans, I won't give up my juicy steak any time soon

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...FBjZOB6 h1pQLk

One quote:

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Meat is nutritious… and it’s brain food

The health benefits of red meat are rarely reported. But make no mistake, there are plenty.

Not only is meat a good source of protein that is easily absorbed by the body, but it is abundant in important micronutrients too.

Vitamin B12, found exclusively in animal products, is important for brain development. Studies show deficiencies can lead to fatigue, memory loss and, in severe cases, permanent brain damage. Unless vegans take a daily B12 supplement, they will almost certainly be deficient. Oxford University researchers recently compared blood levels of meat-eating and vegan men. Half of the vegans were Vitamin B12 deficient, compared to just one meat-eater.

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Originally Posted by JEY100

DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: Sorry vegans, I won't give up my juicy steak any time soon

Not only that, i have discovered that my body is not at all successful in extracting protein from plant food. And that meat also improves my mood! I think I need those amino acids to make enough neurotransmitters.

I was a vegetarian 95% of the time for many years and mostly vegan for two years until one of my grad students asked if I knew I often started a new sentence in the middle of the previous one. I had noticed it myself but had passed it off as my mind thinking faster than my mouth. But it was really a mix of brain fog and lack of focus & concentration that I never experience while eating ketogenically.

The reason cereals & "healthywholegrains" are full of vitamins and minerals is because they are "fortified" with them. You could just as easily eat the box they came in and pop a multivitamin.

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Originally Posted by deirdra

The reason cereals & "healthywholegrains" are full of vitamins and minerals is because they are "fortified" with them. You could just as easily eat the box they came in and pop a multivitamin.

Apparently, dieticians get squirrelly about “cutting out whole food groups” but in the case of refined grains, there is no there, there.

What Diedra said about eating the fortified box tops...that reminds me of those rice cakes that they pushed in WW that was like eating an old shoe. But it's a whole grain, fortified shoe. LOLOL

If you laid the white cheddar rice cakes I ate in those days end to end...

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Originally Posted by WereBear

If you laid the white cheddar rice cakes I ate in those days end to end...

Not me, I tried to eat it a couple of times and decided that this is BS, this is just not normal human food :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

also, can you just imagine the chemical process they put rice through to have it end up puffed and molded in a block.

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Originally Posted by Meme#1

I figured it was shot from guns like Sugar Pops used to claim :lol:

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Originally Posted by WereBear

I figured it was shot from guns like Sugar Pops used to claim :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: