I would say "who would want to be vegan?" because that's how those lacking access to meat and dairy are actually eating, whether intentional or not.



Vegetarian actually doesn't sound too awful - at least they're eating dairy and eggs, so they're getting complete proteins. Besides, looking at the nutritional stats for eggs, they're such nutritional powerhouses, low on very few essential nutrients, all of which would be supplemented in a vegetarian diet by dairy or various vegetables. The only thing is that if the only animal products they're eating is eggs, they're going to need to eat quite a few of them to get enough of those nutrients. You wouldn't be able to get by eating one egg a week, or even one egg a day (with no other animal products), and make up for what's lacking if the rest of your diet is plant based - the deficiencies would still eventually catch up with you.

Being vegan, on the other hand - that's so seriously lacking in essential nutrients (especially essential amino acids) that it's downright dangerous, particularly during the developmental years, which is when you'd end up with the reduced stature and lower IQ problems, not to mention serious health problems. As we've seen reported on here, adult vegans also end up with some serious health problems, which are then alleviated when they resume eating animal products.