I cannot understand why.......
Posted on 09/15/2008 7:30:36 AM PDT by Reaganesque
MELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage.
Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin.
The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87.
When the volunteers were retested five years later the medics found those with the lowest levels of vitamin B12 were also the most likely to have brain shrinkage. It confirms earlier research showing a link between brain atrophy and low levels of B12.
Brain scans of more than 1,800 people found that people who downed 14 drinks or more a week had 1.6% more brain shrinkage than teetotallers. Women in their seventies were the most at risk.
Beer does less damage than wine according to a study in Alcohol and Alcoholism.
Researchers found that the hippocampus-the part of the brain that stores memories - was 10% smaller in beer drinkers than those who stuck to wine.
And being overweight or obese is linked to brain loss, Swedish researchers discovered. Scans of around 300 women found that those with brain shrink had an average body mass index of 27 And for every one point increase in their BMI the loss rose by 13 to 16%.
Seriously, its a small sample and I'm not so sure about the conclusions they make but, it is funny to read.
Misleading headline: should be “Eating nothing but veggies shrinks the brain unless you supplement vitamin B12”.
I cannot understand why.......
So I can cover my cereal group, vegetable group (hops) and Vitamin B12 (yeast) by drinking a can of beer?
You are what you eat.
Didnt Obambi have a problem with finding Arugula once?
Just saying.
Seriously, though, diet was a major technique for keeping recruits in cults and some communes. A high carb, low protein diet with minimal vitamins makes your group easier to control since they won't be thinking as well as the meat-eating cult leaders.
Which is probably why the UN promotes a vegan diet for the entire planet.
Yes, the idea is funny as it compares to the Far Left. :-)
As for the study’s conclusions, though, I wonder if all those test subjects with low vitamin B12 levels were vegans or vegetarians? Some people cannot process B12 well, no matter what they eat, and have naturally low levels.
Read the conclusion (see below, sorry for the lengthy reading) from this study: http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-4a.shtml
Contrary Facts vs. Vegan Dogma:
Facing the Honesty Problem
SYNOPSIS OF THE PRIMARY EVIDENCE (CONCLUSIONS)
Humans can be regarded as natural omnivores, so long as one uses the common definition of the term: a natural diet that includes significant amounts of both plant and animal foods. (Humans might not qualify as omnivores if one uses the definition of omnivore as advocated by D.J. Chivers and associates, and discussed in earlier sections herein.)
To use terms that are linked to gut morphology, humans are either faunivores [meat-eaters] or frugivores with specific (evolutionary) adaptations for the consumption of animal foods. This, of course, means that humans are not natural vegetarians. A short summary of some of the evidence supporting this follows (the material below was discussed in depth in earlier sections of this paper).
- The fossil record. Approximately 2.5 million years of human omnivory/faunivory are apparent in the record, with genetic adaptation to that diet the inevitable and inescapable outcome of evolution. The supporting evidence here includes isotope analysis of fossils, providing further evidence of consumption of animal foods.
- Comparative anatomy of the human gut. The best scientific evidence available to date on gut morphology—analyzed using two different statistical approaches—shows evidence of adaptations for which the best explanation is the practice of faunivory. (Faunivory as an explanation is also supported by optimal foraging theory in hunter-gatherer tribes.) Further, the human gut morphology is not what might be expected for a strict vegetarian/fruit diet.
- Comparative physiology (metabolism)
a. Intestinal receptors for heme iron. The existence of intestinal receptors for the specific absorption of heme iron is strong evidence of adaptation to animal foods in the diet, as heme iron is found in nutritionally significant amounts only in animal foods (fauna).
b. B-12 an essential nutrient. Similarly, the requirement for vitamin B-12 in human nutrition, and the lack of reliable (year-round) plant sources suggests evolutionary adaptation to animal foods in the human diet.
c. Plant foods are poor sources of EFAs. In general, the EFAs in plant foods are in the “wrong” ratio (with the exception of a very few exotic, expensive oils), and the low synthesis rates of EPA, DHA, and other long-chain fatty acids from plant precursors point to plant foods as an “inferior” source of EFAs. This strongly suggests adaptation to foods that include preformed long-chain fatty acids, i.e., fauna.
d. Taurine synthesis rate. The low rate of taurine synthesis in humans, compared to that in herbivorous animals, suggests human adaptation to food sources of taurine (fauna) in the human diet.
e. Slow conversion of beta-carotene. The sluggish conversion rate of beta-carotene to vitamin A, especially when compared to the conversion rate in herbivorous animals, suggests adaptation to dietary sources of preformed vitamin A (i.e., a diet that includes fauna).
f. Plant foods available in evolution were poor zinc and iron sources. The plant foods available during evolution (fruits, vegetative plant parts, nuts, but no grains or legumes) generally provide low amounts of zinc and iron, two essential minerals. These minerals are provided by grains, but grains are products of agriculture (i.e., were not available during evolution), and contain many antinutrients that inhibit mineral absorption. This suggests that the nutritional requirements for iron and zinc were primarily met via animal foods during human evolution.
g. Bitter taste threshold as a trophic marker. An analysis of the human bitter taste threshold, when compared to the threshold of other mammals, suggests that our sensitivity to the bitter taste is comparable to that of carnivores/omnivores.
- There is no such thing as a veg*n gatherer tribe. And there are no records to indicate that any such tribes ever existed; also no evidence of any vegan societies either.
- The actual diets of all the great apes includes some fauna—animal foods. Even the great apes that are closest to being completely vegetarian, gorillas, deliberately consume insects when available. Chimps and bonobos, our closest relatives, hunt and kill vertebrates and eat occasional meat.
- Many of the ancillary claims made in comparative “proofs” of veg*n diets are logical fallacies:
a. The misinterpretation of animal studies using domesticated or feedlot meats to condemn all omnivore diets.
b. The misinterpretation of clinical studies showing negative results for the SAD/SWD as indicating negative results for all omnivore diets.
c. The misinterpretation of the results of the China Project to claim it “proves” vegan diets are best and all omnivore diets are bad.
- John McArdle, Ph.D., an anatomist and primatologist, a vegetarian, and scientific advisor to the American Anti-Vivisection Society, summarizes the situation clearly [McArdle 1996, p. 174]: Humans are classic examples of omnivores in all relevant anatomical traits. There is no basis in anatomy or physiology for the assumption that humans are pre-adapted to the vegetarian diet. For that reason, the best arguments in support of a meat-free diet remain ecological, ethical, and health concerns.
Veg*n diets are not the natural diet of humans
The data available on humanity’s evolutionary diet leads to the conclusion that veg*n diets are not the natural diet of humanity, although a veg*n diet that excluded dairy, grains, and legumes could be described as a restriction of the evolutionary diet. The evolutionary or hunter-gatherer diet (discussed in earlier sections) consists of a diet of wild plant foods (fruits, nuts, some leaves/stems, starchy tubers—possibly cooked), insects, and the lean meat and organs of wild animals.
Note that grains, legumes, and/or dairy are generally not available to hunter-gatherers; such foods are provided in significant quantities only via agriculture, and have been a significant part of the human diet for only about 10,000 years or less. The extent of human genetic adaptation to such foods is a controversial point, but the majority view is that the genetic adaptation that has taken place in the last 10,000 years is quite limited. (See the discussions earlier herein regarding hereditary hemochromatosis, and the carnivore connection hypothesis.) Similarly, modern processed foods have been with us for only a few generations, and genetic adaptation in such a short period is highly unlikely.”
Those Veggies are good in small quantities,
but I don’t want my kids to think that the Veggies’ version of biblical stories is the true one. Whenever there is confusion, I crack open what the actual Word says on that particular story and have them listen to that.
Here’s some scripture that some have twisted to view vegetarians negatively:
Romans 14:2
For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.
Paul was talking in an allegory.....
Researchers found that the hippocampus-the part of the brain that stores memories - was 10% smaller in beer drinkers than those who stuck to wine.
Back to back sentences that seem to contradict each other.
Exactly why one cannot fully trust the “media” for everything.
They don’t know enough about nutrition or science to report
accurately any news from that sector. Factor in the
idea that they don’t know politics, finance, movies, etc.,
and it is easy to see how they can mislead the masses...
PASS THE BACON & BEER......PING
One can find fun little passages like that, here’s another one:
Ecc 10:2
A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left.
Naked vegans.
Vegansexuals Refuse Intimacies With Normal People The latest fad in moonbat-friendly New Zealand is vegansexuality, whereby vegans punish normal people by refusing to have sex with them.
Explained one Christchurch vegan:
I believe we are what we consume, so I really struggle with bodily fluids, especially sexually.
Another elaborated:
I would not want to be intimate with someone whose body is literally made up from the bodies of others who have died for their sustenance.
Chirped a third:
When you are vegan or vegetarian, you are very aware that when people eat a meaty diet, they are kind of a graveyard for animals.
Given the sickly appearance that results from vegans' abnormal diet, it's doubtful they get many opportunities to turn non-vegans down. http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2007/07/
Even in Latin, DEXTER = Right, SINISTER = Left...............
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.