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%.
Mistaking cause and effect, perhaps?
There is also the possibility that those who chose vegetarianism had a high correlation with drug abuse, that could also cause decreased brain function?
So not only are vegetarians evil, but they are dumb too!
Ick. Is the one in front supposed to be a woman?
Your quotations says something to the effect that “lack of year round plant sources of
Vitamin B-12....” from what I understand NO plants make
Vitamin B-12 (unless you count some bacteria as “plants”)...
P.S. why didn’t we evolve a method to synthesize B12? We had
to evolve other biochemical pathways to process meat. We
certainly could evolve B12 synthesis. No? Wouldn’t that
have had greater survival value than having to hunt or
eat insects or fauna? And wouldn’t it have been less
costly biologically or survival wise? Or did early primates have to
ability to do that, and lose it when meat was available in
mass quantities?
It makes sense to me! Eat grass, get grilled.
You win most ironic post of the day. Einstein became a vegetarian. :P
I’m 35 and have never eaten meat in my life (raised that way). I’m 6’2”, muscular/athletic, did great in school, and now work a 6 figure income job. (Not to brag, just making a point) Why?
This article is sensationalist CRAP. It’s EASY to get non-meat sources of B12.
Is this so, shaggy??
He tried a vegetarian diet the last year of his life.
He made no discoveries nor did any science.
He died after a year of the diet.
Not a good recommendation.
Perhaps the point of the article is that it is not easy to get B12 without going to some additional trouble to examine one's diet.
What is the source of the "non-meat" B12?
That picture might have had some value as humor had not Einstein himself been a vegetarian. That little tidbit just makes the creator look like an ill-informed moron.
Well, I do eat meat, although not as much as I used to because of this whole middle-aged triglyceride and cholesterol thing. What I don’t get is the animosity towards those who don’t eat meat. My own daughter is a lacto-ovo vegetarian, and I know for sure she doesn’t deserve this kind of scorn.
Dairy products (I'm not vegan) and brewer's yeast. About 1 tbsp/day of brewer's yeast will do it. Just sprinkle it on toast or whatever else you're eating.
http://www.purcellmountainfarms.com/Brewers%20Yeast.htm
Actually, Einstein tried a vegetarian diet for the last year of his life. He died after a year of vegetarianism.
He did not make any discoveries nor do any real science at that time. So I'm not so sure...
,,, Blackie, you are what you eat.
So, I’m a big rare steak? ;)
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