Vegetarianism, and the extreme version – veganism, seems to be gaining acceptance in Western society as a healthy approach to eating. Consider the huge popularity of the pro-plant based diet Netflix documentary What The Health, which gets an “A” for obsessive ideology but a “F” for actual science.
Vegetarians Suffer More Infertility, Far More Likely to Have Girls
This is a worrisome turn of events, especially for our young girls. Folks who jump on the vegetarian bandwagon are risking their long term health as it is impossible for human beings to get all the nutrients they need from plant based foods alone. Vitamin B12, for example, is completely missing from plant based foods and can only be obtained from consuming animal tissues. While it is true that Vitamin B12 “analogs” are present in some plant foods, these analogs are not true vitamin B12 and actually increase a vegetarian’s need for the real thing!  This article discusses how 25% of adults suffer from life threatening B12 deficiency.
The nutritional deficiencies which frequently present in vegetarians are particularly devastating to young women who plan to one day bear children.
Infertility in vegetarians is higher than in girls who eat meat. In addition, vegetarian women who do manage to get pregnant carry fetuses that are at risk for more birth defects. Vegetarians are also far more likely to have females instead of male babies.
While having a girl instead of a boy is certainly not a problem in and of itself, this statistic does provide evidence that vegetarians are not as well nourished as omnivores. Boy fetuses are known to be less robust than female fetuses and, as such, require a higher level of maternal nutrition to remain viable.
Vegetarianism Refuted by Anthropology
Someone who is considering the vegetarian lifestyle need only to read the fascinating work of Dr. Weston A. Price and his groundbreaking book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration to be quickly convinced that this approach to eating is unwise. Dr. Price traveled the world in the 1930’s and studied all the indigenous cultures that had not yet been affected by what he called “the displacing foods of modern commerce”.
The cultures he studied included the Eskimos from Alaska, the Aborigines in Australia and every group that he could find in between. Dr. Price carefully examined and took pictures of these healthy peoples who were free of chronic disease, had happy, optimistic outlooks on life, and perfectly straight teeth virtually free of cavities. The traditional foods that each of these cultures consumed all contained animal foods. To repeat, none of these cultures was vegetarian. In fact, Dr. Price was unable to find an indigenous population of vegetarians that exhibited the health and vitality of the meat eating cultures.
Choosing Healthy Meats is Critical
While eating meat is clearly beneficial to health, it is also important to choose meat that comes from healthy animals in the first place. Most of the meat found on grocery store shelves comes from animals that are confined for their entire lives and are subjected to antibiotics and other drugs to control the disease that results from living in such inhumane conditions. It is in reaction to the negative publicity of these “factory farms” that some folks turn to vegetarianism in the first place. A better approach to protesting the ill treatment of animals raised in confinement would be to purchase grassfed meats from a local farmer and boycott supermarket meats. Where to find such a farmer?
A list of such producers is offered free to the public on the website www.eatwild.com. In addition, the Weston A. Price Foundation supports a system of Local Chapters all over the world. The Chapter Leader for each local chapter maintains a list of local, grass based producers that can be obtained for free just by inquiring! Â Click here to find the Chapter Leader closest to you!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Watch the Philip Wollen debate. Although this article had some good points, I think you need to watch this video before you come to a conclusion.
Vitamin D comes from the sun. I’m pretty sure the sun is a “non-animal product. If people are worried about not getting enough sunlight they can supplement. Many everyday vegan foods are fortified with vitamin D anyway (plant milks, cereals, grains etc)
The vitamin D used to fortify foods is synthetic!
Even though i am regular reader of this site, but i I fully disagree with this article. I belong to India, where in our culture we are eating vegetarian diet from 1000’s of years, without any problems / deficiency of nutrients. I am a common man, but i know much more about my culture/ food we eat and want to make a point that there are no problems being vegetarian whole your life and definitely people will lead a better and healthy life.
There are plenty of fruits and vegetables that aren’t genetically altered you just have to educate yourself on the topic.
???? I think you missed the entire point of this article!
Vegetarians, vegans, paleo are new social segments helping consumerism thrive. It is a global business. Industries engage gurus to brainwash people to turn to some specific diets such as vegetarian, vegan, paleo etc. Then people start buying merely vegetarian, vegtan or paleo “accredited” products. Then a new industry is born. This is the only truth about vegetarians, vegans and all these new trends. Biologically correct is following the evolutionary path, and that includes meat consumption. Otherwise we would still be all gatherers with minimum IQ. Hunting was the point when humans brain started to evolve. It is a reason vegetarians have to take this into account when they pledge their ultimate righteousness in terms of nutrition. I was a vegetarian for 5 years, the body became weak, I was very prone to colds and illness, I was experiencing hair loss. Since I’ve got pregnant, I turned to normal diet, meat included. It is wise to plan the quantities you eat, not to give up. We have been set by evolution to be omnivorous beings. The vegetarian “experts” are nothing when facing evolution as reality. To eat wise, you don;t have to give up food, you just have to know the source. P.S. Vegetarians survive merely on greens and stuff. Just dare to imagine how many chemical spraying and treatments do these greens receive for mainstream production. Do they realize that all they eat is genetically modified and chemically treated greens? How do they cope with that “healthy alternative” ? Wake up people, in your blind rage to become different, you just turn out to be another customer segmentation in this global market. Be wise.