Austrian Study on Carnivores vs. Vegetarians

MyriiStorm

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/vegetarians-are-less-healthy-and-have-a-lower-quality-of-life-than-meat-eaters-scientists-say-9236340.html

It concluded: “Our study has shown that Austrian adults who consume a vegetarian diet are less healthy (in terms of cancer, allergies, and mental health disorders), have a lower quality of life, and also require more medical treatment.”

Does it seem like more of the scientific community is coming around to this way of thinking? Or is it just that I'm noticing it more?

FIT_Goat

MyriiStorm wrote: »

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/vegetarians-are-less-healthy-and-have-a-lower-quality-of-life-than-meat-eaters-scientists-say-9236340.html

It concluded: “Our study has shown that Austrian adults who consume a vegetarian diet are less healthy (in terms of cancer, allergies, and mental health disorders), have a lower quality of life, and also require more medical treatment.”

Does it seem like more of the scientific community is coming around to this way of thinking? Or is it just that I'm noticing it more?

As a consummate carnivore, I have to at least be fair. There is a strong reason to suspect that people turn to vegetarianism because they are sick and are trying to get healthy. We can't be sure that the higher numbers are caused by vegetarianism or that vegetarianism appeals more to people who are already suffering. We've all be told that fruits and vegetables are healthy, so clearly eating only those would be healthiest. Right?

I know my turn to vegetarianism, when I was younger, was at least partially motivated by my health (overweight and out of shape). It didn't help, except for short-term weight loss. It actually made things worse over the long term.

Now, my personal belief is that vegetarians are doomed to be less healthy because they are eating suboptimal foods and depriving themselves of the nutrients in the correct balance for health. That's my personal belief, and I think long term results show that it might not be unfounded. I just don't know that this study proves it. What we need is a collection of studies that follows the health of people and tracks how their health changes over time. I'm not sure what a good study would look like.

I still enjoy studies like this. But, I've long since abandoned hope that they offer any strong evidence for the healthiness of eating meat.

tinywonder25

Although I don't adhere 100% to paleo at all times it's what started me on the road to recovering my health. Almost all scientist agree that we could not have developed the brains we now have without meat. So that tells me meat is an optimum source for optimum health. That's all I really need to know.

KenSmith108

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nvmomketo

I dislike when they call eating meat and plant matter as carnivorous. Wouldn't that be a Omnivorous diet? It just seems misleading...

Interesting article though. Thanks for posting.

KenSmith108 wrote: »

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LOL

GaleHawkins

@MyriiStorm it may be a lack of balance of diet at play. If one does not eat any meat protein in the macro may be hard to fill and visa verse. Limiting any whole food options can get dicey when it comes to have the best health unless that food causes negative reactions.

RalfLott

The wild conclusion (basically, Meat Trumps Veggies) being peddled in the popular press contradict the author's own words:

[N]o statements can be made whether the poorer health in vegetarians in our study is caused by their dietary habit or if they consume this form of diet due to their poorer health status. We cannot state whether a causal relationship exists, but describe ascertained associations.

Unfortunately, food intake was not measured in more detail, e.g. caloric intake was not covered. Hence, further studies will be necessary to analyze health and its relationship with different forms of dietary habits in more detail.

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Some of the faulted vegetarian diets were low-fat (or at least low-saturated fat), the measurement of "quality" of life was largely subjective, etc......
Gross generalizations often get even grosser even on casual inspection.

Riche120

I’m primarily vegetarian and for what it’s worth here’s my opinion:

It is very easy to eat poorly as a vegetarian. I was horrible when I first stopped eating meat. I substituted carbs like pasta, rice and potato based dishes for the meat. My fat intake became a lot lower and big surprise, I gained weight. I was definitely not eating healthier as a vegetarian. All of those extra carbs caused more carb cravings and looking back, that’s about when I really developed a sweet tooth; after all, cookies, ice cream, etc. are vegetarian friendly. I few years into it I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and a severe Vitamin D deficiency, I was definitely not as healthy on that kind of diet.

Now after 10 years, I’ve researched, worked with a nutritionist, and studied everything I can get my hands on and am now doing it the right way. I do believe that you can be a very healthy vegetarian, BUT it is not the easiest way to good health and I don’t think it's right for everyone. (My husband and kids do great eating meat, sadly I get horrible stomach aches when I eat it.) You really do have to understand nutrition and make sure to get your macros right in order to make vegetarianism work or you will easily end up worse off for it.

GaleHawkins

@Riche120 you are proof most any Way Of Eating can be done well but it is a lot of hard work. It was only when I was going down for the last time at age 63 did I put forth the effort to learn to eat in a way to start regaining my health by eating what that works best in my case. Now at 65 my health is better then when I was 45 but it was a steep learning curve.

Last night at Captain's D I ran into an employee who had to stop eating meat because of horrible stomach aches.

Thanks for sharing your encouraging success story.

MyriiStorm

As I've shared before, my son and his wife are vegan. My daughter-in-law just told me this afternoon that she is going to try the LCHF WOE and still maintain the vegan WOE. I'm eager to see how she does it, and hoping for the best for her.

FIT_Goat

One thing I will note, I used to be on a daily allergy medicine (seasonal type allergies) and even that wasn't always able to alleviate all of my symptoms. After many months of no plants at all, I was completely off my allergy meds and had no symptoms at all. Those symptoms have not returned as long as I stay away from plant foods. I am not the only carnivore that I know of who has completely lost their allergies by eating this way.

KetoGirl83

I was a vegetarian - vegan and macrobiotic at times - since my teens. It is VERY easy to eat poorly as a vegetarian (I see that now!). All those carbs almost inevitably lead to a sweet tooth and to a growing intake of sugar in all its forms (even when people avoid the white powder). Fruit and bread are the easiest snacks there is and they're available everywhere.

It took me becoming morbidly obese, T2D, B12 and D deficient and a lot of other problems to change my diet. I have a family history of metabolic problems, I see now that being a vegetarian was the worst I could do for my health short of eating junk food. I weep for all that I missed due to being so fat. It's probably possible to be healthy eating a vegetarian diet, maybe. I don't know and I don't care, I'll never go back.

::flowerforyou::

Dragonwolf

MyriiStorm wrote: »

As I've shared before, my son and his wife are vegan. My daughter-in-law just told me this afternoon that she is going to try the LCHF WOE and still maintain the vegan WOE. I'm eager to see how she does it, and hoping for the best for her.

Judging by the things I've seen from the vegetarians here who have tried vegan LCHF, she's in for a rough time, especially if she tries to do really low. Her odds are best somewhere in the 100g carbs range. As it stands, she'll end up living largely on coconut, olive, and avocado in order to get her fat needs. Nuts are a decent source of fat, but can also blow through your carb count if you're not careful.

Dragonwolf

I dislike when they call eating meat and plant matter as carnivorous. Wouldn't that be a Omnivorous diet? It just seems misleading...

Ugh, I detest people calling eating meat and plants "carnivorous." No. No, it's not. It's omnivorous. Carnivorous is meat to near exclusivity.

By their own logic, eating plants at all would mean they're herbivorous (read: vegetarian).

GaleHawkins

Once I grasped the understanding that food of any type is mainly just stored sunlight I realized all food sources are not that much different in original source. People that want to limit any food source are free to do so. As the years past I find myself eating in more simple ways and less red meat than ever due to science showing diets heavy in red meats may be associated with premature deaths.