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Vitamin B12 Deficiency—
The Meat-eaters’ Last Stand
By: John McDougall, M.D.
Defending eating habits seems to
be a primal instinct for people.
These days Westerners are
running out of excuses for their
gluttony. Well-read people no
longer believe meat is necessary
to meet our protein needs or that
milk is the favored source of
calcium.
With the crumbling of these two time-honored battlefronts the vitamin B12
issue has become the trendy topic whenever a strict vegetarian (vegan) diet is
discussed.
Since the usual dietary source of vitamin B12 for omnivores is the flesh of
other animals, the obvious conclusion is that those who choose to avoid
eating meat are destined to become B12 deficient.
There is a grain of truth in this concern, but in reality an otherwise healthy
strict vegetarian’s risk of developing a disease from B12 deficiency by
following a sensible diet is extremely rare—less than one chance in a million.
I knew forty years ago that vitamin B12 would become the last bastion for
meat- and dairy-lovers (and the industries that profit from them), because this
is the only criticism with any merit that could be lodged against the McDougall
Diet.
In order to avoid that condemnation and the small risk of harming anyone, I
have recommended and printed in the beginning of my books the following
advice:
If you follow the McDougall Diet for more than 3 years, or if you are pregnant or
nursing, then take a minimum of 5 micrograms of supplemental vitamin B12
each day.
Vitamin B12 is involved in the metabolism of all cells in the body; but the
effects of deficiencies are first seen in the blood and then the nervous system.
An anemia, called megaloblastic anemia, because it is characterized by large
red blood cells, is a common manifestation of deficiency.
The low red blood cell count is very well tolerated by the patient even when
severe, and is always cured by the taking of small amounts of B12. Mild
problems with the nervous system characterized by numbness and tingling in
the hands and feet also develop. These sensations are reversible in early
stages; however, damage to the nervous system can become much more
severe and irreversible after prolonged deficiency.
Take a moment to compare the possible consequences of your dietary
decisions. You could choose to eat lots of B12-rich animal foods and avoid
the one-in-a-million chance of developing a reversible anemia and/or even less
common, damage to your nervous system.
However, this decision puts you at a one-in-two chance of dying prematurely
from a heart attack or stroke, a one-in-seven chance of breast cancer or a one-
in-six chance of prostate cancer. The same thinking results in obesity,
diabetes, osteoporosis, constipation, indigestion, and arthritis.
All these conditions caused by a B12-sufficient diet are found in the people
you live and work with daily. How many vegans have you met with B12
deficiency anemia or nervous system damage? I bet not one.
Furthermore, you have never even heard of such a problem unless you have
read the attention-seeking headlines of newspapers or medical journals.
Sensationalism Surrounds B12-Deficient Vegetarians
Rare cases of B-12 deficiency suspected to be caused by following a
vegetarian diet make media-selling banners, because “people love to hear
good news about their bad habits.”
However, in depth research reveals that many of these “vegetarians” also
suffer from generalized malnutrition—not just isolated B12 deficiency from a
diet based on plant foods.
For example, the March 23, 2000 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine
published a letter (not a scientific article) with the provocative title; “Blindness
in a Strict Vegan.” The letter described a 33-year old man who was found to
have severe loss of vision (bilateral optic neuropathy).
He had started a strict vegetarian diet at age 20. Tests showed he suffered
from deficiencies of vitamins A, C, D, E, B1, B12 and folic acid, as well as zinc
and selenium. All combined, these deficiencies clearly indicate severe
malnutrition. B12 injections corrected his anemia, but not his visual loss.
Do you see the disconnection between the case history and the headlines?
Starches, vegetables, and fruits are very rich sources of folic acid and vitamin
C (as well as A, E, B1, zinc and selenium).
His malnourished condition most likely was caused by an intestinal disease
and/or an unhealthy “vegetarian” diet. The headlines published worldwide
that followed this letter reassured meat- and dairy-lovers that becoming a
vegetarian was an unwise decision.
Examination of many reported cases of B12 deficiency connected to a
vegetarian diet in both children and adults reveals similar confounding
factors. The patients may have subtle malabsorption and often come from
conditions of poverty and/or live an eccentric lifestyle—their health problems
are not simply due to avoiding animal foods.
However, I do believe there are very rare patients with diseases due to lack of
B12 from following a strict vegetarian diet for years—while others have
disagreed with me and believe that all cases have confounding factors.
Germs For Good Health
Although vitamin B12 is found in animal foods it is not synthesized by plants
or animals. Only bacteria make biologically active vitamin B12—animal
tissues store “bacteria-synthesized B12” which can then be passed along the
food chain by animals eating another animal’s tissues.
Ruminants (like cows, goats, sheep, giraffes, llamas, buffalo, and deer) are
unique in that bacteria in their rumens (stomachs) synthesize vitamin B12,
which is then passed down and absorbed by their small intestines. Lions and
tigers get their B12 from eating these grazers.
The human gut also contains B12-synthesizing bacteria, living from the mouth
to the anus. The presence of these bacteria is an important reason that
disease from vitamin B12 deficiency occurs very rarely in people, even those
who have been strict vegetarians (vegans) all of their lives.
The colon contains the greatest number of bacteria (4 trillion/cc of feces), and
here most of our intestinal B12 is produced. However, because B12 is
absorbed in the ileum, which lies upstream of the colon, this plentiful source
of B12 is not immediately available for absorption—unless people eat feces
(don’t gasp).
Feces of cows, chickens, sheep and people contain large amounts of active
B12. Until recently most people lived in close contact with their farm animals,
and all people consumed B12 left as residues by bacteria living on their un-
sanitized vegetable foods.
Why would a plant-food-based diet, heralded as a preventative and cure for
our most common chronic diseases be deficient in any way?
Such a diet appears to be the proper, intended, diet for humans, except for this
one blemish. The reason for this apparent inconsistency is we now live in
unnatural conditions—our surroundings have been sanitized by fanatical
washing, powerful cleansers, antiseptics, and antibiotics.
Since the germ theory of disease was developed by Louis Pasteur in 1877 our
society has waged an all-out war on these tiny creatures—most of them
extremely beneficial with only a very few acting as pathogens.
The rare case of B12 deficiency may be one important consequence of too
much cleanliness.
Efficiency Is the Other Reason Deficiency Is Rare
The human body has evolved with highly efficient and unique mechanisms to
absorb, utilize, and conserve this vitamin. Our daily requirement is less than 3
micrograms a day—one microgram is one-millionth of a gram (1/1,000,000
gram).
Which means, by design, people are expected to be exposed to only miniscule
amounts of this essential nutrient.
Vitamin B12 is the only nutrient that requires a cofactor for efficient
absorption. The cells of the stomach produce a substance, called intrinsic
factor, which combines—after the acidic digestion of the food in the
stomach—with the B12 released from food.
This “intrinsic factor-B12 complex” then travels to the end of the small intestine
(the ileum) where it is actively absorbed.
There is a second, much less efficient process, called “the passive absorption
of B12” which also occurs in the intestine. This mechanism does not use
intrinsic factor and as a result it is 1/1000 as efficient.
But by consuming very large doses of oral B12, passive absorption will
correct B12 deficiency even for patients with diseases of the stomach and
small intestine.
On average, for someone raised on the Western diet, about 2 to 5 milligrams of
B12 are stored, mostly in the liver. This means most people have at least a
three-year reserve of this vital nutrient. Conservation of B12 by the body
boosts the time this supply lasts by 10-fold.
After excretion through the bile into the intestines most of the B12 is
reabsorbed by the ileum for future use. As a result of this recirculation it
actually takes, on average, 20 to 30 years to become deficient after becoming a
strict vegan.
That is if no vitamin B12 were consumed—which is impossible, even on a
strict vegan diet, because of bacterial sources of B12 from the person’s
bowel, contaminated vegetable foods, and the environment.
There is evidence that suggests that during pregnancy and nursing a mother
is more dependent on B12 from her diet, because B12 stored in the woman’s
body is less available for the baby. Therefore, during these important times,
B12 supplementation should be used by a vegan mother.
Biochemical Changes Occur With Low B12
Blood levels of B12 can be measured directly in the blood and are a means to
help diagnose deficiency. Values above 150 pg/ml (picograms per milliliter)
are considered normal, and levels below 80 pg/ml represent unequivocal B12
deficiency.
Within the body, biochemical reactions require B12. A deficiency can cause
an interruption of normal metabolism and result in the accumulation of
substances like methylmalonic acid and the amino acid, homocysteine.
Tests showing increases in these metabolic products are used to diagnose
“early B12 deficiency”—before any actual disease occurs.
Elevated homocysteine has been associated with an increased risk of
common Western diseases (heart attacks, strokes, etc.).
However, this amino acid itself does not cause disease—it serves as a marker
for identifying people who consume large amounts of animal foods.
Eating meat, poultry, fish, and cheese raises levels of homocysteine—as well
as these same foods making people fat and sick.
Efforts to lower homocysteine with supplements of folic acid and/or B12 have
produced no reduction in heart disease or stroke—and in fact the use of folic
acid supplements increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, and overall
death.
The long-term consequences of B-12 supplementation are unknown; so far
this vitamin appears to be non-toxic and beneficial.
As a result, I currently have no hesitation recommending supplements to strict
vegetarians in order to prevent the rare chance of a deficiency occurring.
Intestinal Diseases, Not Dietary Deficiency, Cause Most B12 Problems
Almost all cases of vitamin B12 deficiency seen in patients today and in the
past are due to diseases of the intestine, and are not due to a lack of B12 in
their diet.
Damage to the stomach (parietal cells) usually from an autoimmune disease or
surgery halts the production of intrinsic factor.
Damage to the ileum, preventing re-absorption and interrupting recirculation,
causes the loss of B12. Over a period of 3 to 6 years the body’s stores of
vitamin B12 are depleted.
The disease that results is called pernicious anemia. (The word pernicious
refers to a tendency to cause death or serious injury.) Prior to the
development of a treatment with liver extracts in 1926 this condition was fatal.
Sources of Vitamin B12
As little as 0.3 to 0.65 micrograms per day of vitamin B12 has cured people of
megaloblastic anemia; however, to add an extra margin of safety I have
recommended a higher dosage of 5 micrograms per day.
You may be surprised to discover that you cannot purchase these tiny
dosages. Supplements sold contain 500 to 5000 micrograms per pill.
These exaggerated concentrations will correct by passive absorption B12
deficiency caused by disease of the intestine. Everyone else is being
overdosed by a factor of 1000.
If you are an otherwise healthy vegan and are using typical dosages of B12
(500 micrograms or more per pill) a weekly dose of this vitamin will be more
than sufficient.
You will often find B12 sold under its proper name. Because vitamin B12
contains one molecule of the mineral cobalt, the scientific name is Cobalamin.
As a food additive and a supplement pill, vitamin B12 is usually found in the
form cyanocobalamin.
The effectiveness of this “cyanide complex” for treating neurologic problems
has been questioned; therefore, other forms, such as methylcobalamin and
hydroxycobalamin may be better choices for the prevention and treatment of
B12-related conditions.
Choosing a bioactive form of B12 is important. There are many B12-like
substances called analogues found in food supplements, such as spirulina
and other algae—these are ineffective and should not be relied upon.
Foods fermented by bacteria, such as tempeh, and miso; as well as sea
vegetables (nori), have been recommended as sources of B12. Miso and
tempeh do not contain B12.
Nori—the dried green and purple lavers commonly used to make sushi—has
been tested and found to have substantial amounts of active vitamin B12 and
has been recommended a “most excellent source of vitamin B12 among edible
seaweeds, especially for strict vegetarians.”
(Nori obtains its B12 from symbiotic bacteria that live on it.) However, there is
still some uncertainty about nori as a reliable B12 source; therefore, I suggest
if you do choose this seaweed that you should monitor your B12 levels by
blood tests now, and if adequate, every 3 years.
In order to minimize your risk of any health problems, I recommend you and
your family follow a diet based on starches, vegetables, and fruits.
To avoid the extremely rare chance of becoming a national headline, add a
reliable B12 supplement. By making this addition to a healthy diet you can’t
go wrong, nor will you suffer from any justifiable criticism of your McDougall
Diet delivered by well-meaning family and friends.
When Friends Ask: Where Do You Get Your Protein?
If you don’t know where you get your protein while following a plant-food-
based diet, you’re in good company.
The Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association, scientists from
the Human Nutrition Research Center and Medical School at Tufts University,
and registered dietitians, research nutritionists and physicians of
Northwestern University, and the Harvard School of Public Health are just a
few examples of “experts” you look to for advice who have the protein story
wrong.
Consequences of their shortfall are as grave as a lifetime of sickness and
obesity, and premature death, for innocent people. These professionals must
be held accountable.
Ignorance Sickens and Kills People
Don’t think it matters little if our public policy makers and educators remain
ignorant about our nutritional needs. Misinformation leads to disastrous
outcomes.
People have serious health problems like heart disease, type-2 diabetes,
multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory arthritis that can be easily resolved by a
diet based solely on plant foods.
However, advice to make this dietary change may be withheld from you or a
family member because of the erroneous fear that such a diet will result in a
greater catastrophe, like a nutritional collapse from protein deficiency.
Consider this scenario: Your loving husband of 35 years has a massive heart
attack. He recovers and both of you pledge you will do anything—even eat
cardboard—in order to avoid a repeat experience.
On your first follow-up visit you tell your doctor that your family is going to
follow a low-fat, vegan diet (all plant foods) from here on out. Your doctor
says, “You can’t do that; you will become protein deficient—plant foods are
missing essential amino acids—you must eat meat and other high quality
animal foods.”
Even though you vigorously explain meat, dairy, and eggs are the reasons
you almost lost your husband, your doctor insists that you would be foolish to
embark on such a course and defends that position with the writings of the
Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association.
The Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association Has It Wrong
In an October 2001 research paper published in the Heart Association’s
journal, Circulation, the Healthcare Professionals from the Nutrition Committee
of the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism wrote:
“Although plant proteins form a large part of the human diet, most are deficient
in 1 or more essential amino acids and are therefore regarded as incomplete
proteins.”
My letter to the editor correcting this often quoted, but incorrect information,
about the adequacy of amino acids found in plants was published in the June
2002 issue of Circulation.
Another letter from me in the November 2002 issue of Circulation demanded a
correction. But, the head of the nutrition committee, Barbara Howard, PhD,
would not admit she was wrong and used research from the world’s leading
expert on protein, Professor Joe Millward, to defend her position.
Joe Millward, PhD, Professor of Human Nutrition, University of Surrey
(England), reviewed the published letters of disagreement between the
American Heart Association (AHA) and myself, and wrote the following to me
on July 10, 2003:
“I thought I had made my position quite clear in my published papers. In an
article I wrote for Encyclopedia of Nutrition (Millward DJ. 1998 Protein
requirements. Encyclopedia of Nutrition. Academic Press) I said:
‘Contrary to general opinion, the distinction between dietary protein sources in
terms of the nutritional superiority of animal over plant proteins is much more
difficult to demonstrate and less relevant in human nutrition.’ This is quite
distinct from the AHA position which in my view is wrong.”
I informed the American Heart Association about Dr. Millward’s position, but
so far they have chosen to remain silent—and annually, 1.25 million people in
the USA alone suffer with heart attacks—an often fatal condition entirely
preventable by following a low-fat diet based solely on plant foods all of which
contain all of the essential amino acids in ideal amounts for humans.
Plants--the Original Sources of Protein and Amino Acids
Proteins are made from chains of 20 different amino acids that connect
together in varying sequences—similar to how all the words in a dictionary are
made from the same 26 letters. Plants (and microorganisms) can synthesize
all of the individual amino acids that are used to build proteins, but animals
cannot.
There are 8 amino acids that people cannot make and thus, these must be
obtained from our diets—they are referred to as “essential.”
After we eat our foods, stomach acids and intestinal enzymes digest the
proteins into individual amino acids. These components are then absorbed
through the intestinal walls into the bloodstream.
After entering the body’s cells, these amino acids are reassembled into
proteins. Proteins function as structural materials which build the
scaffoldings that maintain cell shapes, enzymes which catalyze biochemical
reactions, and hormones which signal messages between cells—to name
only a few of their vital roles.
Since plants are made up of structurally sound cells with enzymes and
hormones, they are by nature rich sources of proteins. In fact, so rich are
plants that they can meet the protein needs of the earth’s largest animals:
elephants, hippopotamuses, giraffes, and cows.
You would be correct to deduce that the protein needs of relatively small
humans can easily be met by plants.
People Require Very Little Protein
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that men and women
obtain 5% of their calories as protein. This would mean 38 grams of protein
for a man burning 3000 calories a day and 29 grams for a woman using 2300
calories a day.
This quantity of protein is impossible to avoid when daily calorie needs are
met by unrefined starches and vegetables.
For example, rice alone would provide 71 grams of highly useable protein and
white potatoes would provide 64 grams of protein.
Our greatest time of growth—thus, the time of our greatest need for protein—
is during our first 2 years of life—we double in size. At this vigorous
developmental stage our ideal food is human milk, which is 5% protein.
Compare this need to food choices that should be made as adults—when we
are not growing.
Rice is 8% protein, corn 11%, oatmeal 15%, and beans 27%. Thus protein
deficiency is impossible when calorie needs are met by eating unprocessed
starches and vegetables.
The healthy active lives of hundreds of millions of people laboring in Asia,
Africa, and Central and South America on diets with less than half the amount
of protein eaten by Americans and Europeans prove that the popular
understanding of our protein needs is seriously flawed.
Faulty Observations Lead to High Protein Recommendations
People commonly believe: the more protein consumed the better. This faulty
thinking dates back to the late 1800s, and was established without any real
scientific research. An assumption was made that people who could afford to
do so would instinctively select a diet containing the right amount of protein.
After observing the diets of laborers, soldiers, and workers in Western Europe
and the USA, recommendations of 100 and 189 grams of protein a day were
established.
People’s innate ability to select a proper diet is disproved by the present day
popularity of burger joints, donut shops, and pizza parlors.
Further confusion about our protein needs came from studies of the
nutritional needs of animals. For example, Mendel and Osborne in 1913
reported rats grew better on animal, than on vegetable, sources of protein.
A direct consequence of their studies resulted in meat, eggs, and dairy foods
being classified as superior, or "Class A" protein sources and vegetable
proteins designated as inferior, or "Class B" proteins.
Seems no one considered that rats are not people. One obvious difference in
their nutritional needs is rat milk is 11 times more concentrated in protein than
is human breast milk. The extra protein supports this animal’s rapid growth to
adult size in 5 months; while humans take 17 years to fully mature.
The recent popularity of high protein diets has further popularized the fallacy
that “more protein is good for you.” True, high protein diets, like Atkins, will
make you sick enough to lose your appetite and temporarily lose weight, but
this fact should not be extrapolated to mean high protein is healthy—in fact,
the opposite is true.
The Truth Has Been Known for More than a Century
In 1903, the head of Yale’s department of biochemistry, Professor Russell
Henry Chittenden, reported profound health benefits gained by cutting
popular recommendations for protein held at his time by half to two-thirds
(from 150 grams to 50 grams daily). His research included detailed dietary
histories and laboratory studies of his subjects.
In the 1940s, William Rose performed experiments on people, which found
daily minimum protein needs to be about 20 grams a day. Further research on
men found single plant foods consumed in an amount sufficient to meet daily
needs easily met these human requirements for all 8 essential amino acids.
Dr. Rose's studies concluded that vegetable foods contain more than enough
of all the amino acids essential for humans.
You Don’t Need Beans or to “Combine” Your Foods
Many investigators have measured the capacity of plant foods to satisfy
protein needs. Their findings show that children and adults thrive on diets
based on single or combined starches, and grow healthy and strong.
Furthermore, no improvement has been found from mixing plant foods or
supplementing them with amino acid mixtures to make the combined amino
acid pattern look more like that of flesh, milk, or eggs.
In fact, supplementing a food with an amino acid in order to conform to a
contrived reference standard can create amino acid imbalances.
For example, young children fed diets based on wheat or corn and
supplemented with the amino acids tryptophan and methionine in order to
conform to the standard requirements set by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) developed negative responses in
terms of nitrogen balance (the body's utilization of protein).
People who are worried about getting sufficient protein will sometimes ask me
if they can still follow the McDougall Diet if they do not like beans. Any single
starch or vegetable will provide in excess of our needs for total protein and
essential amino acids—thus there is no reason to rely on beans or make any
efforts to food combine different plant foods to improve on Nature’s own
marvelous creations.
Potatoes Alone Suffice
Many populations, for example people in rural Poland and Russia at the turn of
the 19th century, have lived in very good health doing extremely hard work
with the white potato serving as their primary source of nutrition.
One landmark experiment carried out in 1925 on two healthy adults, a man 25
years old and a woman 28 years old had them live on a diet primarily of white
potatoes for 6 months. (A few additional items of little nutritional value except
for empty calories—pure fats, a few fruits, coffee, and tea—were added to their
diet.)
The report stated, “They did not tire of the uniform potato diet and there was no
craving for change.” Even though they were both physically active (especially
the man) they were described as, “…in good health on a diet in which the
nitrogen (protein) was practically solely derived from the potato.”
The potato is such a great source of nutrition that it can supply all of the
essential protein and amino acids for young children in times of food
shortage. Eleven Peruvian children, ages 8 months to 35 months, recovering
from malnutrition, were fed diets where all of the protein and 75% of the
calories came from potatoes.
(Soybean-cottonseed oils and pure simple sugars, neither of which contains
protein, vitamins, or minerals, provided some of the extra calories.)
Researchers found that this simple potato diet provided all the protein and
essential amino acids to meet the needs of growing and small children.
Excess Protein Causes Diseases of Over-Nutrition
Unlike fat, protein cannot be stored. When it is consumed in excess of our
needs, protein is broken down mostly by the liver, and partly by the kidneys
and muscles. Consumption in excess of our needs overworks the liver and
kidneys, and can cause accumulation of toxic protein byproducts.
Proteins are made of amino acids, and are, therefore, acidic by nature. Animal
proteins are abundant in sulfur-containing amino acids, which break down
into very powerful sulfuric acid. These kinds of amino acids are abundant in
hard cheese, red meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs, and their acids must be
neutralized by buffers found in the bones.
The bones dissolve to release the buffering materials; eventually resulting in a
condition of weakened bones, known as osteoporosis.
Released bone materials often settle and coalesce in the kidney system,
causing kidney stones. Fruits and vegetables are largely alkaline, preserving
bone health and preventing kidney stones. Diseases of over-nutrition are
directly connected to planet health, too.
Recommendations to eat animal foods for protein have resulted in an
environmental catastrophe. Livestock produces 18% of the greenhouse
gases; these food-animals occupy 26 percent of the ice-free surface of the
Earth and 33 percent of the total arable land is used to produce their food.
One telling tragedy is they account for the deforestation of 70 percent of
Amazon rainforests, which act as the “lungs of the Earth.”
Protein Deficiency Is Really Food Deficiency
How many cases of the so-called “protein deficiency state,” kwashiorkor, have
you seen? I have never seen a case, even though I have known thousands of
people on a plant-food based diet. How about those starving children in
Africa? The picture one often sees of stick-thin children with swollen bellies in
famine areas of Asia or Africa is actually one of starvation and is more
accurately described as “calorie deficiency.”
When these children come under medical supervision, they are nourished
back to health with their local diets of corn, wheat, rice, and/or beans.
Children recovering from starvation grow up to l8 times faster than usual and
require a higher protein content to provide for their catch-up in development—
and plant foods easily provide this extra amount of protein.
Even very-low protein starchy root crops, such as cassava root, are sufficient
enough in nutrients, including protein, to keep people healthy.
Starving People Die of Fat, Not Protein, Deficiency
In 1981, 10 Irish prisoners from the Republican Army (IRA) went on a hunger
strike. Nine out of 10 of these men died between 57 and 73 days (mean of 61.6
days) of starvation after losing about 40% of their body weights (the remaining
striker died of complications of a gunshot wound).
This experience gave doctors a chance to observe first hand the metabolic
changes that occur during starvation. Protein stores were generally protected
during starvation, with most of the energy to stay alive being derived from the
men’s fat stores.
It was estimated that the hunger strikers had lost up to 94% of their body-fat
levels, but only 19% of their body-protein levels at the time of death. They died
when they ran out of fat. Since fat is more critical than protein, people should
be asking, “Where do you get your fat” (on any diet)?
Since Nature designed her plant foods complete, with abundant amounts of
fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, “Where do you get a specific
nutrient?” is almost never a relevant question, as long as there is enough to
eat.
So, why have scientists, dietitians, medical doctors, diet-book authors, and the
lay public become fixated on a non-existent problem? Protein is synonymous
with eating meat, poultry, fish, dairy, and eggs—the foods traditionally
consumed by the wealthier people in a society—thus, protein-eating means
higher social status.
High-protein foods are also high-profit foods. Therefore, propagating the
protein myth is motivated by egos and money—and the usual consequences
of pain and suffering follow closely behind these two human frailties.
By: Dr. John McDougall, M.D. www.drmcdougall.com
Article: Vitamin B12 Deficiency—the Meat-eaters’ Last Stand
http://drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/nov/b12.htm
The Meat-eaters’ Last Stand
By: John McDougall, M.D.
Defending eating habits seems to
be a primal instinct for people.
These days Westerners are
running out of excuses for their
gluttony. Well-read people no
longer believe meat is necessary
to meet our protein needs or that
milk is the favored source of
calcium.
With the crumbling of these two time-honored battlefronts the vitamin B12
issue has become the trendy topic whenever a strict vegetarian (vegan) diet is
discussed.
Since the usual dietary source of vitamin B12 for omnivores is the flesh of
other animals, the obvious conclusion is that those who choose to avoid
eating meat are destined to become B12 deficient.
There is a grain of truth in this concern, but in reality an otherwise healthy
strict vegetarian’s risk of developing a disease from B12 deficiency by
following a sensible diet is extremely rare—less than one chance in a million.
I knew forty years ago that vitamin B12 would become the last bastion for
meat- and dairy-lovers (and the industries that profit from them), because this
is the only criticism with any merit that could be lodged against the McDougall
Diet.
In order to avoid that condemnation and the small risk of harming anyone, I
have recommended and printed in the beginning of my books the following
advice:
If you follow the McDougall Diet for more than 3 years, or if you are pregnant or
nursing, then take a minimum of 5 micrograms of supplemental vitamin B12
each day.
Vitamin B12 is involved in the metabolism of all cells in the body; but the
effects of deficiencies are first seen in the blood and then the nervous system.
An anemia, called megaloblastic anemia, because it is characterized by large
red blood cells, is a common manifestation of deficiency.
The low red blood cell count is very well tolerated by the patient even when
severe, and is always cured by the taking of small amounts of B12. Mild
problems with the nervous system characterized by numbness and tingling in
the hands and feet also develop. These sensations are reversible in early
stages; however, damage to the nervous system can become much more
severe and irreversible after prolonged deficiency.
Take a moment to compare the possible consequences of your dietary
decisions. You could choose to eat lots of B12-rich animal foods and avoid
the one-in-a-million chance of developing a reversible anemia and/or even less
common, damage to your nervous system.
However, this decision puts you at a one-in-two chance of dying prematurely
from a heart attack or stroke, a one-in-seven chance of breast cancer or a one-
in-six chance of prostate cancer. The same thinking results in obesity,
diabetes, osteoporosis, constipation, indigestion, and arthritis.
All these conditions caused by a B12-sufficient diet are found in the people
you live and work with daily. How many vegans have you met with B12
deficiency anemia or nervous system damage? I bet not one.
Furthermore, you have never even heard of such a problem unless you have
read the attention-seeking headlines of newspapers or medical journals.
Sensationalism Surrounds B12-Deficient Vegetarians
Rare cases of B-12 deficiency suspected to be caused by following a
vegetarian diet make media-selling banners, because “people love to hear
good news about their bad habits.”
However, in depth research reveals that many of these “vegetarians” also
suffer from generalized malnutrition—not just isolated B12 deficiency from a
diet based on plant foods.
For example, the March 23, 2000 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine
published a letter (not a scientific article) with the provocative title; “Blindness
in a Strict Vegan.” The letter described a 33-year old man who was found to
have severe loss of vision (bilateral optic neuropathy).
He had started a strict vegetarian diet at age 20. Tests showed he suffered
from deficiencies of vitamins A, C, D, E, B1, B12 and folic acid, as well as zinc
and selenium. All combined, these deficiencies clearly indicate severe
malnutrition. B12 injections corrected his anemia, but not his visual loss.
Do you see the disconnection between the case history and the headlines?
Starches, vegetables, and fruits are very rich sources of folic acid and vitamin
C (as well as A, E, B1, zinc and selenium).
His malnourished condition most likely was caused by an intestinal disease
and/or an unhealthy “vegetarian” diet. The headlines published worldwide
that followed this letter reassured meat- and dairy-lovers that becoming a
vegetarian was an unwise decision.
Examination of many reported cases of B12 deficiency connected to a
vegetarian diet in both children and adults reveals similar confounding
factors. The patients may have subtle malabsorption and often come from
conditions of poverty and/or live an eccentric lifestyle—their health problems
are not simply due to avoiding animal foods.
However, I do believe there are very rare patients with diseases due to lack of
B12 from following a strict vegetarian diet for years—while others have
disagreed with me and believe that all cases have confounding factors.
Germs For Good Health
Although vitamin B12 is found in animal foods it is not synthesized by plants
or animals. Only bacteria make biologically active vitamin B12—animal
tissues store “bacteria-synthesized B12” which can then be passed along the
food chain by animals eating another animal’s tissues.
Ruminants (like cows, goats, sheep, giraffes, llamas, buffalo, and deer) are
unique in that bacteria in their rumens (stomachs) synthesize vitamin B12,
which is then passed down and absorbed by their small intestines. Lions and
tigers get their B12 from eating these grazers.
The human gut also contains B12-synthesizing bacteria, living from the mouth
to the anus. The presence of these bacteria is an important reason that
disease from vitamin B12 deficiency occurs very rarely in people, even those
who have been strict vegetarians (vegans) all of their lives.
The colon contains the greatest number of bacteria (4 trillion/cc of feces), and
here most of our intestinal B12 is produced. However, because B12 is
absorbed in the ileum, which lies upstream of the colon, this plentiful source
of B12 is not immediately available for absorption—unless people eat feces
(don’t gasp).
Feces of cows, chickens, sheep and people contain large amounts of active
B12. Until recently most people lived in close contact with their farm animals,
and all people consumed B12 left as residues by bacteria living on their un-
sanitized vegetable foods.
Why would a plant-food-based diet, heralded as a preventative and cure for
our most common chronic diseases be deficient in any way?
Such a diet appears to be the proper, intended, diet for humans, except for this
one blemish. The reason for this apparent inconsistency is we now live in
unnatural conditions—our surroundings have been sanitized by fanatical
washing, powerful cleansers, antiseptics, and antibiotics.
Since the germ theory of disease was developed by Louis Pasteur in 1877 our
society has waged an all-out war on these tiny creatures—most of them
extremely beneficial with only a very few acting as pathogens.
The rare case of B12 deficiency may be one important consequence of too
much cleanliness.
Efficiency Is the Other Reason Deficiency Is Rare
The human body has evolved with highly efficient and unique mechanisms to
absorb, utilize, and conserve this vitamin. Our daily requirement is less than 3
micrograms a day—one microgram is one-millionth of a gram (1/1,000,000
gram).
Which means, by design, people are expected to be exposed to only miniscule
amounts of this essential nutrient.
Vitamin B12 is the only nutrient that requires a cofactor for efficient
absorption. The cells of the stomach produce a substance, called intrinsic
factor, which combines—after the acidic digestion of the food in the
stomach—with the B12 released from food.
This “intrinsic factor-B12 complex” then travels to the end of the small intestine
(the ileum) where it is actively absorbed.
There is a second, much less efficient process, called “the passive absorption
of B12” which also occurs in the intestine. This mechanism does not use
intrinsic factor and as a result it is 1/1000 as efficient.
But by consuming very large doses of oral B12, passive absorption will
correct B12 deficiency even for patients with diseases of the stomach and
small intestine.
On average, for someone raised on the Western diet, about 2 to 5 milligrams of
B12 are stored, mostly in the liver. This means most people have at least a
three-year reserve of this vital nutrient. Conservation of B12 by the body
boosts the time this supply lasts by 10-fold.
After excretion through the bile into the intestines most of the B12 is
reabsorbed by the ileum for future use. As a result of this recirculation it
actually takes, on average, 20 to 30 years to become deficient after becoming a
strict vegan.
That is if no vitamin B12 were consumed—which is impossible, even on a
strict vegan diet, because of bacterial sources of B12 from the person’s
bowel, contaminated vegetable foods, and the environment.
There is evidence that suggests that during pregnancy and nursing a mother
is more dependent on B12 from her diet, because B12 stored in the woman’s
body is less available for the baby. Therefore, during these important times,
B12 supplementation should be used by a vegan mother.
Biochemical Changes Occur With Low B12
Blood levels of B12 can be measured directly in the blood and are a means to
help diagnose deficiency. Values above 150 pg/ml (picograms per milliliter)
are considered normal, and levels below 80 pg/ml represent unequivocal B12
deficiency.
Within the body, biochemical reactions require B12. A deficiency can cause
an interruption of normal metabolism and result in the accumulation of
substances like methylmalonic acid and the amino acid, homocysteine.
Tests showing increases in these metabolic products are used to diagnose
“early B12 deficiency”—before any actual disease occurs.
Elevated homocysteine has been associated with an increased risk of
common Western diseases (heart attacks, strokes, etc.).
However, this amino acid itself does not cause disease—it serves as a marker
for identifying people who consume large amounts of animal foods.
Eating meat, poultry, fish, and cheese raises levels of homocysteine—as well
as these same foods making people fat and sick.
Efforts to lower homocysteine with supplements of folic acid and/or B12 have
produced no reduction in heart disease or stroke—and in fact the use of folic
acid supplements increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, and overall
death.
The long-term consequences of B-12 supplementation are unknown; so far
this vitamin appears to be non-toxic and beneficial.
As a result, I currently have no hesitation recommending supplements to strict
vegetarians in order to prevent the rare chance of a deficiency occurring.
Intestinal Diseases, Not Dietary Deficiency, Cause Most B12 Problems
Almost all cases of vitamin B12 deficiency seen in patients today and in the
past are due to diseases of the intestine, and are not due to a lack of B12 in
their diet.
Damage to the stomach (parietal cells) usually from an autoimmune disease or
surgery halts the production of intrinsic factor.
Damage to the ileum, preventing re-absorption and interrupting recirculation,
causes the loss of B12. Over a period of 3 to 6 years the body’s stores of
vitamin B12 are depleted.
The disease that results is called pernicious anemia. (The word pernicious
refers to a tendency to cause death or serious injury.) Prior to the
development of a treatment with liver extracts in 1926 this condition was fatal.
Sources of Vitamin B12
As little as 0.3 to 0.65 micrograms per day of vitamin B12 has cured people of
megaloblastic anemia; however, to add an extra margin of safety I have
recommended a higher dosage of 5 micrograms per day.
You may be surprised to discover that you cannot purchase these tiny
dosages. Supplements sold contain 500 to 5000 micrograms per pill.
These exaggerated concentrations will correct by passive absorption B12
deficiency caused by disease of the intestine. Everyone else is being
overdosed by a factor of 1000.
If you are an otherwise healthy vegan and are using typical dosages of B12
(500 micrograms or more per pill) a weekly dose of this vitamin will be more
than sufficient.
You will often find B12 sold under its proper name. Because vitamin B12
contains one molecule of the mineral cobalt, the scientific name is Cobalamin.
As a food additive and a supplement pill, vitamin B12 is usually found in the
form cyanocobalamin.
The effectiveness of this “cyanide complex” for treating neurologic problems
has been questioned; therefore, other forms, such as methylcobalamin and
hydroxycobalamin may be better choices for the prevention and treatment of
B12-related conditions.
Choosing a bioactive form of B12 is important. There are many B12-like
substances called analogues found in food supplements, such as spirulina
and other algae—these are ineffective and should not be relied upon.
Foods fermented by bacteria, such as tempeh, and miso; as well as sea
vegetables (nori), have been recommended as sources of B12. Miso and
tempeh do not contain B12.
Nori—the dried green and purple lavers commonly used to make sushi—has
been tested and found to have substantial amounts of active vitamin B12 and
has been recommended a “most excellent source of vitamin B12 among edible
seaweeds, especially for strict vegetarians.”
(Nori obtains its B12 from symbiotic bacteria that live on it.) However, there is
still some uncertainty about nori as a reliable B12 source; therefore, I suggest
if you do choose this seaweed that you should monitor your B12 levels by
blood tests now, and if adequate, every 3 years.
In order to minimize your risk of any health problems, I recommend you and
your family follow a diet based on starches, vegetables, and fruits.
To avoid the extremely rare chance of becoming a national headline, add a
reliable B12 supplement. By making this addition to a healthy diet you can’t
go wrong, nor will you suffer from any justifiable criticism of your McDougall
Diet delivered by well-meaning family and friends.
When Friends Ask: Where Do You Get Your Protein?
If you don’t know where you get your protein while following a plant-food-
based diet, you’re in good company.
The Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association, scientists from
the Human Nutrition Research Center and Medical School at Tufts University,
and registered dietitians, research nutritionists and physicians of
Northwestern University, and the Harvard School of Public Health are just a
few examples of “experts” you look to for advice who have the protein story
wrong.
Consequences of their shortfall are as grave as a lifetime of sickness and
obesity, and premature death, for innocent people. These professionals must
be held accountable.
Ignorance Sickens and Kills People
Don’t think it matters little if our public policy makers and educators remain
ignorant about our nutritional needs. Misinformation leads to disastrous
outcomes.
People have serious health problems like heart disease, type-2 diabetes,
multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory arthritis that can be easily resolved by a
diet based solely on plant foods.
However, advice to make this dietary change may be withheld from you or a
family member because of the erroneous fear that such a diet will result in a
greater catastrophe, like a nutritional collapse from protein deficiency.
Consider this scenario: Your loving husband of 35 years has a massive heart
attack. He recovers and both of you pledge you will do anything—even eat
cardboard—in order to avoid a repeat experience.
On your first follow-up visit you tell your doctor that your family is going to
follow a low-fat, vegan diet (all plant foods) from here on out. Your doctor
says, “You can’t do that; you will become protein deficient—plant foods are
missing essential amino acids—you must eat meat and other high quality
animal foods.”
Even though you vigorously explain meat, dairy, and eggs are the reasons
you almost lost your husband, your doctor insists that you would be foolish to
embark on such a course and defends that position with the writings of the
Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association.
The Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association Has It Wrong
In an October 2001 research paper published in the Heart Association’s
journal, Circulation, the Healthcare Professionals from the Nutrition Committee
of the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism wrote:
“Although plant proteins form a large part of the human diet, most are deficient
in 1 or more essential amino acids and are therefore regarded as incomplete
proteins.”
My letter to the editor correcting this often quoted, but incorrect information,
about the adequacy of amino acids found in plants was published in the June
2002 issue of Circulation.
Another letter from me in the November 2002 issue of Circulation demanded a
correction. But, the head of the nutrition committee, Barbara Howard, PhD,
would not admit she was wrong and used research from the world’s leading
expert on protein, Professor Joe Millward, to defend her position.
Joe Millward, PhD, Professor of Human Nutrition, University of Surrey
(England), reviewed the published letters of disagreement between the
American Heart Association (AHA) and myself, and wrote the following to me
on July 10, 2003:
“I thought I had made my position quite clear in my published papers. In an
article I wrote for Encyclopedia of Nutrition (Millward DJ. 1998 Protein
requirements. Encyclopedia of Nutrition. Academic Press) I said:
‘Contrary to general opinion, the distinction between dietary protein sources in
terms of the nutritional superiority of animal over plant proteins is much more
difficult to demonstrate and less relevant in human nutrition.’ This is quite
distinct from the AHA position which in my view is wrong.”
I informed the American Heart Association about Dr. Millward’s position, but
so far they have chosen to remain silent—and annually, 1.25 million people in
the USA alone suffer with heart attacks—an often fatal condition entirely
preventable by following a low-fat diet based solely on plant foods all of which
contain all of the essential amino acids in ideal amounts for humans.
Plants--the Original Sources of Protein and Amino Acids
Proteins are made from chains of 20 different amino acids that connect
together in varying sequences—similar to how all the words in a dictionary are
made from the same 26 letters. Plants (and microorganisms) can synthesize
all of the individual amino acids that are used to build proteins, but animals
cannot.
There are 8 amino acids that people cannot make and thus, these must be
obtained from our diets—they are referred to as “essential.”
After we eat our foods, stomach acids and intestinal enzymes digest the
proteins into individual amino acids. These components are then absorbed
through the intestinal walls into the bloodstream.
After entering the body’s cells, these amino acids are reassembled into
proteins. Proteins function as structural materials which build the
scaffoldings that maintain cell shapes, enzymes which catalyze biochemical
reactions, and hormones which signal messages between cells—to name
only a few of their vital roles.
Since plants are made up of structurally sound cells with enzymes and
hormones, they are by nature rich sources of proteins. In fact, so rich are
plants that they can meet the protein needs of the earth’s largest animals:
elephants, hippopotamuses, giraffes, and cows.
You would be correct to deduce that the protein needs of relatively small
humans can easily be met by plants.
People Require Very Little Protein
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that men and women
obtain 5% of their calories as protein. This would mean 38 grams of protein
for a man burning 3000 calories a day and 29 grams for a woman using 2300
calories a day.
This quantity of protein is impossible to avoid when daily calorie needs are
met by unrefined starches and vegetables.
For example, rice alone would provide 71 grams of highly useable protein and
white potatoes would provide 64 grams of protein.
Our greatest time of growth—thus, the time of our greatest need for protein—
is during our first 2 years of life—we double in size. At this vigorous
developmental stage our ideal food is human milk, which is 5% protein.
Compare this need to food choices that should be made as adults—when we
are not growing.
Rice is 8% protein, corn 11%, oatmeal 15%, and beans 27%. Thus protein
deficiency is impossible when calorie needs are met by eating unprocessed
starches and vegetables.
The healthy active lives of hundreds of millions of people laboring in Asia,
Africa, and Central and South America on diets with less than half the amount
of protein eaten by Americans and Europeans prove that the popular
understanding of our protein needs is seriously flawed.
Faulty Observations Lead to High Protein Recommendations
People commonly believe: the more protein consumed the better. This faulty
thinking dates back to the late 1800s, and was established without any real
scientific research. An assumption was made that people who could afford to
do so would instinctively select a diet containing the right amount of protein.
After observing the diets of laborers, soldiers, and workers in Western Europe
and the USA, recommendations of 100 and 189 grams of protein a day were
established.
People’s innate ability to select a proper diet is disproved by the present day
popularity of burger joints, donut shops, and pizza parlors.
Further confusion about our protein needs came from studies of the
nutritional needs of animals. For example, Mendel and Osborne in 1913
reported rats grew better on animal, than on vegetable, sources of protein.
A direct consequence of their studies resulted in meat, eggs, and dairy foods
being classified as superior, or "Class A" protein sources and vegetable
proteins designated as inferior, or "Class B" proteins.
Seems no one considered that rats are not people. One obvious difference in
their nutritional needs is rat milk is 11 times more concentrated in protein than
is human breast milk. The extra protein supports this animal’s rapid growth to
adult size in 5 months; while humans take 17 years to fully mature.
The recent popularity of high protein diets has further popularized the fallacy
that “more protein is good for you.” True, high protein diets, like Atkins, will
make you sick enough to lose your appetite and temporarily lose weight, but
this fact should not be extrapolated to mean high protein is healthy—in fact,
the opposite is true.
The Truth Has Been Known for More than a Century
In 1903, the head of Yale’s department of biochemistry, Professor Russell
Henry Chittenden, reported profound health benefits gained by cutting
popular recommendations for protein held at his time by half to two-thirds
(from 150 grams to 50 grams daily). His research included detailed dietary
histories and laboratory studies of his subjects.
In the 1940s, William Rose performed experiments on people, which found
daily minimum protein needs to be about 20 grams a day. Further research on
men found single plant foods consumed in an amount sufficient to meet daily
needs easily met these human requirements for all 8 essential amino acids.
Dr. Rose's studies concluded that vegetable foods contain more than enough
of all the amino acids essential for humans.
You Don’t Need Beans or to “Combine” Your Foods
Many investigators have measured the capacity of plant foods to satisfy
protein needs. Their findings show that children and adults thrive on diets
based on single or combined starches, and grow healthy and strong.
Furthermore, no improvement has been found from mixing plant foods or
supplementing them with amino acid mixtures to make the combined amino
acid pattern look more like that of flesh, milk, or eggs.
In fact, supplementing a food with an amino acid in order to conform to a
contrived reference standard can create amino acid imbalances.
For example, young children fed diets based on wheat or corn and
supplemented with the amino acids tryptophan and methionine in order to
conform to the standard requirements set by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) developed negative responses in
terms of nitrogen balance (the body's utilization of protein).
People who are worried about getting sufficient protein will sometimes ask me
if they can still follow the McDougall Diet if they do not like beans. Any single
starch or vegetable will provide in excess of our needs for total protein and
essential amino acids—thus there is no reason to rely on beans or make any
efforts to food combine different plant foods to improve on Nature’s own
marvelous creations.
Potatoes Alone Suffice
Many populations, for example people in rural Poland and Russia at the turn of
the 19th century, have lived in very good health doing extremely hard work
with the white potato serving as their primary source of nutrition.
One landmark experiment carried out in 1925 on two healthy adults, a man 25
years old and a woman 28 years old had them live on a diet primarily of white
potatoes for 6 months. (A few additional items of little nutritional value except
for empty calories—pure fats, a few fruits, coffee, and tea—were added to their
diet.)
The report stated, “They did not tire of the uniform potato diet and there was no
craving for change.” Even though they were both physically active (especially
the man) they were described as, “…in good health on a diet in which the
nitrogen (protein) was practically solely derived from the potato.”
The potato is such a great source of nutrition that it can supply all of the
essential protein and amino acids for young children in times of food
shortage. Eleven Peruvian children, ages 8 months to 35 months, recovering
from malnutrition, were fed diets where all of the protein and 75% of the
calories came from potatoes.
(Soybean-cottonseed oils and pure simple sugars, neither of which contains
protein, vitamins, or minerals, provided some of the extra calories.)
Researchers found that this simple potato diet provided all the protein and
essential amino acids to meet the needs of growing and small children.
Excess Protein Causes Diseases of Over-Nutrition
Unlike fat, protein cannot be stored. When it is consumed in excess of our
needs, protein is broken down mostly by the liver, and partly by the kidneys
and muscles. Consumption in excess of our needs overworks the liver and
kidneys, and can cause accumulation of toxic protein byproducts.
Proteins are made of amino acids, and are, therefore, acidic by nature. Animal
proteins are abundant in sulfur-containing amino acids, which break down
into very powerful sulfuric acid. These kinds of amino acids are abundant in
hard cheese, red meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs, and their acids must be
neutralized by buffers found in the bones.
The bones dissolve to release the buffering materials; eventually resulting in a
condition of weakened bones, known as osteoporosis.
Released bone materials often settle and coalesce in the kidney system,
causing kidney stones. Fruits and vegetables are largely alkaline, preserving
bone health and preventing kidney stones. Diseases of over-nutrition are
directly connected to planet health, too.
Recommendations to eat animal foods for protein have resulted in an
environmental catastrophe. Livestock produces 18% of the greenhouse
gases; these food-animals occupy 26 percent of the ice-free surface of the
Earth and 33 percent of the total arable land is used to produce their food.
One telling tragedy is they account for the deforestation of 70 percent of
Amazon rainforests, which act as the “lungs of the Earth.”
Protein Deficiency Is Really Food Deficiency
How many cases of the so-called “protein deficiency state,” kwashiorkor, have
you seen? I have never seen a case, even though I have known thousands of
people on a plant-food based diet. How about those starving children in
Africa? The picture one often sees of stick-thin children with swollen bellies in
famine areas of Asia or Africa is actually one of starvation and is more
accurately described as “calorie deficiency.”
When these children come under medical supervision, they are nourished
back to health with their local diets of corn, wheat, rice, and/or beans.
Children recovering from starvation grow up to l8 times faster than usual and
require a higher protein content to provide for their catch-up in development—
and plant foods easily provide this extra amount of protein.
Even very-low protein starchy root crops, such as cassava root, are sufficient
enough in nutrients, including protein, to keep people healthy.
Starving People Die of Fat, Not Protein, Deficiency
In 1981, 10 Irish prisoners from the Republican Army (IRA) went on a hunger
strike. Nine out of 10 of these men died between 57 and 73 days (mean of 61.6
days) of starvation after losing about 40% of their body weights (the remaining
striker died of complications of a gunshot wound).
This experience gave doctors a chance to observe first hand the metabolic
changes that occur during starvation. Protein stores were generally protected
during starvation, with most of the energy to stay alive being derived from the
men’s fat stores.
It was estimated that the hunger strikers had lost up to 94% of their body-fat
levels, but only 19% of their body-protein levels at the time of death. They died
when they ran out of fat. Since fat is more critical than protein, people should
be asking, “Where do you get your fat” (on any diet)?
Since Nature designed her plant foods complete, with abundant amounts of
fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, “Where do you get a specific
nutrient?” is almost never a relevant question, as long as there is enough to
eat.
So, why have scientists, dietitians, medical doctors, diet-book authors, and the
lay public become fixated on a non-existent problem? Protein is synonymous
with eating meat, poultry, fish, dairy, and eggs—the foods traditionally
consumed by the wealthier people in a society—thus, protein-eating means
higher social status.
High-protein foods are also high-profit foods. Therefore, propagating the
protein myth is motivated by egos and money—and the usual consequences
of pain and suffering follow closely behind these two human frailties.
By: Dr. John McDougall, M.D. www.drmcdougall.com
Article: Vitamin B12 Deficiency—the Meat-eaters’ Last Stand
http://drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/nov/b12.htm
