In the contemporary era, there is a prevailing ideology that human beings are all wise to decide what is good for them. In this perspective, religious teachings from holy scriptures are regarded as unnecessary as they do not align with the people’s self created values. Consequently, individuals and societies have all the authority to determine what should be prohibited or permitted based on their values and understanding.
As a result of shift in ethical framework, human beings have become prone to adopt several kind of life styles that are neither healthy nor natural. Nevertheless, based on their limited knowledge and understanding people believe that they are contributing positively to ecological preservation and personal health.
One such example is veganism which has gained popularity as a life style choice. Nevertheless, it raises questions about what truly constitutes a natural way of living.
For me, a natural way of living is the one in which we are not dependent on industries to provide us with supplements and fortification in our foods to keep us equipped with the essential nutrients. Nevertheless, the vegans diet is unable to provide us with the elements our body and mind require to maintain their well-being.
For instance, naturally, the major source of vitamin B12 is meat. Most of the vegan food lacks this essential nutrient entirely. Some vegan products do contain vitamin B12 but merely in traces. Even with fortification the amount of this essential vitamin the vegan diet provides is not sufficient to meet the needs of human body
Vitamin B12 is of immense importance for the proper functioning of our mind and body. The deficiency of this vitamin has found to be associated with anaemia, weakness of bones, cognitive impairment, neuronal disorders, psychiatric disorders, slow metabolism, cardiac disorders and generalized weakness. Thus, by omitting animal products from our diet we make ourselves vulnerable to all kind of weaknesses and disorders. I wonder how then vegan diet be regarded as a healthier way of living.
The deficiency of vitamin B12 does not merely impact the individual but if you are a vegan woman, your generation is at the risk of suffering. A study found a correlation between neurological disorders and developmental regression in infants with vegetarian diet of the mother.
So what a vegan should do to save them from the potential harms of Vitamin B12 deficiency. Of course, they are advised to take the supplements helping the pharmaceutical companies to grow. The argument goes back to my initial thesis. Is the dependence on supplements and fortification in line with the natural way of living.
We all know that protein is an important macronutrient of our diet. There are 20 types of amino acids that form protein. 11 types of proteins are constructed by our body while 9 amino acids can only be obtained via our diet. Animal products like milk, egg and meat contain all the nine essential amino acids; while there is hardly any plant based product that contain all the essential amino acid. Though it is possible to get all the essential amino acids via combination of different vegan products, yet it is still arduous to achieve the balance of the essential amino acids by quitting the animal products altogether
No plant-based milk is equivalent to dairy milk in terms of nutritional value. By quitting dairy products, vegans put themselves in danger of deficiency of several other essential nutrients like calcium, vitamin D (source, phosphorus, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin B complex, iodine, and selenium.(source & (source). It is even a question to regard the so called mixture of a plant and water as milk.
Similarly, the vegan yogurt has been found to be deficient in several essential elements such as probiotics, calcium, sodium, vitamin D and vitamin B12 as compared to the dairy yogurt. Moreover, the sugar level found in the plant-based product was also high.
There are several other essential nutrients that are impossible to obtain via plants only. To cater the requirement of the body a vegan either needs to take supplement or a fortified food. Thus vegans depend on an industry (or perhaps more industries) to maintain their lifestyle. If they ever have to live in a natural setting without industries, there is no way for them to maintain their well being.
Besides claiming to be healthier, another motivating factor behind the adoption of veganism is the desire to reduce animal sufferings and preserve ecology . While in their own imagination the vegans might be protecting animals and natural environment, the facts do not seem to support the idea.
Almond milk is one of the most consumed product among the vegan community. Almond flowers do not pollinate on their own but require the bees as worker for pollination.
To cater the market needs of almond milk colonies of bees have to migrate from their farms to almond fields. In this process a great percentage of honey bees die. It is not they just die but suffer from pesticides, mites, and colony collapse disorder. In other words their death is full of great sufferings.
The eradication of honey bees from the earth is equivalent to put a full stop on life altogether. As Albert Einstein said, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, man would have only four years to live”
In order to meet the market requirement, increased cultivation of several other plants to such as soybean, avocado, palm and quinoa is becoming a contributing factor towards deforestation, degradation of soil and habitat loss of several other plants and animals.
Moreover, the use pesticides is mercilessly killing several insects and the animals feeding on those insects and plants.
In other words, the increase in veganism has caused more harm than good to animals, environment and personal health.
The major beneficiaries of the increased veganism are the industrialists and pharmaceutical companies who earn millions of dollars by making fortified food and supplements for essential nutrients. Other beneficiaries may be the doctors who charge their clients with heavy fees whenever they will go to them for the issues caused by dietary deficiencies.
In conclusion, going vegan is neither a healthy way of living nor any service to animals or environment. It is merely a trap that is set for us to fill the pockets of some industrialists.
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The post is my response to Hl-featured contest edition 3 week 129.
Image created by me using Bing AI