A meatless diet can be healthy, but vegetarians -- especially vegans -- need to make sure they're getting enough vitamin B12, calcium, iron, and zinc. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics warns of the risk of vitamin B12 deficiencies in vegetarians and vegans. Vitamin B12 is found naturally only in animal products.
Most vegetarians usually have enough protein and calcium (found in dairy products) in their diet. But if you don't plan your diet properly, you could miss out on essential nutrients. For example, vegetarians need to make sure they get enough iron and vitamin B12 in their diets.
The major challenges for vegetarians face is the imbalance of vitamins and trace elements. However, a well designed and balanced vegetarian diet will normal satisfy the body's needs in terms of vitamins and trace elements, however this is often difficult to achieve for the some vegetarian populations.
The key nutrients which could be an issue on vegetarian or vegan diets were iron, vitamin D, vitamin B12, calcium and zinc. These are all found in animal-sourced foods but tend to be less bioavailable or present in smaller amounts, in plant foods.
Some essential nutrients, such as vitamins B12 and D, calcium and iron, aren't available in many plant-based foods. Vegetarian diets may provide these nutrients as long as food intake is planned properly, but supplementation is sometimes necessary.
To sum it up, many vegetarians and vegans choose to let go of their non-meat diet for multiple reasons: health, impulse, life events, and mood shifts.
Typically, a plant-based diet is high in vitamin C, lysine and antioxidants, all of which help with the production of collagen at a cellular level. In turn, this helps the skin to stay supple and youthful-looking.
For this reason, vegetarians have an increased risk of vitamin B12 deficiency ( 9 ). Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause fatigue, memory problems and numbness. It can also lead to megaloblastic anemia, a condition caused by having a lower-than-normal amount of red blood cells ( 10 ).
84% of vegetarians/vegans abandon their diet. About a third (34%) of lapsed vegetarians/vegans maintained the diet for three months or less. Slightly more than half (53%) adhered to the diet for less than one year.
Compared with meat eaters, vegetarians tend to consume less saturated fat and cholesterol and more vitamins C and E, dietary fiber, folic acid, potassium, magnesium, and phytochemicals (plant chemicals), such as carotenoids and flavonoids.
"If meat is simply removed and not substituted, the consumer is at risk of iron or B12 deficiency, anemia, and muscle wasting," Levy-Wollins explains.
Studies suggest a plant-based diet can support cognitive health and protect against dementia, Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Be sure you're getting enough omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12 and other nutrients critical for cognitive health, and avoid sugar, processed foods and high levels of fat.
Our results showed that individuals with a vegetarian diet did not present an increased risk of anxiety or depression.
Vegan diets have a possible advantage when it comes to sustainability and animal welfare, but vegetarian diets might be superior when it comes to nutrition and health benefits. Of course all of this depends on how well vegans and vegetarians plan and execute their nutrition.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences say that the less meat a person consumes, the lower their average BMI/body weight. They also say that vegetarians also tend to be more introverted, shy, and reserved than meat eaters.
“It's important for consumers to know that there is currently not a plant-based source of collagen. Collagen can only come from animal-based products.” The good news: Your body naturally makes collagen, so you can absolutely give yourself a boost if you're feeling dull and deficient.
While there are a variety of health benefits associated with following a vegan diet, eating a vegan diet won't make you age faster or slower in and of itself.
It was found that the rarer the proportion of animal food in a person's diet, the lower their body mass index (BMI) on average and thus their body weight. One reason for this could be the lower proportion of heavily processed foods in the plant diet.
Protein deficiency
People who eat a low-protein diet are more likely to have hair loss, including telogen effluvium, androgenetic alopecia, and alopecia areata. Some studies found that vegetarians and vegans have significantly lower levels of dietary protein than omnivores (Garg, 2019).
Vegetarians appear to have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than meat eaters. Vegetarians also tend to have a lower body mass index, lower overall cancer rates and lower risk of chronic disease.