How Veganism Can Save Us by Hakansson Emma;

Author:Hakansson, Emma; [Emma Hakansson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hardie Grant Publishing
Published: 2022-05-09T00:00:00+00:00

Other health issues associated with consuming land-dwelling animals, fish, dairy and eggs

Cancer is not the only risk associated with eating animal-derived foods. It’s perhaps not even the most substantial. Dr Mehr Gupta, with the help of a large amount of high-quality evidence from countless studies, talked me through what else there is to know about health and eating the bodies of animals.

Cardiovascular disease is the cause of an enormous amount of sickness and death in our society, and so the benefits of reducing it are obviously enormous, too. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) includes heart attacks and strokes, and includes risk factors like high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. Numerous studies have shown that the development of plaque in blood vessels, which can impact blood supply to the heart and brains, which leads to CVD, can be caused by a diet containing high levels of saturated fats, like dairy and red meat in particular. Plant-based diets have been proven to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and even induce remission in non-insulin dependent diabetes. They can reduce the amount of plaque in people’s blood vessels, and their risk of future heart attacks. That’s pretty huge.

Even health conditions like dementia are increasingly being tied to the food we eat, and our guts. One of my grandmothers died with dementia, and I know just how frightening, confusing and upsetting this disease is. What I didn’t know then is that in 2013, a year earlier, the International Conference on Nutrition and the Brain saw experts recommend a diet that included vegetables, legumes like beans, peas and lentils, fruits and whole grains, instead of meats and dairy, in order to prevent dementia.

Chronic kidney disease, as well as rheumatoid arthritis, and the chronic respiratory condition, asthma, all have potential links to the consumption of animal-based foods too, and all have studies which suggest a plant-based diet may be able to assist with symptoms.

While this has all mostly been about meat and dairy, there’s more to consider. Let’s talk about fish. Considered a ‘brain food’ by many, fish contains mercury, sometimes in dangerous levels. Mercury can cause brain damage at levels that are extreme, which is concerning, considering that one study in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry found that studies of mercury levels in ‘three national brands of canned tuna ... 55 per cent of the tuna examined was above the US Environmental Protection Agency’s safety level for human consumption’. In addition, as we continue to pollute the planet with plastic, this has an impact on our oceanic friends, and on us, if we choose to cut that positive relationship by eating them. A UN report shared that there are more than 51 trillion microscopic plastic particles in the sea, ‘more than 500 times the number of stars in the Milky Way’. A regular portion of mussels from Europe could contain about ninety microplastic pieces. Microplastics have been found in fish, including in canned fish, and even in sea salt.

Finally, in the case of eggs, you might

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