Vegetarianism can also predispose its adherents to other diseases. In south London, Hindu Asians were found to have a significantly increased risk of tuberculosis compared to Muslim Asians. Religion was not a factor - but diet was.

There was a trend of increasing risk of tuberculosis as frequency of meat-eating declined. Even lacto-vegetarians had an 8.5-fold risk. The researchers conclude " These results indicate that a vegetarian diet is an independent risk factor for tuberculosis in immigrant Asians. The mechanism is unexplained.

However, vitamin D deficiency, common among vegetarian Asians in south London, is known to effect immunological competence. Decreased immunocompetence associated with a vegetarian diet might result in increased mycobacterial reactivation among Asians from the Indian subcontinent " (47).

Vegetarians and Alzheimer's Disease

The presence of Alzheimer's disease was found to be associated with lower levels of Vitamin B-12 in the blood compared to unaffected family members although the exact nature of the association remains unclear (48) .

Vegetarians and Salmonella

Diseases such as salmonella are usually associated in people's minds, with meat, particularly chicken. But vegetarianism doesn't necessarily protect against such bacterial infections.

In 1999, Minerva in the British Medical Journal reported that "alfalfa sprouts, the icon of healthy eaters everywhere, are efficient carriers of salmonella (JAMA 1999;281:158-62). International detective work led investigators of one North American outbreak in 1995 to a single contaminated seed lot from a Dutch distributor.

They estimate that over 20 000 people were infected during the prolonged outbreak and warn that alfalfa sprouts should be considered high risk until the commercial sprouting process incorporates an effective 'kill step'."

The truth is that vegetarianism has not been shown to be more healthy, or to allow people to live longer. Indeed, the totality of evidence suggests that the further one goes from a mixed diet, the less healthy one tends to become.

Some years ago, my wife and I joined a sports club for a couple of years. Among the other members was a couple whom we took to be quite old. We learned, however, that they were only in their early sixties.

Other members told us that this couple had been active and healthy-looking until their son had married a girl who was a practicing vegetarian. She, through him, had converted them, and from that time there had been a noticeable deterioration. Their obvious physical deterioration, however, did not stop the couple from declaring how much better they felt on their vegetarian regime.

That does not mean that they were healthier, however. People are not the most impartial commentators on the happenings of their own lives. It is a well-documented human trait that a person who has made a conscious decision to pursue a course of action which involves some loss or hardship, has to justify it to himself. And the greater the self-imposed voluntary hardship or loss, the more strongly it is defended.

How Safe Is Soybean?

One problem for those on a more strict vegetarian diet, whether by choice or of necessity, focuses around getting the right mix of amino acids from the various vegetable sources to ensure the body has a supply of complete proteins to enable it to function correctly. Much attention has been focused on soybean as an alternative protein source as soybean is about the only vegetable source of complete protein. As such it is invaluable.

Since the end of the Second World War, about sixty-five million tons of soybean have been grown in the USA each year. Yet, with the exception of soy sauce and soy oil, the bean has not caught on yet with the American people. In that country the major use is as animal feed. Not surprisingly, producers are constantly seeking new markets.

Throughout the Third World, protein deficiency is the most important dietary problem. Not surprisingly, therefore, soy is widely distributed. As it is low in fat and devoid of cholesterol soy is also promoted today in the West as being more 'healthy'. This seems to make soy an ideal food - but is it safe?

That may seem a strange question as a large percentage of the world's population relies on soybean as a staple.

The cultivation of soy in the East has been traced back to the time of the Chou Dynasty (1136-246 BC). It appears to have been used then merely as a rotational crop because of its root's capacity to fix nitrogen in the soil. Soy was not used as a food until fermentation techniques had been developed around 700 AD. (49) Did the Chinese know soy was toxic?

Like all seeds, soybeans have phytic acid in their hulls, but soybeans have considerably more. This substance binds with several minerals, notably calcium, zinc and iron in such a way that it prevents the digestion from absorbing them. This can result in deficiencies of these essential minerals.

Soybeans Also Contain Other Undesirable Chemicals:

• Potent enzyme inhibitors that block the action of trypsin, a digestive enzyme needed to digest proteins. This leads not only to chronic amino acid deficiencies but also to enlargement of the pancreas (in animals) and cancer.

• Hemaglutinin, which promotes the clumping of red blood cells. These clumped cells are less able to take up oxygen and carry it to body tissues. Hemaglutinin is also known to retard growth.

Fermentation reduces these harmful effects. Miso and tamari are fermented soy products.

On the other hand bean curd and tofu are made by precipitating soybean with either calcium sulphate or magnesium sulphate. Soy products made by this method are not as safe as the fermented products. Nevertheless, tofu accounts for some ninety percent of processed soybeans eaten in Asia today.

Eating soy with meat reduces its mineral blocking effect but vegetarians who eat tofu, expecting it to act as a protein substitute, risk severe mineral deficiencies. Soy products also contain no vitamin B-12, or the essential fat-soluble vitamins A and D that are needed for the absorption of minerals. Indeed soy increases the need for these vitamins.

World renowned nutritionists, Sally Fallon MA and Mary Enig PhD, say " traditional fermented soy products have a long history of use that is generally beneficial when combined with other elements of the Oriental diet including rice, sea foods, fish broth and fermented vegetables. Precipitated (Western) soy products can cause serious problems, especially when they form the major source of protein in the diet ".

Soy Milk for Children

Soy milk is a major concern in infants. In its production, in order to remove as much of the trypsin inhibitor as possible, the beans are soaked in an alkaline solution and heated to 115ºC (239ºF) in a pressure cooker.

While this does destroy most of the anti-nutrients, it also denatures the proteins, making the milk very difficult to digest. But there is worse to come: the alkaline processing produces lysinealine , which causes cancer. It also reduces the amount of an amino acid, cystine , without which the protein complex is worthless unless the diet is fortified with meat, eggs or dairy produce - which is not likely in a vegetarian.

The use of soy-based infant formulas has caused zinc deficiency in infants leading to brain damage. The lack of cholesterol in soy-based formulas also has adverse effects on infants' brains, as cholesterol is essential for proper development of the brain and nervous system.

Then the aluminium content of soy milk is ten times higher than is found in milk-based formula and one hundred times as high as in breast milk. Apart from vegetarians, infants are sometimes prescribed soy formula in cases of cow's-milk allergy, yet allergies to soy products are as common.

Soybean and Cancer

Recently soy products have been promoted for their 'cancer preventing properties'. The Gerson Clinic is a specialist cancer clinic. To cure cancers it bases its treatment regime on a strict vegetarian diet. It would seem reasonable to expect, therefore, that soy would feature frequently on the Gerson Clinic's menu. But Dr Max Gerson, the clinic's founder, has always banned the use soy products in the clinic. Why? Because it is suspected of causing cancer.

The Vegetarian's Dilemma

For the most part, it is the more extreme forms of vegetarianism that are dangerous. Lacto-ovo-vegetarianism carries little or no health risk for its adult adherents (although there may still be risk for children if a bulky, high-fiber, low-fat/protein diet is fed).

In this category are those who have given up meat for moral reasons: those who don't like the thought of the slaughter of food animals, but do continue to eat milk, cheese and eggs.

Here we have the situation where people who cannot bear the thought of killing animals for food, rely on the rest of us to carry the burden of guilt for them - as the production of milk, cheese and eggs inevitably involves the birth and the death of animals.

A cow produces milk for about one year. Before she can give milk, however, like any other mammal she has to have a calf. If we are not to eat those calves, what are we to do with them?

Some, of course, would be kept to produce milk themselves in the fullness of time, but what of the rest - the bull calves and the excess heifers - indeed the majority? Could we, perhaps, just keep them, unproductive, on pasture for the rest of their natural lives?

Well, no, that would be quite impractical. We cannot afford the land to keep unproductive animals in any quantity. We could, of course, kill them at birth, but that surely, makes the whole exercise pointless. The same goes for the other animals.

The vegetarian is in the dilemma that he can't kill animals - yet he cannot afford to let them live. So the vegetarian conveniently puts this out of his mind, carries on his unnatural lifestyle, relying selfishly on the meat eaters to solve his dilemma for him.

Vegetarianism and the Environment

One last concern of those who change to such fad diets is for the environment and for the comfort of food animals. Vegetarian diets are almost always based on 'organically' grown produce. This is a system which does not allow the use of special chemical fertilizers and pesticides to increase crop yields, thus, we are told, protecting the environment and the ecological balance.

In essence, farming methods are similar to those in use in the nineteenth century and, consequently, crop yields are significantly diminished. In the United States, the demand for organic or 'natural' foods has been growing for many years and farmers here are finding it economic to produce organically-grown produce to meet the demand.

This may be another profit-making scheme, since less needs to be spent on chemical treatment while the poorer-quality food produced is sold at a higher price.

Today, there are widespread concerns about the use of pesticides and artificial additives in food. This has made 'natural' seem a desirable attribute. We tend to believe that if anything is as nature made it, it is necessarily better and healthier for us.

But scientists are concerned and are calling for more research into plants' natural toxins. The belief that 'natural' means 'healthy' is not backed by research, it is fueled merely by sophisticated advertising campaigns.

Tests on animals have shown that natural toxins may be just as good at causing cancers as man-made ones. If we applied the same standards to the testing of naturally-occurring compounds as we do to artificial ones, many would be banned as dangerous to health.

Most people know that it is unsafe to eat certain naturally-occurring foods - the green parts of potatoes and rhubarb leaves, for example - and so they don't eat them. It may also be said of other plants that as we have been eating them for centuries with, apparently, no ill effects, there cannot be a problem. Two recent developments, however, have changed that.

Firstly, because more people are demanding that vegetables and fruit are produced without the use of artificial pesticides, plant breeders are genetically modifying and developing strains that contain higher levels of the plants' natural toxins.

And these toxins are as dangerous for us as they are to the plants' other predators. Indeed, it seems that the toxins produced and contained within the plants may be more harmful than those that are merely sprayed onto them. Those that are sprayed on can be washed off; the plants' own toxins are locked in.

The second development is that, as more people turn to vegetarianism, they are eating larger quantities of the very foods - vegetables and cereals - that contain the higher levels of toxins.

So does 'natural' and 'organic' mean 'safe'? Nobody really knows, but there is certainly no evidence that they do.

Genetic Modification for Vegetarians

Most people in Britain, indeed throughout Europe, are extremely worried by the rapid spread of genetically modified (GM) vegetable produce and the lack of scientific evidence that such foods are safe either to those who consume them or to the environment.

As we saw earlier, it was worries of this nature that turned many vegetarians against meat. Vegetarians, who tend to be more health conscious than the average Brit, are even more likely to be wary of GM products. Yet they are the cause of one proliferation of GM products that affect us all.

In Britain today, it is difficult, if not impossible to find a British cheese that is not 'suitable for vegetarians'. In traditional cheeses, the curdling agent, rennet, is an animal product. So vegetarians don't want it. However, the rennet used in cheeses that are 'suitable for vegetarians' is a product made from genetically modified soy. I wonder how many realize this?

However, some may see the vegetarian as a prophet of a saner age. But, make no mistake, if all farms were cultivated without recourse to high-tech modern growing methods, whether we ate meat or vegetables, we would all starve.

We in Britain cannot support ourselves now. If vegetarian ideas on food production were to be implemented universally, our modern urban society would collapse. The irony is that, if we are to feed our rapidly growing population, we will have to pursue intensive farming methods even more rigorously than we do at present.

Animals and the Environment

There are environmental advantages to animal farming even on land that could be used for vegetable crops.

Where animals are farmed in fields they fertilize the ground naturally with little need for the artificial inorganic fertilizers that so worry people. The tonnes of nitrate fertilizers that leach in ever-increasing quantities into our streams and rivers are not used primarily for meat production but for the production of cereals and other vegetable crops.
With animal farming, fields are usually small and bounded by hedgerows.

The good herdsman will also tend to keep trees to shelter his animals from the heat of the summer sun. The field margins, trees and hedges provide a habitat for small animals, insects and wild flowers.

Arable farming on a large scale, on the other hand, means combine harvesters, and combine harvesters demand large open fields. On such farms hedges and trees are an encumbrance: thousands of miles of hedges have been torn out this century.

People bemoan the fact that a large number of animal and plant species are losing their hedgerow homes; they are sad that those species are becoming endangered - and then they espouse vegetarianism which would mean the destruction of even more hedges and trees and accelerate the trend!

Conclusion

Meat eaters must have sympathy for and agree with the animal rights campaigner where animals, which should be grazing in fields, are confined to pens and battery houses while their natural habitat is turned into golf courses and leisure grounds for us.

Paying farmers to let land lie fallow when it could safely support cattle or sheep, particularly while we are importing vast quantities of food, is madness.

It is legitimate to challenge this regime.

The only way to eradicate the forms of intensive farming which are so disliked, is to control and reduce the population and, hence, the need for such a system.

Not only will undertaking unnatural dietary practices not provide a solution, they are much more likely to exacerbate the situation.

One last thought. If you are a meat-eater, and someone you know to be vegetarian comes to your house for a meal, I'll bet you take extra trouble to prepare a vegetarian meal. There may be occasions, however, when you didn't know that your guest was vegetarian. Then, you may have noticed, your guest will leave the meat and, grudgingly, 'make do' with the vegetables.

But, how often have you known vegetarians to prepare a meat dish for you when you have been their guest?

The Western vegetarian at the moment is in a very privileged position. So long as not too many join him, he can afford to indulge his naive dietary fads in a way that is denied to most of the people of this Earth. While he ponders on this fact, he might also apply himself to Kant's Categorical Imperative which may be rewritten:

What would be wrong for all, is wrong for one.

Second Opinions UK

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