• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Easy Plant-Based Recipes | realrawkitchen
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Contact Me
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Medium
    • Pinterest
You are here: Home / Uncategorized / Deficiencies in a Meat-based Diet

Deficiencies in a Meat-based Diet

Originally Published: Feb 7, 2011 ❀ Last Updated: Feb 7, 2011 by realrawkitchen ❀ This post may contain affiliate links ❀ This blog generates income via ads ❀ Leave a Comment

By Gabriel Cousens MD on February 7, 2011

How is meat working for you?

Many meat eaters claim that a vegan diet is insufficient without supplementation. While this is true, a meat-centered diet is also insufficient without supplementation. Meat eaters require supplementation just as much as vegans.
Studies continue to emerge linking meat-centered diets and chronic disease. If plant-source-only eaters have less chronic diseases than meat eaters, why don’t they live significantly longer? One of main reasons for this is carnosine deficiency. Carnosine is two amino acids, L-histidine and alanine, linked. It acts as a very powerful antioxidant. Most importantly, it prevents glycosylation – one of the main factors in aging.
Vegans are low in carnosine. Actually, they don’t have any because carnosine comes from meat. However, meat eaters don’t get enough carnosine either! A recent study showed that when people ate 7 ounces of meat (a big steak), carnosine levels increased 448 units, but after 5 ½ hours no carnosine was detectable. This depletion occurs because there is an enzyme in the body that breaks down carnosine in a way that would require you to eat 7 ounces of steak three times daily to get adequate carnosine from a meat source! So, meat eaters are also deficient in carnosine, but not as deficient as vegans. Research is suggesting that we need at least 1000 milligrams of carnosine daily to overcome this enzymatic reaction and to reach carnosine levels that are adequate to protect the body against glycosylation, aging, and to protect the brain and body against diabetes.
When proteins are glycosylated, they give off 50 times more free radicals. Free radicals are one of the driving forces behind aging because they oxidize the system. You could try eating three steaks a day, but that’s not so healthy and dramatically increases your potential for chronic disease. The solution is simple.  There is a readily available, easy-to-use source of vegan carnosine. We recommend this for meat eaters, too, since everyone needs it.
Many people have heard that vegans are low in vitamin B-12. That’s absolutely true. Meat eaters are deficient, too. There is a minimum level of B-12 you need to survive and a maximum level that is optimal for long-term health. It is likely that 90 percent of meat eaters and vegans are deficient at optimal levels. The best thing for everyone is to take a B-12 supplement. When I was at Columbia Medical School in the 1960s, they did a study that found that 30 percent of people judged to have adequate B-12 levels (mostly meat eaters) had dramatically positive responses to getting B-12 shots. Depression went away, and a sense of well-being was reported in many study participants. Even in the 1960s they knew that on average people are low in B-12. I just want to emphasize the point that everybody is low in B-12. Why is this a big deal?  People who are B-12 deficient have more brain shrinkage. With age, your brain begins to shrink. We can protect against this with B-12 supplementation.
Vitamin D helps protect you from 50 to 70 percent of cancers, diabetes and halves the percentage of babies being born prematurely. We know that 100 percent of kids under one year old are vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D provides protection against flu. It also facilitates healthy brain function and cognition. Research suggests meat eaters and vegetarians – somewhere between 50 to 85 percent – are deficient in vitamin D. Everybody needs to take a vitamin D supplement, whether you’re a meat eater or vegan. Along with vitamin D, vitamin A helps vitamin D work better. Vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin K work together. Vegans and meat eaters tend to be low in vitamin K.
Let’s look at Vitamin A as an example. Between 27 and 46 percent of people in the population have very poor conversion of beta-carotene to retinol (the usable form of vitamin A). Individuals supplementing with beta-carotene are only getting a 9 percent conversion into its essential, useable components. If you’re part of the approximately 40 percent who don’t convert, you won’t get enough vitamin A. We need vitamin A for a good immune system, so vitamin A supplementation is crucial.
At this time, we don’t have a really good vegan source of vitamin A, but we’re in the process of developing one. What’s missing is a particular enzyme that converts beta-carotene into retinol. Roughly 40 percent of the population is low in this enzyme. A synthetic retinol is available, but studies aren’t all that clear in terms of long-term health benefits. Synthetic substances are generally not ideal sources of nutrients. We are currently figuring out a non-synthetic, vegan supplement that will be available in the future.
What about magnesium? Eighty percent of the population is low in magnesium. In 1936, the U.S. congress found that 99 percent of the U.S. population had some mineral deficiencies. Whether a meat eater or a vegan, it’s clear there is a need for general mineral supplementation. Simple things that are concentrated, like Ocean’s Alive marine phytoplankton, are great sources of magnesium and other essential nutrients.
Other important nutrients to consider are omega-3 long-chain fatty acids. Research shows 90 percent of pregnant women are deficient in omega-3. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an omega-3 fatty acid. We see a high incidence of depression and post-partum depression in individuals who don’t get enough DHA. Babies who don’t get enough DHA have poorer brain development and poorer vision. Meat eaters and vegans are deficient. Since 2.6 percent of the population is vegetarian and 0.05 percent is vegan, it’s safe to assume a population study that shows pregnant women are deficient includes predominantly meat eaters. Where should we get DHA? Fish oil has 2 percent of DHA, but it gets rancid, and anything from fish is highly contaminated with pesticides and herbicides. Where do fish get omega-3? Golden algae. You can easily get enough omega-3 with supplements like Omega Zen or V-pure.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that neither diet is adequate without supplementation given what’s going on in world. Everyone needs B-12, carnosine, vitamin D, vitamin A, DHA and magnesium including meat eaters. The optimum diet is one that makes you a superconductor for the Divine. That means adhering to at least an 80 percent live food, plant-source-only diet.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Previous Post: « What I’m reading, now
Next Post: Move that money maker! »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

vegan sweetener guide

hey 👋

I'm Kiki. I am a pretty basic plant-based chick that does yoga and all the things. I try to have as little impact on this planet as I can and I share all the ways I do it here with plant-based vegan food, eco-friendly sustainable living, home gardening, and homemade all natural everything.

I truly believe that if we all do all of the 'little things' then it will add up to make a big difference. I'm so glad that you're here to join me in doing lots of little things.

Let's dig deeper ↠

let’s connect

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Medium
  • Pinterest

subscribe

for your weekly fix of recipes, DIY remedies, yoga, and gardening.

Around The Blog

  • About
  • Disclosure
  • Recipes
  • Contact Me

RECENT POSTS

vegan pumpkin chili

RECIPE: sweet and spicy pumpkin chili, cooked

happy hormones

REVIEW: Happy Hormones by Kristy Vermeulen ND

RECIPE: spicy tomato and herb sauce, cooked

RECIPE: healing turmeric smoothie

disclosure

  • The ads you see generate revenue for me. This is not my livelihood but I do get some change from the ads.
  • If you make a purchase through the Amazon recommendations I make a small percentage from the purchase at no cost to you.
  • Sometimes I receive free samples from companies in order to review for you. I never recommend something that I would not use, myself. I am very protective of my brand and image and feel very strongly about only recommending items I believe in!

Footer

We had to thin out our carrots and we pulled all t We had to thin out our carrots and we pulled all the beets, which only ever amounted to little nuggets with long leafy tails.⁠
⁠
We roasted the mini carrots and used the tops to make pesto 🤤⁠
⁠
I sautéed the beet tops with mushrooms, like you’d make collard greens.⁠
⁠
It was a very sophisticated and delicious dinner that I grew myself 🧑🏽‍🌾 and I can’t believe that I’m actually living the life I always dreamed of 💫✨⁠
⁠
Hope you are all well and safe ❤️
Making offerings to #gangama in Rishikesh before t Making offerings to #gangama in Rishikesh before the whole world shut down.⁠
⁠
Millions of people from all around India (and the world!) visit the Ganges River, a sacred river that flows from Shiva's head and out to the Himalayas.⁠
⁠
It is believed that bathing in her water is the way to salvation, a way to clear karma, sins, and attachment to this world.⁠
⁠
Every day, millions of people pray to the river, sending their blessings through the water to be sent through the country, one winding mountainside at a time. To bathe in it is to bathe in prayer.⁠
⁠
May you find salvation wherever you are 🥰🙏
I haven't been on here much lately. And before tha I haven't been on here much lately. And before that, I wasn't on here for years and years.⁠
⁠
I mostly just don't like being online cuz it's what I do for work, so when my workday is done, I set my phone down and forget about it until the next morning. ⁠
⁠
And I'm definitely not trying to slow down the food-to-mouth process by taking pictures. But if I don't post and comment 24/7, then will Instagram even see it? Will anyone notice? What if I want to build a following, then what? I'm a slave to engagement for the rest of my life until I die? 🤯⁠
⁠
Social media is a fun way to connect with people from all over the world but gets in the way of connecting with the world right around me.⁠
⁠
In the meantime, here's a sloppy pic of #bananaicecream with #rawcacao and strawberries. This is the kinda #rawfood I like 😋
Don’t mind me, just over here eating homemade co Don’t mind me, just over here eating homemade coconut yogurt with #rawnola and lots of peanut butter. You know, the usual 💁🏼‍♀️
#801010 with a view 😍⁠ ⁠ Tropical fruit is #801010 with a view 😍⁠
⁠
Tropical fruit is my favvvorritteeee omg I don't think I could live without it. It makes it super easy to be #rawvegan 🤤⁠
⁠
When your food is so vibrant and full of life, you can't help but be the same.
I like having green juice on an empty stomach. I k I like having green juice on an empty stomach. I kinda naturally practice intermittent fasting by not eating until noon or 1 p.m. each day. Sometimes, when I'm hungry during that time I opt for a juice. This class green juice is 👌⁠
⁠
❀❀❀❀❀⁠
⁠
•RECIPE•⁠
1 cucumber⁠
1 inch of fresh ginger⁠
4 pink lady apples⁠
1 lemon⁠
1 stalk of celery⁠
⁠
•INSTRUCTIONS•⁠
↣option 1: run through your preferred juicer and enjoy😋⁠
↣option 2: blender with a little bit of water, then strain through a nut mylk bag. then enjoy 😋
follow me on Instagram

around the blog

  • About
  • Disclosure
  • Recipes
  • Contact Me

my favorites

vegan pumpkin chili
happy hormones

Copyright © 2021 · Real Raw Kitchen