From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Wed May 15 2002 - 14:02:10 MDT
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
> On Wednesday, May 15, 2002, at 12:34 pm, Mike Lorrey wrote:
> > Furthermore, my assertion is that people who are not normally anemic on
> > a meat diet will easily become anemic on a vegetarian diet.
>
> This one is true, Mike. However what is interesting about this problem
> is that it is only a modern concern.
>
> Historically, tempeh, femented veggies, tofu, seaweed and processed
> cheeses (or soy cheeses for the vegans) all contain bacteria or yeasts
> that produce vitamin B12. (B12 deficiency is what causes anemia.) In
> former times, vegetarian monks or buddhists or just plain poor people
> who didn't have meat got plenty of vitamin B12. It is only with modern
> sanitation that we have eliminated bacteria and yeasts in foods. The
> foods are now so sterile that they don't contain any contaminants that
> produce vitamin B12. As such, it is now no longer possible to get
> vitamin B12 from perfectly sterile food. This only affects full vegans,
> by the way. Vegetarians who eat dairy products or eggs get plenty of
> animal B12 that way.
Actually, my vegetarian cousin got anemia and she wasn't full vegan. She
now eats red meats, chicken, and fish and is quite healthy. We've
started her shooting lessons, and I expect we'll have her hunting in
another year or so... come to the Dark Side, Harvey.... ;)
It is interesting about the bacteria B12, though.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:14:06 MST