by Dr.Harald Wiesendanger– Klartext
Background journalism instead of court reporting. Independent. Uncomfortable. Incorruptible.
Hoeneß attacks vegans
Not only fans of FC Bayern Munich adore him as a “friend of clear words”: Uli Hoeneß. At the regular table level, the 69-year-old star polemicist has just struck again, this time against those who despise meat.
At the radio station Antenne Bayern, Hoeneß declared, as usual, with a strong opinion that he had tried vegan food before. But “I don’t like the stuff because everything is in there that shouldn’t be in a Nuremberg sausage, namely stabilizers and flavor enhancers. (…) I still accept a bit of vegetarian food, but not vegan at all, because people only get sick. “
The fact that someone who ran a sausage factory for decades tends to have a particular preference for sausage has just as manageable news value as an alcoholic’s admission that he does not like zero percent beer. The fact that Hoeneß has only encountered food-chemically contaminated “stuff” in meat-free fare suggests that he has never served freshly prepared dishes from a vegan host or served himself at the buffet of a well-run vegan restaurant. Instead, he reached for industrial convenience food full of industrial sugar, table salt, and hidden fats at the cheapest discounter.
Do vegans inevitably get sick? From a certain prominence level, no education gap is apparently too big to be allowed to embarrass yourself in front of an audience of millions.
On top of that, Hoeneß dislikes an aggressive attitude that he claims to have found in vegans. “They are militant. If you criticize them, they will attack you.” But he insists on his right to eat what he likes.
Doesn’t the militant football icon, who presents itself every year as the media Rumpelstiltskin, confuse cause and effect? It is more likely that it is vegans who see themselves despised everywhere. Not everyone can put up with that. Apart from gays and Jews, lateral thinkers, mask refusers, and the unvaccinated, I cannot think of a minority who are more prejudiced by the general public than vegetarians or even vegans. It always alienates me how condescending, downright contemptuous the defamation sometimes comes across. The fact that some medical societies and health authorities even support them and that sloppily researching journalists bring them to the people, allegedly based on “scientific findings,” makes the infamous rumors all the more credible and persistent.
“They endanger themselves” –
The argument of malnutrition
“They eat themselves sick”: What meat-eaters always thought they knew about vegetarian foodists seemed to find a scientific blessing at the beginning of 2014, which caused a huge stir in the media landscape. Since then, he has heated people’s minds. Doctors from the University of Graz published what they wanted to find out in 1320 adults in the specialist journal PLoS One. (1) They compared four groups of equal size: 330 vegetarians each, meat-eaters with many fruit and vegetables, little and heavy meat-eaters. The groups were comparable concerning gender, age, tobacco consumption, fitness, social status, and economic circumstances; in each, the average body mass index (BMI) was in the normal range. The data came from the “Austrian Health Survey” (AT-HIS), a sample of the adult population in Austria, as part of an EU-wide “European Health Interview Survey.”
The results of the Graz results gave confessing meat-eaters a real treat. 14 of 18 diseases considered were reportedly more common among vegetarians (78%) – including asthma, diabetes, migraines, and osteoporosis. They were affected by allergies almost twice as often as those who eat a lot of meat (30.6 to 16.7%). And one and a half times more frequently by cancer (4.8 to 1.8%). They suffered heart attacks three times more often (1.5 to 0.6%). They were also worse mentally: they suffered from depression and anxiety disorders twice as often as those who eat a lot of meat. They went to the doctor more often and needed more medical therapy. Their quality of life was significantly lower: physical and mental health, social relationships, and the environment.
The media eagerly picked up the numbers – and processed them into outrageous headlines. “Health risk-avoiding meat” was the headline of the news magazine Focus. So-called experts, who had always known about it, were allowed to speak extensively. In the light of the Graz findings, “the unsustainable health promises made by vegetarian lobbyists seem even more questionable,” explained nutritionist Uwe Knop. (2) Professor Gabriele Meyer, chairwoman of the German Evidence-Based Medicine Network (DEGIM), hastened to clarify: This unmasked “the same myths and fairy tales as with all nutritional promises about health.” Professor Ulrich Voderholzer, Medical Director of the Schön-Klinik Roseneck, felt compelled to denounce “ideological statements” that “suggest false promises.” On the topic of cancer protection through fruit and vegetables, Professor Rudolf Kaaks from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) agreed with the Grazers: “No relationship, zero point.” (3)
So can carnivores breathe easily? Hardly any editorial team considered it necessary to point out to their readers and viewers that the alleged Graz “discoveries” were in stark contrast to at least four decades of nutritional research. And hardly any of them reproduced a decisive restriction which the authors themselves made at the end of their study report: the crucial question “hen or egg?” Inevitably remains open. What they found were nothing more than correlations, not causal connections. Does renouncing meat make you sick? Or is it the other way around: Do sick people tend to reduce their meat consumption – in the hope of getting well again?
And didn’t the people of Graz have to consider how long their 330 vegetarians had been following their diet and how consistent they were with it? If a body is no longer supplied with meat, it needs time to adapt. It takes even longer before something worth mentioning happens in the case of protracted chronic ailments.
So, what good are the Austrian sedative pills for passionate meat-eaters? Which neutral authority can advise?
What the Vatican is for the Catholic Church, the German Nutrition Society (DGE) is for the public health system in the Federal Republic: an authority to which offices, authorities, and schools, politicians, and journalists orientate themselves when it comes to healthy eating. Since 1953, the non-profit specialist society, funded to 70 percent by the federal and state governments, has been committed to the common good and science following its statutes.
What does this establishment think of a vegan diet? Not too much. “With a purely plant-based diet, an adequate supply of some nutrients is not possible or is only possible with difficulty,” claims the DGE. There is “a supply problem, the effects of which can be detrimental to health, especially for people in sensitive phases of life (e.g., growth). (…) Any diet that does not supply essential nutrients and energy as required is unfavorable for health”. “In particular,” for pregnant women, breastfeeding women, infants, children and adolescents, “a vegan diet is” not recommended by the DGE. “
What does the DGE recommend instead? “A diet with all food groups listed in the nutrition group, including animal products” – to the delight of the meat and dairy industry.
And this is, with all due respect, misleading nonsense. A purely plant-based diet provides everything a human organism needs in abundance – provided that the choices are informed and careful.
The fairy tale of vitamin B-12 deficiency
What kinds of nutrients are supposedly “difficult” or not at all available to a vegan? The “most critical,” warns the DGE, is an adequate supply of vitamin B12. Is that correct?
Vitamin B12 plays a crucial role in ensuring that cells divide and grow. It takes part in the production of blood and in synthesizing the genetic material DNA. It is also significant for the nervous system because it helps the nerve fiber sheaths to form and renew. Vitamin B6 and folic acid break down the toxic homocysteine, a waste product of protein metabolism, into a non-toxic substance; Homocysteine damages the blood vessel walls, after which the body initiates repair processes which in turn can lead to arteriosclerotic deposits. Therefore, high homocysteine levels are considered a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.
A persistent vitamin B12 deficiency can have fatal consequences: from numbness on the skin, loss of appetite, fatigue, burning tongue, torn corners of the mouth, coordination disorders, and unsteadiness of gait to severe developmental disorders and even pernicious anemia, a unique form of anemia. Massive psychological problems can also arise. Doctors measured deficient vitamin B-12 levels in people with depression and dementia, autism, and people with schizophrenia.
Nutritionists estimate the daily requirement of B12 to be 3 to 4 micrograms (µg). All animal foods contain it: meat 2 to 5 µg, depending on the species and part of the body; Fish 1 to 9 µg, depending on the type of fish; Cheese 1 to 3 µg, depending on the variety; Eggs 1 to 1.5 µg, especially the yolk; Milk, buttermilk and yogurt 0.2 to 0.4 µg. However, the body absorbs it differently: While it can absorb 60 to 90% from meat, it is only around 40% with fish and only 10% with eggs.
How do vegans ensure an adequate supply of B12? Opinions on this vary widely. Time and again, convinced herbalists who have been vegan for many years, have not taken any B12 supplements, have inconspicuous B12 levels – and feel fit and productive, apparently in the best of health, speak up in the Internet forums. Obviously, they are doing everything right. Many reassuring explanations are circulating in the scene: Eating algae, mushrooms, grass, unwashed vegetables provide high-quality, sufficiently active B12; From the outset, vegans have a lower B12 requirement than omnivores; a healthy oral and intestinal flora produces enough of it by itself.
With others, however, it doesn’t seem to work. Perhaps your organism needs a lot of B12. Or they make mistakes in choosing and preparing their food. If you want to be on the safe side, take a vitamin B-12 preparation as tablets, capsules, or drops – if possible, a high-quality one that contains hydroxocobalamin, the body’s own storage form of B12, which can be converted into active B12 at any time if necessary. It’s easy, safe, and, at a price of fewer than 20 cents per day, also affordable.
Because of lack of nutrients?
What about all of the other nutrients that vegans claim to be lacking? For vegans, the DGE finds the supply of additional vitamins – namely riboflavin (B2) and vitamin D – as well as protein, essential amino acids, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, and minerals such as calcium, iron, iodine, zinc, to be “potentially critical,” Selenium. (4) Is that true?
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) does indeed play a central role in protein, energy, and iron metabolism. Our body needs it, among other things, to convert glucose or fatty acids into energy. It is also essential for particular proteins in the lens of the eye.
A B2 deficiency makes you tired and listless; it leads to eye and skin problems such as redness, itching, and torn corners of the mouth.
The DGE recommends that adults consume 1 to 1.4 milligrams of B2 daily. Suitable suppliers for this are milk and dairy products, meat, and fish. However, B2 also contains plenty of nuts, seeds, legumes, mushrooms, and – in significantly smaller quantities – various types of vegetables and herbs. Almonds, fresh mushrooms, dill, oyster mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, parsley, lentils, cashew nuts, broccoli, spinach and chestnuts, peanuts, sunflower seeds and chickpeas, hemp seeds, and dried fruits are particularly rich in B2.
Vitamin D plays a crucial role in our health. It is involved in thousands upon thousands of regulatory processes in our cells. It works in the immune system, relieves inflammation, lifts the mood, and prevents many chronic diseases. Our body produces 90 percent of it itself when exposed to the sun. The first symptoms of a vitamin D deficiency include frequent infections, delayed wound healing, fatigue, bone and back pain, persistent bad mood, sleep disorders, declining physical and mental performance, and poor complexion. If the undersupply continues, the risk of obesity, chronic inflammation, diabetes, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases, heart attacks, and cancer and depression, or dementia increases significantly.
Nutrition experts disagree on the daily requirement. While some assume 20 micrograms (= 800 IU) per day, others cite a significantly higher value, namely 175 micrograms (= 7000 IU).
The official assurance can reassure ordinary eaters that milk and dairy products are good sources of vitamin D. Hardly anyone knows that whole milk and yogurt provide just one µg per 100 grams, some hard cheeses around three µg. Fish is more productive, with 2 to 22 µg depending on the species. But who eats a plate full of herring, eel, or sprats every day?
In addition to sunbathing, vegans have an excellent alternative: sun-dried mushrooms. Almost all types are suitable for this. Because they naturally contain the vitamin D precursor Ergisterol; When exposed to UVB radiation, this results in ergocalciferol – also known as vitamin D2. To do this, you put the mushrooms unwashed, with the slats facing up, in the sun for two days. After that, they will contain over 40,000 IU of vitamin D. It remains in the mushrooms for at least a year so that they provide us with plenty of D2 even in winter. Anyone who eats 2 to 15 grams of mushrooms a day has already raised their vitamin D levels to be healthy. (5)
Protein – In surveys, omnivores regularly name protein as the main reason for eating meat. Almost every plant provides all the essential proteins. They are particularly abundant in nuts (almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts), in legumes (peanuts and peanut butter, beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas, etc.), in seeds (pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, poppy seeds, sesame seeds), Whole grain products (especially quinoa and amaranth), in soy products, rice, hemp, and lupins. The vegetables with the highest protein content include Cabbage (especially Brussels sprouts, kale, and savoy cabbage) and garden cress, herbs, wild plants, and mushrooms.
In the industrialized countries, the omnivores tend to have a protein problem: They get too much of it – in the USA, about twice the amount that the human organism would need.
Essential amino acids are crucial building blocks of proteins. They also serve as the starting material for various compounds that take on essential metabolic functions in the body. Because our bodies cannot synthesize them in sufficient quantities, we have to consume them with our food. They are particularly abundant in beef, sausage, fish, dairy products, and eggs. It is a baseless rumor that vegans have problems with this. Histidine is abundant in soybeans and wheat germ; Isoleucine in cashew nuts, peanuts, lentils, peas; Leucine in legumes such as soybeans, peas, white and mung beans, lentils, chickpeas; Lysine in beans, oranges, mandarins, and celery; Methionine in Brazil nuts, sesame seeds, dried soybeans, green vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and spinach; Phenylalanine: in soy and pumpkin seeds; Threonine in papaya, carrots, spinach leaves; Tryptophan in soybeans, no sugar cocoa powder, cashew nuts, dry peas, oatmeal, walnuts, and wheat flour; Valine in spelled flour and oatmeal.
Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated, as biochemists say: They are long-chain molecules – hydrocarbon chains – with multiple double bonds. Their most important representatives are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Our body needs them, among other things, to build cell walls, especially in the eyes and brain. They ensure that the membranes remain elastic and take on essential tasks for enzymes, receptors, and transport proteins. In addition, they serve as the starting substance for eicosanoids: tissue hormones that are important for various immune functions. They lower the risk of heart attacks, counteract cardiac arrhythmias, and positively affect inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn’s disease, and cancer and skin diseases. They prevent the blood platelets from sticking together. They also have a vasodilating, anti-inflammatory, and antihypertensive effect and improve the flow properties of the blood. With high intake – 3-4 g per day – they lower the triglyceride and possibly also the cholesterol level.
Deficiency gives rise to numerous health ailments, including cardiovascular problems, nervous disorders, inflammatory reactions, and autoimmune diseases.
The daily requirement is 250 mg. Oily sea fish contains these valuable fatty acids in abundance – but no reason to despair for vegans, as long as they do a little bit of food science. The body can build up EPA and DHA itself: from the short-chain alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), chia and linseed, hempseed, linseed, and hemp oil provide substantial amounts of it. (6)
High-quality algae preparations, especially those made from Schizachyrium, chlorella, and spirulina, help compensate for any omega-3 deficiency.
Calcium is the favorite mineral of all loyal customers in the dairy industry. Normal eaters most often cite it as a reason to drink a lot of milk and consume dairy products – this leads to healthy bones, in old age, it protects against fractures, they say.
Official guidelines put the actual calcium requirement far too high. Covering it is not only effortless with a purely vegan diet but even better. Too much calcium promotes a magnesium deficiency. Also, to optimally utilize both, the body has to absorb them in a ratio of 2 to 1. With dairy products, this is impossible; with plant-based foods, it works without further ado. Sesame, almonds, hazelnuts and linseed, green and wild vegetables such as kale, dandelion, cress, broccoli, fennel, Swiss chard, and carrots offer an ideal calcium-magnesium ratio. Also rich in calcium are poppy seeds, dried herbs, and kitchen spices, spirulina algae, nettles, chickpeas, and other legumes, dried fruits such as figs and apricots, soy, rice, and hemp milk, tofu, and tempeh, a traditional fermentation product from Indonesia made from yellow Soybeans.
Iron is partly responsible for the transport of oxygen in our bodies. In addition, it is an indispensable component of various enzymes that are responsible for energy metabolism.
The majority is found in the red blood cells as an essential component of the red blood pigment hemoglobin. There, iron fulfills the task of binding oxygen, which supplies all body cells via the blood. If it is absent, anemia and anemia occur. The lack of oxygen immediately affects physical and mental performance – one feels weak, is constantly tired, and quickly exhausted. You catch colds more often, your hair falls out, your tongue becomes infected, your fingernails arch upwards.
Our body cannot produce the daily requirement of around 15 mg iron itself; it has to take it in with food. Meat products provide exceptionally high-quality iron, liver and black pudding are most abundant: so-called heme iron – iron in combination with hemoglobin – which our organism can use particularly easily.
But plant foods can also provide considerable amounts of iron. The top spot is taken by turmeric (40 mg per 100 grams), followed by pumpkin seeds (12.5 mg), sesame (10), amaranth (9), quinoa (8), millet (7), poppy seeds, flax seeds, chanterelles, basil, Sunflower seeds, and dried peaches. Green leafy vegetables are also rich in iron – especially spinach, next to Swiss chard and dandelion -, green leafy salads, many herbs, legumes, and vegetables.
Well-read vegans make sure to get enough vitamin C simultaneously, for example, with lemon or orange juice, kiwi, red pepper, broccoli, red or white cabbage: It makes it easier for the body to utilize iron. Coffee, black tea, phosphate-rich instant food, soft drinks, and calcium-rich milk products, on the other hand, inhibit iron absorption. In addition, how well our body absorbs iron depends on the condition of the digestive system: for example, the pH value in the intestine and gastric acid production.
The thyroid needs iodine: only with its help can it produce its hormones. If they are missing, the entire metabolism comes to a standstill – the symptoms of an underactive thyroid appear. According to the DGE, the daily requirement of children is 100 to 200 μg / day, while adolescents and adults need 180 to 200 μg / day. Seaweed is a first-class source of iodine for plant-eaters. Kelp, a brown alga with over 30 subspecies, contains no less than 3000 to 11000 µg iodine per gram, the red alga Dulse and the brown alga Hijiki 500 each, wakame 100 to 350, the sea lettuce – a green alga up to 240. But also green leafy vegetables, Cabbage, mushrooms, lamb’s lettuce, mushrooms, broccoli, peas and spinach, peanuts, linseed, pumpkin, and cashew nuts contribute significantly to the iodine supply.
Zinc, like iron, is one of the essential trace elements: On the one hand, it is vital; our organism only needs it in small amounts, “traces.” It invigorates the metabolism – up to 300 enzymes have zinc as a component – promotes muscle building, skin health, and healing processes of all kinds, helps detoxify, and increases the body’s defenses. And it lifts the mood: zinc is contained in an enzyme called aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase, which helps build up the “good luck messenger” serotonin. For men, a requirement of 10 mg per day applies; for women, 7 mg. Zinc deficiency manifests in bad taste sensation in the oral mucosa, diarrhea, dermatitis, and acne. It makes you sensitive to stress, susceptible to infection, tired and inefficient, delays wound healing, and lets hair fall out. It can even be associated with an unfulfilled desire to have children and presumably also with age-related poor eyesight.
Meat, cheese, and oysters provide plenty of zinc, 2 to 9 mg per 100 grams, so do vegans have a problem? Nonsense. Zinc is usually available in high protein foods; these ensure that our body can easily absorb the trace element. High zinc levels are also in oilseeds such as pumpkin seeds (7 mg per 100 g), linseed, and poppy seeds. Legumes provide 2 to 3.5 mg. However, we should soak pulses and oilseeds in water for a few hours before consuming them so that they sprout. The enzyme phytase is activated in the seed; it breaks down phytic acid, which binds zinc and other minerals to itself.
On the other hand, fruit and vegetables provide very little zinc (0.1 to 1 mg). But because vegans consume more significant amounts of it, they are tapping into another vital source of zinc. In addition, their diet saves them dairy products, in which casein and a lot of calcium and phosphate inhibit zinc absorption.
Selenium, another vital trace element, has several primary advantages. On the one hand, it works excellently as an antioxidant: it slows down or prevents other substances from oxidizing, i.e., combining with oxygen – and thereby causing so-called “oxidative stress” in the body, a metabolic situation in which more harmful free radicals occur. “Free radicals”: this could be the name of an extremist splinter party. The name is reserved for one physical fact: atoms or molecules with a free, unpaired electron, which is why they are particularly reactive. If free radicals get out of hand, this affects the immune system. Then we are more prone to infections—the risk of chronic health problems increases, for example, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, eye diseases, chronic inflammatory processes such as arthritis, ulcerative colitis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, malignant tumors and Alzheimer’s. We also age prematurely. Selenium plays a vital role in preventing all of that. As an essential component of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, a particularly effective antioxidant, it protects against cancer, for example.
Second, Selenium binds heavy metals such as aluminum, arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. Trapped in poorly soluble selenium complexes, they can no longer cause any damage to the body.
In addition, Selenium stimulates the immune system to form antibodies against pathogens and other harmful substances.
Selenium also helps ensure that the organism has a balanced supply of thyroid hormones; it controls their activation and deactivation.
In short, Selenium is essential for our health; a permanent deficiency has fatal consequences. Does that have to worry vegans? Rather not. A handful of Brazil nuts per day is enough not to have to worry about Selenium. Selenium is also abundant in coconuts, coconut flakes, sesame, porcini mushrooms, and smaller amounts in mushrooms, soybeans, oats, corn, millet, and whole grain rice. Legumes, garlic, and sunflower seeds are other good sources of Selenium.
So where, if you go, does it become “critical” to be vegan? The scare tactics of the DGE, their emphatic recommendation of mixed diets with meat, meat products, and fish ignore the current state of nutritional research rather than reflect it.
“Unsympathetic contemporaries” – the character argument.
“Grain eater,” “Muesliheini,” “Sprouty”: An extensive collection of swear words indicates that many people are very pissed off by the majority of those who disdain meat. If invited to dinner, some snub their hosts with probing inquiries as to whether and which animal body parts and excretions hide in the served meal. In supermarkets, you can see them frowning at the list of ingredients on packaging for minutes before they bring most of them back to the display with a disdainful expression. They break up sociable rounds in cold blood with mean, know-it-all instructions about how much worthless, medically questionable, and ethically unacceptable stuff is on the table. With missionary zeal, unbearable arrogance, and the erect index finger of the moralist, they urge normal eaters at every opportunity to take the right nutritional path finally. Such a man could sabotage Hoeneß’ seventieth, which is due on January 5th.
No question about it; such contemporaries do appear in the alternative dining scene. In their rebelliousness, their argumentative nature, they are reminiscent of fanatical anti-nicotine crusaders among ex-smokers of ex-alcoholics who have become dry. With annoying appearances, they often not only violate the boundaries of decency – they expose themselves to be miserable psychologists and social workers. No matter how many clever words, no matter how abundantly cited scientific studies ever cause a normal eater to spontaneously and remorsefully make a dietary about-face. The more ingrained beliefs and habits, likes and dislikes, the more they are part of everyday life, the harder they are to erode under the pressure of any arguments. The most zealous preachers in the veggie scene in particular often seem to disregard their own biography: very few of them prompted a lecture, no matter how brilliant in rhetoric or a factual book, suddenly to eat differently. It is often decisive life events or gradual inner maturation processes that make the difference: severe illness or deep dissatisfaction with your physical condition. The most common way of becoming a vegetarian or vegan is through conversion. The more they are perceived as paternalism, the more they are perceived as a compulsion, the less it helps.
On the other hand, not everyone who starts discussing healthy eating with normal eaters is driven by a bloated ego, self-righteousness, and self-importance. A sincere, deep concern moves many for the welfare of others. Aren’t we trying to help our beloved partner, our beloved children, and parents, our best friend when they feel bad? And if a persistently miserable diet could be to blame: May we not have to bring this up to them? Instead, to remain silent, out of tact or resignation, would be irresponsible.
Anyone who makes himself unsympathetic as a “know-it-all” does not have to apologize because he often knows better. And this alone can easily cause discomfort, feelings of inferiority, and defensive reflexes in the other person. Who likes to admit that they don’t know enough about a topic of conversation? That he lacks the knowledge to have a competent say? Many surveys indicate that the typical vegetarian and vegan has many advantages over him. (7)
A study published in 2017 by two psychologists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz is particularly well-founded and meaningful. (8) They analyzed data from over 5000 people the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) had included in a representative long-term study three years earlier. According to this, the typical plant-eater is more intelligent than the average citizen and has a higher level of education. He’s more health-conscious – and healthier. He found out more about food, critically examined his consumption and eating habits, and drawing logical conclusions. He is more open to new experiences, more politically interested, and more liberal. Admitting all of this annoys and offends many normal eaters. By declaring the vegetarian, the vegan, to be unsympathetic, he saves himself the trouble of having to deal with the content of his viewpoint – he gives himself an unconscious “free ticket” “to avoid the fact-based reflection of his behavior,” presumably the information portal Vegpool. “Displacement is arguably the most important reason meat-eaters reject veganism.”
There is a lot to it. “Whoever knows the truth needs a fast horse,” teaches a Chinese proverb. Rejecting the messenger of unpleasant messages corresponds to a deeply rooted human need.
“All mourners” – The Depression Argument
A vegetarian way of life, especially a vegan one, significantly impacts the mood in the long run. Regular eaters speculate: “You sit in a happy group at the barbecue, possibly even with Uli Hoeneß on the Tegernsee – and watch the others feast while chewing on the salad. At the birthday party or the wedding party, you have to ignore the most delicious cream cakes. In the restaurant, you have no choice but to skip at least four-fifths of the menu. What kind of life is that? Constantly refraining from pulling yourself together while your fellow human beings are having a good time carefree: has to make you depressed at some point. “
Individual research teams are said to have even empirically confirmed this assumption. In the Austrian study cited above, vegetarians suffered significantly more often from anxiety disorders and depression than meat-eaters (9.4 to 4.5 percent). (9)
This correlation was confirmed in 2012 by a study by the Universities of Hildesheim and Bochum, the Berlin School of Psychology, the TU Dresden, and eating disorders and psychosomatic complaints. (10) Avoiding meat is associated with a significantly higher risk of depressive symptoms, as allegedly also results from a study carried out by the US Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism together with the University of Bristol. Almost 10,000 men took part, 311 of whom were vegetarian and 39 vegans. Questions about mental health showed that both subgroups were more prone to depression – the more so, the longer they had been on a meatless diet. (11) Previous studies had already come to similar results.
At least the news magazine Focus knew precisely why this could be due to the fact that “a meat-free diet usually leads to a vitamin B-12 deficiency”. In addition, vegans “often use nuts that increase the omega-6 fatty acid levels.” which affects “our well-being and our happiness.” (12)
For the food industry, such “findings” are a hit. But do they also apply? On the one hand, every halfway informed vegetarian and vegan knows how to prevent or remedy possible deficiency symptoms, and most of them do. Their self-observations, as well as assessments on the part of their social environment, are primarily in sharp contradiction to the strange study results: As soon as they have changed their diet, their mood brightens, psychological lows become less frequent and less pronounced, the attitude towards life becomes more optimistic. (13)
Focus failed to mention that enough studies have now confirmed that Vegans are mentally healthier, especially less depressed. Even more pronounced than vegetarians, they are less subject to mood swings, are less anxious, and are less quiet under stress than meat-eaters. (14) On the other hand, an anti-inflammatory diet – with high proportions of meat and fish, lemonade, and refined flour – increases the risk of depression in women by 41 percent. (15) Fish consumption increases the risk of depression and suicide, possibly due to the high mercury content. (16)
Besides, nothing is more unscientific than to short-circuit from correlation to causality. Are the higher levels of depression actually coming from the plant-based diets that accompany them? Couldn’t it be the other way around: People prone to depression tend to be vegan or vegetarian? (17)
But why should they do that? People diagnosed with a “depressive disorder” more quickly, earlier, and more frequently by the psychiatric labeling machinery (18) are highly sensitive, thoughtful, empathetic, responsible, self-critical than average. All of these characteristics predestine this, especially strong with animals. To empathize, react more thinly to perceived injustice, question one’s habits, and what is supposed to be taken for granted in culture and society. The more they deal with existing grievances such as animal suffering and world hunger, environmental destruction, and mass poisoning by industrial chemicals, the more it torments them. And this can lead to a state of mind that doctors mistake for a pathological condition. What those affected suffer from, rightly and ultimately rationally, is a world that is sick and makes sick.
From where does the contempt for plant foodists come?
There are more pleasant things than being open and honest about a vegetarian or even vegan diet in a company. All too often, those who dare meet with a downright aggressive rejection. Hardly anyone wants to hear what they have to say and deal with it factually. Instead, he risks being ridiculed and verbally abused. Like every person, he is much more than his eating habits. But as soon as it ends up in the “meat despiser” drawer, stereotypes take hold. They push everything into the background, whatever else defines him. Now he is considered a radical, an esotericist, a weirdo.
Why does nobody want to speak to him sensibly, to respond to his arguments? That would give him the opportunity to talk calmly: His renunciation of meat is a logical consequence of the fact that people nowadays no longer have to consume animal products to be satisfied. In the meantime, the fatal consequences of meat consumption are grossly disproportionate to the benefits, both medically and ecologically. But just this – to be logical – is precisely the problem: It shows the meat-eater that he is either poorly informed, has given too little thought to the available information, or has not followed up his thoughts with actions. Who likes to admit that? He experiences being objectively compelled to do so as an emotional threat. It hurts his pride; it casts doubt on his integrity; it devalues his attitudes. That’s what he’s afraid of. When this fear takes on a life of its own, it becomes an ideology. And ideologies are resistant to facts.
Hopefully, meat-eaters will find it easier to work on it when they realize that the vegetarian, the vegan, about whom they are shaking their head uncomprehendingly, was most likely one of them at one point or another. In his life, too, there was a more or less long phase in which he suppressed facts, postponed decisions that were due, and evaded criticism. Plant food enthusiasts are most likely to succeed in persuasion when they honestly make it clear that the fear of their counterparts has been their own for too long.
How healthy does the sausage manufacturer eat?
Hoeneß’s vegan bashing has not necessarily increased its popularity. In social media, head shaking and irony prevail about someone whose baroque corpulence can easily keep up with his gasping ego. For example, a “Julia Sabrina” finds it “amusing that people with such freshness on their faces make such wild statements. They are athletic themselves most of the time, and you can literally see that they pay attention to their diet. “And” Yvonne K. “is surprised:” It’s just strange that we have so many sick people when the majority of people are omnivore. “
Even with the animal rights organization PETA, Hoeneß’s tirade did not go down well. “With such statements, he shoots himself offside,” explained PETA technical manager Peter Höffken. “It is now known that all meat consumption is destroying the planet, and cruelty to animals is in the news. And this diet is also harmful to your own health. I think he’s just scared that he will lose sales and that the factory may have to make losses at some point. He’s trying to somehow stop the trend towards a plant-based diet with such desperate statements. People now know that a plant-based diet is healthier than a traditional diet. I think he scored a classic own goal here. “
The actor Ralf Moeller, former bodybuilder, and Mr. Universum sent sunny greetings to Tegernsee from his adopted home California: “Happy Birthday, Uli Hoeneß. I understand, of course, that as a sausage manufacturer, you don’t like vegans. But I’m personally vegan for health and ecological reasons and have the most significant doubts about factory farming. With my vegan diet, I feel even fitter and healthier. If we knew each other better, my birthday present for you would be a vegan cook for a weekend. But so that you can healthily celebrate many more birthdays, I recommend that you eat vegan and 50 percent less meat once a week. “
(Harald Wiesendanger)
Remarks
(1) Nathalie T. Burkert u.a.: “Nutrition and Health – The Association between Eating Behavior and Various Health Parameters: A Matched Sample Study, “PLoS One 9(2) 2014: e88278, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088278, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088278
(2) „Vegetarismus: ‚Gesundessen‘ als Glaubensbekenntnis“, Novo Argumente, Uwe Knop, 30.10.2013.
(3) Zit. nach Süddeutsche Zeitung, 23.1.2014, http://www.sueddeutsche.de/gesundheit/krebs-und-ernaehrung-die-angst-isst-mit-1.1869774-2.
(4) Margrit Richter, Heiner Boeing, Dorle Grünewald-Funk, Helmut Heseker, Anja Kroke, Eva Leschik-Bonnet, Helmut Oberritter, Daniela Strohm, Bernhard Watzl für die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung e. V. (DGE): Vegane Ernährung – Position der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Ernährung e. V. (DGE), Ernaehrungs Umschau international 63 (4) 2016, S. 92–102, doi:10.4455/eu.2016.021.
(5) Paul Stamets: “Place Mushrooms in Sunlight to Get Your Vitamin D: Part One,” Huffington Post Healthy Living, February 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-stamets/mushrooms-vitamin-d_b_1635941.html
(6) Siehe A. A. Welch u.a.: “Dietary intake and status of n–3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in a population of fish-eating and non-fish-eating meat-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans and the precursor-product ratio of {alpha}-linolenic acid to long-chain n–3 polyunsaturated fatty acids: results from the EPIC-Norfolk cohort “, November 2010, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20861171.
(7) Vegpool: „Sind Veganer intelligenter?“, https://www.vegpool.de/wissen/veganer-intelligenz.html; Der Standard.de, 4.11.2017: „Die Persönlichkeit von Vegetariern und Veganern“, https://www.derstandard.de/story/2000067108147/persoenlichkeit-wie-sich-vegetarier-von-fleischessern-unterscheiden; abgerufen am 19.12.2017
(8) Tamara M. Pfeiler/Boris Egloff: “Examining the “Veggie” personality: Results from a representative German sample “Appetite, 7. September 2017, DOI:10.1016/j.appet.2017.09.005
(9) N. T. Burkert u.a.: “Nutrition and Health – The Association between Eating Behavior and Various Health Parameters: A Matched Sample Study, “PLoS ONE 9(2) 2014: e88278. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088278http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088278
(10) Johannes Michalak/Xiao Chi Zhang/Frank Jacobi: “Vegetarian diet and mental disorders: results from a representative community survey; International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2012, 9:67, https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1479-5868-9-67?site=ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com.
(11) Joseph R. Hibbeln/Kate Northstone: “Vegetarian diets and depressive symptoms among men, “Journal of Affective Disorders 225 (1) 2017, S. 13-17, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.07.051 )
(12) Focus.de, 12.11.2017: „Kein Fleisch kann unglücklich machen – Veganer erkranken eher an psychischem Leiden als Fleischesser“, www.focus.de/gesundheit/videos/kein-fleisch-kann-ungluecklich-machen-studie-beweist-veganer-erkranken-eher-an-psychischem-leiden-als-fleischesser_id_7449436.html.
(13) Siehe Harald Wiesendanger (Hg.): Tiere essen? Warum AUSWEGE-Mitwirkende ihre Ernährung umstellten (2018), https://stiftung-auswege-shop.gambiocloud.com/tiere-essen-warum-auswege-mitwirkende-ihre-ernaehrung-umstellten-pdf.html
(14) Bonnie Beezhold u.a.: “Vegans report less stress and anxiety than omnivores, “Nutritional Neuroscience 18 (7) 2014, S. 289-296, DOI: 10.1179/1476830514Y.0000000164.
(15) M. Lucas u.a.: “Inflammatory dietary pattern and risk of depression among women, “Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 36/2013, S. 46-53, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3947176/
(16) Michael Greger: „Fish Consumption & Suicide“, NutritionFacts 25/2015, https://nutritionfacts.org/video/fish-consumption-and-suicide/.
(17) Nina Röller: „Wird man als Veganer wirklich depressiv?“, 28.8.2017, http://www.erdbeerlounge.de/diaet/gesunde-ernaehrung/wird-man-als-veganer-wirklich-depressiv/, abgerufen am 19.12.2017.
(18) Harald Wiesendanger: Das Märchen von der Psycho-Seuche, Schönbrunn 2017, https://stiftung-auswege-shop.gambiocloud.com/das-maerchen-von-der-psycho-seuche-profis-erkennen-nicht-besser-was-uns-fehlt-auswege-schriftenreihe-psycholuegen-band-2-printausgabe.html