veganism has exploded in popularity across the world for some it's out of Sympathy For Animals but increasingly many are swapping diets due to the environmental and health claims but are these claims even accurate like does going vegan actually make a noticeable difference on the planet or are those impacts over exaggerated and is it even healthy at all or is the lack of animal proteins and nutrients actually detrimental to your body while a lot of claims have been made over the years are access to good quality studies has only really just started to become accessible so
let's dive in first up is going vegan better for the environment this is the easy part of the video because the answer is super simple Yes Point Blank yes avoiding meat and dairy products has a major impact on the environment study after study after study has found that a vegan diet as compared to a full-on meat eating or omnivorous diet or even a vegetarian diet uses less land conserves more water and produces less greenhouse gas is by about 70 to 80 percent compared to omnivorous diets and that's a huge difference now that's not to say
every vegan food is created equal we have an entire video breaking down which alternative milk is the best for the environment and even there you can see that something like almond milk takes a lot more water to create than other Alternatives but on the whole transitioning to a vegan or even vegetarian diet will significantly decrease your personal impact on the planet of course simply reducing your meat and dairy consumption can also make a difference so it doesn't have to be so black and white but full stop a vegan diet is better for the environment and
the future of our planet all right on to the more complicated subject of diet interestingly some of the first athletes on a strict plant-based diet were the Gladiators all fighters diets contained large amounts of legumes pulses and Grains and contained little to no animal protein but it's only recently that research has delved into the question of whether or not a vegan diet can not only enhance athletic ability but bolster overall health in the long term one of the big questions that comes up a lot is did we evolve as vegetarians or meat eaters I mean
we've got these sharp canine teeth that look just perfect for digging into flesh though large canines are not exclusive to carnivorous animals it's thought they likely evolved more for intimidation and competition among mates as well as defense rather than for eating meat and if we look at the diets of modern primates the ones were closely related to like chimps orangutans and gorillas you'll see that most of them have totally plant-based diets I love thinking about chimps being hipster vegans like oh you don't have any soy milk awkward but seriously if gorillas can get this jacked
without the need for animal proteins surely we're not meant to be eating meat I mean look at those muscles me throwing to our video on bestiality anyway many suggest that because we Branch off the same evolutionary tree as our primate contemporaries surely we're also primarily vegetarian we've also got bumpy colons which sounds very sexy whereas carnivorous animals typically have a smooth colon but despite all these facts the truth is there is no denying that our species turn to eating meat regularly in fact scientists estimate that our ancestors started eating meat around 2 million years ago
long before Homo sapiens even existed we've even found fossilized animal bones that were cut up for dinner that are around 2.5 million years old it's theorized that somewhere along the way our environment changed we weren't in a tropical forest anymore and didn't have access to as many plants that we could stomach so we turned to meat to supplement that loss and of course there are many theories about how meat shaped the human brain but for now all we need to know is that while we do come from plant eaters we have been eating meat for
millions of years as long as we've been human we've been eating meat so then can we survive without meat at all some people might tell you that you simply can't get enough protein without meat but that's really not true you can get tons of protein from whole grains nuts and beans and for most people this is more than in fact most research finds protein deficiency extremely rare except in people who are simply not eating enough calories but what research has found is missing from a vegan diet is B12 vitamin B12 is required by animals for
a whole host of biological Pathways and for normal functioning and the thing is you cannot get B12 from any vegetables there's zero B12 in a salad you can find it in beef pork poultry fish eggs Etc and studies find that B12 deficiencies are a big problem for a lot of vegans and vegetarians when your levels are low it can impact brain functioning energy and mood and at worst it can cause full-on hallucinations I mean if that's what you're going for maybe just try some psilocybin instead me throwing to our video on shrooms so if you're
only consuming fruits and vegetables it'll likely become a problem luckily supplements are a thing you can literally just take B12 pills and then you never have to worry about this the same can be said for other nutrient deficiencies that tend to pop up for vegans like iron oral threes there's even a ton of foods that are fortified with these to make vegan diets less of a risk but another area that brings up some concern is bone strength if you grew up in the 90s and early 2000s then you're more than aware of the many campaigns
touting the health benefits of milk calcium is an essential part of the human diet because it helps your muscles and nerves function properly and keeps your bones good and strong and when you don't have enough in your diet your body actually ends up pulling it from your bones which can potentially make your bones more likely to break hence cow's milk which naturally contains Calcium and is absorbed easily into the body is often promoted for good strong bones and a research study from 2020 backed this up when it found that vegans have a much higher risk
of breaking their bones than meat eaters this was a study that followed around 2 000 vegans and compared them to non-vegans over the course of a few decades and their risk of bone breaks was basically twice as likely but here's the weird part when we look at countries that simply don't drink as much milk as a whole this pattern doesn't hold for example it in West Africa consumption of dairy isn't that common and yet they have extremely low rates of osteoporosis like a fraction of a percent and a study that compared 40 countries consumption of
dairy also found that those who had little milk were not any more likely to break their hips even studies within the same country have found confusing results When comparing heavy milk drinkers to light milk drinkers there's really not a clear link between bone strength and breakage the truth is dairy isn't the only way to consume calcium it's in lots of veggies like kale bok choy and broccoli and there's even fortified foods like orange juice and cereal that contain it but for vegans even when studies account for calcium intake those who were eating lots of calcium
were still more likely to break bones so perhaps there is another environmental or situational Factor outside of diet that's playing a role here and is yet unknown it's worth bringing up that most of this data is on adults and studies that do look at kids are much more clear-cut kids that drink milk break fewer bones than those who don't finally on the bad side researchers found that both vegans and vegetarians are at a higher risk for stroke however the overall risk is small around three extra cases per 1000 people over 10 years and this particular
study had many limitations including quite a small sample so it's difficult to draw major conclusions from it so are there any specific health benefits to going vegan definitely a study on over 90 000 people found that vegans are less likely to develop high blood pressure obesity type 2 diabetes some types of cancer and are more likely to live longer a vegan diet lowers cholesterol and many of these foods contain a lot of antioxidant phytonutrients and nitrates versus some animal products which contain more pro-inflammatory fats these anti-inflammatory effects are believed to be the reason vegan diets
seem to minimize some autoimmune diseases in fact Venus Williams who suffers from Sjogren's syndromes credits for vegan diet with minimizing the extreme fatigue associated with her condition some Studies have even found a vegan diet to to be one of the healthiest outperforming even pescetarian and vegetarian diets likely because of its higher fruit vegetable and legume intake there was up to a 32 percent lower risk among those with the highest intake of plant-based foods for cardiovascular disease even after adjusting for age sex race Education Health behaviors alcohol intake and exercise so yes on average the health
of vegans does tend to be better of course it's also possible that vegans are just generally more health conscious to begin with vegans do tend to smoke less drink less alcohol and exercise more and whether it's something bad in meat and dairy or helpful in all the extra veggies is yet to be determined of course it's worth pointing out that it's just as easy to be an unhealthy vegan with all the options for junk and processed food nowadays so in no way it is going vegan necessitate a healthier diet automatically the biggest question remaining is
can it make you a better athlete a nurmi study following 8 000 Runners from across Europe comparing meat eaters vegans and vegetarians is currently testing this idea of improved endurance because veganism May boost immunity and aid in recovery and Rehabilitation from injury a lot of athletes are Keen to take advantage of these perks veggies like beetroot contain nitrates that Aid in blood flow and oxygen transport through the body but the problem right now is simply the lack of good data there is very little data to support these claims right now so studies are ongoing at
the very least it's been shown that a well-planned vegan diet does meet the nutritional requirements for endurance athletes in other words it's just as good at the very least as an omnivorous diet whether it's optimal is yet to be determined at the end of the day what can we conclude from the available research well on the one hand a vegan diet is unequivocally better for the environment and while it's a whole other conversation to talk about the responsibility of Corporations and institutions versus individuals as an individual it is a simple step that you can take
to minimize your impact if that matters to you when it comes to diet at worst there could be some setbacks to your health but those can typically be mitigated through careful planning and supplementation and at best it may actually be better for your overall health and well-being if you put in the effort to do it with intention and health in mind I hope this video has been eye-opening for those of you who are curious I know there's a lot of concern around companies capitalizing on claims that may or may not be exaggerated I think it's
totally fair to be skeptical the vegan market is estimated to hit 24 billion by 2026 so we all need to have our meters up if you want to know more we have an entire podcast episode on veganism that covers more research and studies and different angles you can click that and head over to the YouTube channel there or find it anywhere that you would normally listen to a podcast thanks so much for watching make sure you like the video subscribe and we'll see you next time for some more science peace
