
Vegan and Plant-Based Diets Worsen Brain Health - elorant
https://neurosciencenews.com/vegan-diet-brain-health-14845
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ewzimm
As might be expected, the source quoted in the article is someone who has
worked as a lobbyist for meat and eggs. They seem to be especially active
lately.

While true that organ meat is especially high in choline, even many meat
eaters avoid it. For vegetarians, eggs have over double the amount of choline
you'll get from steak. Two a day is all you need.

If you ate nothing else all day, you could achieve the recommended daily
intake of choline with about a pound of tofu, but chocolate, cauliflower,
broccoli, bok choy, spinach, nuts, and seeds are also high in it. Anyone who
eats a variety of fresh foods will likely be fine.

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dsaavy
I eat meat but jeez, the study’s author is incredibly motivated to be biased:

“She has, however, consulted for and advised: The Meat Advisory Panel, Marlow
Foods (Quorn), the Health Supplement Information Service and the British Egg
Information Service, amongst others.”

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dawg-
I was just looking at this yesterday: there was a study where 75% of plant-
based protein powders tested positive for lead, whereas animal-based protein
powders performed much better. I think a lot of vegans drink soy and pea
protein powders to get enough protein in their diet. And powders labeled
"organic" did even worse on top of that. I think it would be interesting to do
a study looking at vegans and exposure to heavy metals like lead/cadmium.

Here it is: [https://www.cleanlabelproject.org/protein-
powder/](https://www.cleanlabelproject.org/protein-powder/)

~~~
larssorenson
> I think a lot of vegans drink soy and pea protein powders to get enough
> protein in their diet.

Actually a common misconception, most vegans get more than enough protein in
their diet eating a relatively healthy/varietal diet. The exceptions would be
people particularly concerned with their protein intake, namely athletes,
bodybuilders/weight lifters specifically.

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xvx
'But bro, where do you get your choline?'

These anti-vegan and anti-vegetarian pieces always have clear ties to the meat
and dairy industries.

Anyway, this rebuttal is spot on: [https://medium.com/@Kahn642/the-choline-
vegan-crisis-a-pseud...](https://medium.com/@Kahn642/the-choline-vegan-crisis-
a-pseudo-event-ignited-by-the-media-and-an-author-with-meat-and-
dairy-94e483d0d009)

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someonehere
I seem to recall an article many years ago about with the advent of fire,
humans were able to cook meat which allowed their brains to develop better
which made us more intelligent. I can see that correlation with decreased use
of meat causing something like that to happen.

~~~
jjtheblunt
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catching_Fire:_How_Cooking_Mad...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catching_Fire:_How_Cooking_Made_Us_Human)

By the way, the documentary I cited above, goes into this assertion a bit, in
a reevaluation of the fossil record (which motivated that 10 year old book),
using more accurate current analyses, and finds an entirely different, and
surprising, result.

What's really true, I don't know...just find it all interesting.

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jjtheblunt
That title is entirely contrarian to seemingly endless current research.

One interesting documentary, which pretty scientifically goes into the pros
and cons of plant-based nutrient sourcing, is the following.

[https://gamechangersmovie.com/the-film/#](https://gamechangersmovie.com/the-
film/#)

It's also interesting to watch lobbyists for the beef industry stupefyingly
try contradicting scientists, as if their propaganda is some sort of truth,
rather than agenda.

Enlightening stuff, we thought.

