The quietly spreading vegetarian culture has made eating vegetarian seem like a fashionable label. Just as the number of pure vegetarians is growing, nutrition experts emphasize that unscientific vegetarianism can lead to nutritional deficiencies and cause diseases.
"A healthy diet requires a reasonable combination of meat and vegetables. Vegetables have their own nutrients, and meat has its own benefits. Long-term nutritional imbalance is something the body definitely cannot handle." Professor Jiang Zhuoqin, Director of the Department of Nutrition at the School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, is against a purely vegetarian diet. He told reporters that many people on a strict vegetarian diet are actually prone to various symptoms such as obesity and high blood pressure.
This is because plant-based foods lack various unsaturated fatty acids, which are abundant in animal foods like fish. After being absorbed by the human body, unsaturated fatty acids stimulate the liver to produce more high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which promptly removes excess cholesterol attached to the blood vessel walls and prevents it from depositing. This is crucial for preventing and treating high blood pressure, high blood lipids, arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease, and cerebrovascular diseases.
A recent study in Taiwan also shows that pure vegetarians are prone to "metabolic syndrome"—a series of complications caused by abnormal metabolism. It is typically diagnosed when three out of five indicators—waist circumference, blood pressure, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and fasting blood glucose—are above the standard. This is a precursor to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Experts also point out that because vegetarian foods like vegetables and fruits lack the rich vitamin B12, zinc, and other nutrients found in animal products, and because meat, offal, and animal blood are the best sources of iron. Zinc from animal foods is more easily absorbed by the body, while iron from plant-based foods is difficult to absorb. A deficiency in iron and vitamin B12 can impair blood production functions, leading to physical weakness.
If women follow a strict vegetarian diet for a long time, peroxides from the unsaturated fatty acids in vegetable oils can combine with human proteins to form lipofuscin, which deposits in organs. These factors can accelerate the aging process in women.
Experts remind that if you really do not like to eat meat, you must be sure to supplement with high-protein foods such as eggs, milk, and soy products.