The endless "war" between vegans and meat eaters continues. This time, Norwegian scientists from the Uni Research research center reported on their work, announcing the completion of a 5-year study aimed at studying the effect of vitamin B12 on human development in infancy.
At the start of the study, researchers took blood samples from 500 Nepal babies to test for vitamin B12 levels. After 5 years, the researchers took another blood test from the same children, and then conducted several tests to check their intellectual abilities. By the end of the experiment, it was found that children with a lack of vitamin B12 are much worse at various puzzles and even the usual alphabet - they are worse at recognizing letters. In addition, it turned out that such children experience certain difficulties in the social aspect - they have problems interpreting the emotions of their peers.
Thus, the researchers were able to establish a link between low vitamin B12 in infants and developmental problems. Scientists note that problems in this case can arise already at the stage of intrauterine development.
Most of the vitamin B12 is found in meat, eggs and dairy products, the researchers say, so people in poorer countries are at risk, where there is a clear problem with being able to adequately diversify their diets. And, of course, vegans, who, in turn, do not consume food of animal origin at all, often harming the health of their children in the same way, as they usually try to instill in them certain ethical standards, which they themselves follow.
In addition to a direct link between a lack of vitamin B12 and underestimated development of intellectual abilities in children, scientists have noted a link between a deficiency of this vitamin in mothers and preterm birth. In this case, scientists say, the chance of having a premature baby rises by 21 percent.
As noted above, the struggle between vegans and meat eaters has been going on for more than a dozen years. According to the 2012 WHO (World Health Organization), raw food and vegetarian diets are classified as mental disorders and are recognized as deviations from normal behavior. In part, the WHO took such a step after a case that occurred in Spain, where one of the families of raw foodists in the city of Malaga brought their children to complete exhaustion with a strict diet.
The American Dietetic Association disagrees with the WHO data, which is convinced that veganism is exclusively beneficial to human health, since vegans generally do not consume trans fats, consume less sugar and salt, but at the same time consume more foods containing fiber. This diet allows you to control your weight more closely.
On this I would like to end the article, but in fairness it is worth noting that in the framework of earlier scientific research it was found that there are more serious positive aspects to veganism. For example, vegans are 14 percent less likely to get cancer and 36 percent less likely to get metabolic syndrome - a harbinger of heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
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NIKOLAY KHIZHNYAK