What about phosphorus and/or protein?!
What about phosphorus and/or protein?
Can someone tell me the importance of phosphorus and/or protein for brain development?
Additional Details1 week ago
Yes, that's what I was asked - Is phosphorous missing from a vegan diet? So I figures one of you will know.
Answers:
1 week ago
Yes, that's what I was asked - Is phosphorous missing from a vegan diet? So I figures one of you will know.
Phosphorus is a mineral needed for bone health - a deficiency of phosphorus leads to rickets. We need about 700 mg of phosphorus a day for good bone health. Phosphorus is present and easily available in meats and dairy, but phosphorus deficiencies are not a problem for vegetarians or vegans who eat a balanced diet including beans, peas, grains, and nuts. In fact, there is an equal amount of phosphorus in almonds as in an equivalent amount of low fat cheese. I'm actually not aware of a significant role of phosphorus in brain development.
About protein and brain development - this is a pretty complex topic, but perhaps you're wondering about 14-3-3 epsilon and its role in fetal neural migration including the phosphorylation of other compounds that assist in that process. 14-3-3 epsilon is pretty ubiquitous in our diet, and the issues that occur in brain development because of this process happen due to genetic defects, not dietary insufficiency.
I'm not sure if this is a question for vegetarians about the common concern of meat-eaters that a developing embryo won't get enough protein if the mother doesn't eat meat, if this is actually a homework question, or what exactly. At any rate, you'd really need to do some fairly hard-core reading on the topic to fully understand it, not something possible with an answer here.
You should ask this in the Health section.
Is there an implication that they are missing from the vegetarian or vegan diets ?
They are not.
You might get more luck asking the health sections. Veggies are all geniuses, naturally, but we don't know everything !
You can get enough phosphorus and protein on a veg diet.
Foods such as legumes, soy beans, nuts and seeds, wheat germ, rice bran, and wheat bran contains phosphorus, protein can also be found in the foods named above.
Phosphorus is required for making energy (ATP) our brain requires energy for function - that's one of the functions. Protein is important in making enzymes which are important for the biological activity in our body as well as brain - that's one function.
the amino acid phenylalinine is potentially hazardous for brain development in some infants (pku infants), other than regeneration of brain cells protein doesn't have an immense role in development. Its pretty cut and dry.