Where does the myth that vegetarians don't get enough protein come from?!
Answers: There has, that I know of, never been one documented case of Kwashiorkor Syndrome in a vegetarian. Vegetarian diets are often treatments for Kwashiorkor Syndrome in 3rd world countries.
I believe its based on the fact that the average american (omnivore) typically consumes twice the necessary amount of protein. Therefore, If a vegetarian doesn't consume this same amount they "aren't getting enough." Essentially its true, in the sense that they "aren't getting enough," as the typical american, who consumes they 2x the daily reccomendation. Now vegetarians may consume less protein than the average omnivore, though the amount consumed generally fulfills or exceeds the recommended daily requirement.
What I imagine is when your average omnivore notices a vegetarian or vegan eating what appears to be a signficantly lowered amount of protein* or a non-equivalent amount on their plate, they assume that the vegetarian isn't recieving enough protein.
*some people believe protein to be found only in meat and dairy.
The main source of Proteins are from Meat. however, vegetarians get their proteins from ALmonds, nuts and grains.
From the same social stigma that brought us "VEGATARIANS ARE PANSY HIPPIES WHO ARE 2 COWARDY TO EAT MEAT!!1"
*eye roll*
It's not a myth- uninformed vegetarians who don't eat legumes or nuts/seeds do frequently come up protein deficient (or the ones who just eat junk food and claim to be vegetarians, but don't get me started there). There are lots of other issues to come up with lower protein levels besides Kwashiorkor's, and it's imperative that you know what you need and what's going into your body, vegan, veggie, or omni.
I don't know where the myth comes from, but it really irritates me. If I record my daily intake on NutritionData.com, I always take in more than the recommended amount of protein. The only thing that I have ever been short on for macro nutrients is FAT.
Kwashiorkor is not 100% certainly caused by simple protein deficiency. It is only seen in people who are suffering extreme malnutrition, and mostly in very young children. So a filling vegetarian diet would never cause Kwashiorkor, and moreover, I am unaware of the 'myth' you refer to.
Vegetarians who don't eat any animal products at all would be well advised to take certain supplements, most specifically B12, and moms who plan to breast-feed even more so (because there are certain essential nutrients that are not contained in an absolutely pure vegan diet without supplementation and that is the only nutrition the baby will get), but otherwise, vegetarian diets can contain plenty of protein and can be extremely healthy.
Probably because being a vegetarian takes a certain amount of work and knowledge to get a balanced diet, especially enough protein, more so if you aren't eating cheese and eggs.
I have a friend who became a vegetarian in med school. She was too busy to watch that her diet was balanced, and she developed anemia. She went back to eating some meat.
The casual vegetarian, like a kid not eating meat as a fad, who doesn't learn about what foods should be combined or what foods are sources of protein can develop a temporary protein deficiency. Just eating a few favorite vegetables isn't going to do it.
meat lobbyist, they need to create a demand for their products, meat! so they make up stories and pay for research that all show that vegetarians and vegans are week and wrong, because if more people were veggies meat consumption would go down! NOT good for the meat industry!
well i'm not a vegetarian but i don't understand that either. i recently read a report on RealAge.com that shows how vegetable protien is actually much healthier than protien found in meats. i mean there are nuts,especially peanuts, legumes, soy products, i have never seen or heard of a vegetarian suffer from lack of protien. come to think of it i have never met one who was lacking in muscle mass either.
Where does the myth that vegetarians don't get enough protein come from?
Well in answer to your question, I imagine the myth was formulated and spread by the meat industry.
After all, it is a multi-billion dollar industry. The corporations that own and run the industry have their fingers in all sorts of (meat) pies and they certainly don’t want to lose money because of millions of people around the world turning vegetarian.
You only have to watch some of the propaganda television ads put out by the meat industry to realise how they are duping people.
I find it really sad that the ancient Brazilian rainforests are being decimated and cleared for grazing land, just so Mcdonalds can sell more burgers.
Mcdonalds get their beef from grazing lands that were once rainforests - they say they are stopping this practice (yeah right) – which is a bit like closing the stable door, after the horse has bolted.
Our obsession with stuffing bloody burgers in our gobs is totally destroying the environment and turning us into little fatties with a penchant for cancer and other degenerative diseases.
Sorry got slightly off topic there.
I have always been under the belief that protein deficiency only occurred in famine areas or where a person was severely malnourished.
I did not know that it had a proper term - Kwashiorkor Syndrome – so thank you for the insight.
I believe that protein deficiency is extremely rare in the Western World.
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Since Nature designed her plant foods complete, with abundant amounts of fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, “Where you get a specific nutrient?” is almost never a relevant question, as long as there is enough to eat. So, why have scientists, dietitians, medical doctors, diet-book authors, and the lay public become fixated on a non-existent problem? Protein is synonymous with eating meat, poultry, fish, dairy, and eggs—the foods traditionally consumed by the wealthier people in a society—thus, protein-eating means higher social status. High-protein foods are also high-profit foods. Therefore, propagating the protein myth is motivated by egos and money—and the usual consequences of pain and suffering follow closely behind these two human frailties.
Anyway, ask your mum how the stupid cow pruduce the minerals; how the chicken manufacture protein. There is no magic! For those still belief that meat is only absolute source of protein or minerals... is a delusion and myth. For decades our ansesters foolished us about the meat. Come on, open your eyes now!
Envious meat eaters
Propaganda that was put out in schools and throughout the media in the 50s.
People aren't always intelligent enough to stop living in the past.
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"From emaciated vegetarians with poor muscle tone who die at age 30 from protein deficiency."
LOL, I don't think it's protein deficiency. It's probably evil unicorns that you are thinking of
If you're going to do this vegetarian thing, you'd better study nutrition or you'll harm your health.
From massive files/ER reports
Obviously from the meat industry, and the nutrition info they supply the public schools. And yes, Kwashiorkor is the only way you have a "protein deficiency."
Good question- have a star!
The same place most myths come from, the opposing side. Some people really love their meat and cruelty so put the idea without there is no other source of protein, so therefore if you become a vegetarian then you are deficient in protein. There are many vegetarians in the world, most do not have a problem with getting protein. The few that do, is because they don't know where to get it, they don't teach veg*an nutrition in school and so some just eliminate meat and that is it, without replacing it. Most of the people that commented here have no idea what they are talking about and focus and the latter, when in realty it's the first.
Actually there have been several cases of kwashiorkor caused by strict vegetarian/vegan diets in the US. If anything, a vegetarian diet would make kwashiorkor even worse as the disease is caused by a protein deficiency, so your claim about ht e treatment of kwashiorkor in Africa sounds like BS. Care to cite a source?
As to cases of Kwashiorkor in the US, check the following link.
http://archderm.ama-assn.org/cgi/content...
A strict vegetarian diet is unhealthy and unnatural for humans.
And to trusty chords, I don't eat meat out of any love for cruelty. I eat meat because I have to for good health.
King, our ancestors before agriculture ate diets that were predominantly meat based. That is scientific fact. There is evidence of over 2.5 million years of the species homo eating meat. Some "primitive" societies eat a diet that is almost 100% meat (e.g. the Inuit). But good luck finding a "primitive" society that lives exclusively off of plant based foods.
Most plants are indigestible by humans. Grains have to be soaked, ground and cooked to be edible. Many legumes are poisonous unless soaked and cooked first. And many of the plat foods we eat now are the results of thousands of years of unnatural selection (agriculture), not "Nature's design."
It comes from a$$holes.
Tes
its because meat is protein, and without meat they arent getting as much as they usually would if thet werent vegiterian.
From emaciated vegetarians with poor muscle tone who die at age 30 from protein deficiency.
there is no such as protein deficiency. your muscle is protein.