Several comments raised the concern of unknown health issues with a veg/n diet. While I think unknowns are exceptionally important in nutrition given the low-quality evidence that exists overall in the field, I don’t think that’s a strong argument against veg/nism because so many veg/ns have already lived and been as healthy, if not healthier, than non veg/ns. And we can say the unknowns cut both ways here, both with unknown benefits and unknown drawbacks to veg/nism.
In general, I think we should have added skepticism for arguments against veg*nism due to the high self-serving bias we have to continue our current diets.
we should have added skepticism for arguments against veg*nism due to the high self-serving bias we have to continue our current diets.
And we should have added skepticism for health-based arguments for vegetarianism that are made by people who are vegetarians for non-health reasons, as it would be extremely convenient if making a massive dietary change for non-health reasons turned out to have no major health issues.
I don’t see it as a massive dietary change. If anything, it’s closer to our historical diet (which, AFAIK, generally consisted of lots of plants with little animal products). Also, I don’t expect most dietary changes of a similar scale to going veg/n (say, cutting out grains or cutting out fruits) to have major health issues. So it’s not “extremely convenient” to me.
Also, it might even be extremely convenient if making a massive dietary change for non-health reasons turned out to have no major health benefits!
Several comments raised the concern of unknown health issues with a veg/n diet. While I think unknowns are exceptionally important in nutrition given the low-quality evidence that exists overall in the field, I don’t think that’s a strong argument against veg/nism because so many veg/ns have already lived and been as healthy, if not healthier, than non veg/ns. And we can say the unknowns cut both ways here, both with unknown benefits and unknown drawbacks to veg/nism.
In general, I think we should have added skepticism for arguments against veg*nism due to the high self-serving bias we have to continue our current diets.
Also, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/04/vegetarians-death-premature-longevity-live-longer_n_3380781.html
And we should have added skepticism for health-based arguments for vegetarianism that are made by people who are vegetarians for non-health reasons, as it would be extremely convenient if making a massive dietary change for non-health reasons turned out to have no major health issues.
I don’t see it as a massive dietary change. If anything, it’s closer to our historical diet (which, AFAIK, generally consisted of lots of plants with little animal products). Also, I don’t expect most dietary changes of a similar scale to going veg/n (say, cutting out grains or cutting out fruits) to have major health issues. So it’s not “extremely convenient” to me.
Also, it might even be extremely convenient if making a massive dietary change for non-health reasons turned out to have no major health benefits!