The case for veganism

A recently released documentary called “What the Health “makes the case for a vegan diet, arguing that the attendant benefits are among the best-kept of health-related secrets. Can we say whether or not a well balanced, vegan diet is best for human health?

No. But we can’t say it isn’t, either. And when other considerations are factored in —such as the ethical treatment of other species, and environmental impact — the arguments for well-practiced veganism are extremely compelling.

Why can’t we say, for sure, that an optimized vegan diet is the single best choice for human health? Quite simply, the study required to prove that has not been done, and almost certainly never will be.

To prove that any one, specific diet is truly “the best” would require a vast sample of people (and/ or their pregnant mothers) willing to be randomized to a specific diet for a lifetime. It would then require adherence to the assignment for that entire lifetime, and routine measures to confirm it. The investigators involved in launching the study would need a mechanism to pass it along to successors, since they would all die of old age before the study is done. I trust it’s clear why such a study has never been conducted, and is more than a little unlikely.

At one extreme, then, the claim that veganism is established to be the single, best diet for human health is somewhat exaggerated. Relevant evidence cannot correctly be said to be more than “suggestive.”

At the other extreme is the argument one tends to hear when veganism is being disparaged and ridiculed, generally by those who simply like bacon and baloney, or — more ominously — by those trying to sell you one or the other, that we “need” meat to be strong and healthy

What animals need to be big and strong is not foods that resemble the muscles they are hoping to grow; they simply need foods to which they are adapted. The mightiest muscles of any land animal, those of the elephant, are produced entirely on a diet of plants. The mightiest muscles in the sea — those of the blue whale — are produced on a diet of tiny animals, krill and copepods. Lions build their muscles from meat; gorillas all but entirely from plants; and horses from plants exclusively. We humans have choices.

A study out of Harvard, published in 2010, compared various sources of protein in the diet with regard to cardiovascular disease in more than 80,000 women. The single, greatest beneficial effect observed derived from the displacement of beef in the diet, by beans. A study out of Loma Linda University, published in May of 2017, projects that the routine substitution of beans for beef by Americans — independent of any other climate control strategy — could achieve more than 50 percent of the greenhouse gas emission reductions targeted for 2020 in the Paris Accord we have since decided to abandon.

Just those two facts make for a formidable argument on their own: humans can choose to grow their muscles out of beans, or beef, and beans are almost certainly, massively better for the health of humans, and the planet, alike. Beans are a staple in the diets of the world’s longest-lived, most vital peoples, among the more salient of themes running through the world’s Blue Zones. While absence of evidence on behalf of other diets is not reliable evidence of absence, the fact is that only vegan and near-vegan diets have been shown to shrink atherosclerotic plaque; reduce LDL as effectively as statins; and modify gene expression in a manner suggesting the potential to prevent the development and progression of cancer. Maybe other diets can do all this — but the burden is on them to prove it.

There are also the dire ethical implications of animal food, mass-produced. The only way anyone who has ever loved a dog can think of bacon as the casual, fun garnish into which our culture has turned it is either willful hypocrisy — or selective blindness. Pigs are highly intelligent, often claimed to be more intelligent than dogs; are sociable and can form bonds with humans just like dogs; and are routinely slaughtered in callous cruelty to embellish our cheeseburgers.

Can we say that a balanced vegan diet is the single, best option for human health? No, we can only say it is among the likely contenders. Can we say that veganism is compatible with the adaptations of our omnivorous species? Certainly yes. Can we say that it allows for peak performance and muscle mass? Certainly yes. Can we say that it reliably garners the votes of the climate, the pigs and all other animals, and the planet? Certainly yes.

Argue against veganism if you choose, but concede it is because you like cheese, meat, or both. Other arguments are mostly just so much baloney.