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The Positive Health Factors And Effects Of Vegan Diets

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Abstract Over the past few years, vegan diets have become increasingly popular. However, despite their growing popularity, few in depth investigations have been done about the subject. Three studies that were done were over Finnish, Danish, and Vietnamese vegans and were by Elorinne, Kristensen, and Ho-Pham. The objectives of these studies were to find the effects of the vegan diet on macro- and micronutrient intake, as well as its effect on bone mineral density, rate of bone loss, and frequency of fractures. The methods between them varied but all consisted of an analysis of biomarkers in the body and a measure of food intake. The results of each agreed with each other, as they all showed that vegans had lower levels of key vitamins and …show more content…

Compared to the non-vegan group, the vegans had low concentrations of vitamins B12 (p=0.002) and D, even though many used supplements. However, few vegans (5%) were deficient in vitamin B12, suggesting that the use of supplements helped the vegan subjects keep a healthy level of the vitamin. The vegans also had a lower concentration of vitamin D (including D2 and 3) by 34% compared to the non-vegans. In spite of this, levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 were higher in the vegans (p<0.001). Ten percent of the vegans and 78% of non-vegans had vitamin D concentrations higher than 75 nmol/L, the proposed optimal level for health. Some possible reasons for these results included lack of, or irregularity of, supplementation and when the samples were taken. Similar studies done with Finnish, British, and Vietnamese vegans showed similar concentrations.
Every vegan subject and 91% of non-vegans subjects showed mild iodine deficiency when using the WHO’s criteria of <100 micrograms per liter of urine. This result indicates that the non-milk drinking Finnish population, vegans especially, may not be taking in enough iodine. Past studies done over vegans have also resulted in low levels of iodine in urine.
In the past, few studies have been done to examine long-term vegans and their nutrition. As such, this study gives new information on the subject. Some problems with this study exist, however, such as a small sample size and

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