Meat is essential for warding off depression and anxiety, a top nutritionist has revealed, dealing a blow to veganism. Dr. Georgia Ede, a Harvard-educated nutritional and metabolic psychiatrist, studies the relationship between what we eat and our mental and physical health.
And despite the health halo the vegan diet has received in recent years, she says giving up meat could be harmful to mental health. “The brain needs meat,” she told KIRO News Radio. “We’re used to hearing that meat is dangerous for our overall health, including our brain health, and plants are the best way to nourish and protect our brains.”
“But the truth is, it’s actually — it’s upside down and upside down. Dr Ede said that while adequate protein has long been a focus of vegan diets, eating meat is about more than protein. “It’s less about the protein and more about all the other nutrients that are inside the meat,” she said.
“You can meet your protein needs through a vegan and vegetarian diet if you plan it carefully.” Proteins are made up of chemicals called amino acids that build and repair muscles and bones. While animal products like eggs, meat, cheese and Greek yogurt are high in protein, they can also be found in vegan options like lentils and broccoli.
“But many other essential nutrients are much more difficult, if not impossible in some cases, to obtain from plants,” Dr Ede said. She noted that meat is ‘the only food that contains all the nutrients we need in the right form and is also the safest food for our blood sugar and insulin levels.’
These nutrients include vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, choline, iron, and iodine. For example, vitamin B12 helps with the formation of red blood cells rich in oxygen and DNA. However, it has also been linked to the regulation of mood-enhancing serotonin, and low levels of serotonin have been linked to an increased risk of depression and anxiety.
In addition, a review in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology found that lower zinc levels were linked to depression because zinc can reduce inflammation in the brain. Several studies suggest that meat eaters have better mental health. A 2021 systematic review of 18 studies compared meat eaters and non-meat eaters.
The research included 160,257 participants aged 11 to 96 (53 percent of whom were female), including 149,559 meat eaters and 8,584 meat avoiders. Of these, 11 studies found that a meat-free diet was associated with poorer mental health outcomes. One such study found that vegetarians had a 35.2 percent chance of developing major depression, compared to 19.1 percent for meat eaters.
A vegan diet is “less healthy” than including meat, eggs, and milk in the diet, a major review has found. In addition, vegetarians were 31.5% more likely to develop an anxiety disorder compared to 18.4% for meat eaters. One study published in 2022 surveyed 14,000 Brazilians aged 35 to 74 and found that those who followed a vegan diet were twice as likely to be depressed — even though they had similar nutrient intakes to meat eaters.
A meta-analysis published in 2020 that included 160,000 meat eaters and 8,500 meat abstainers also found that those who eliminated meat from their diet were significantly more likely to be depressed. Despite gaining a health halo over the years, new research suggests that a vegan diet could have other lasting health consequences.
For example, a 2023 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reviewed more than 500 studies and concluded that animal food sources offer “essential sources of much-needed nutrients.” The agency noted that these macro- and micronutrients are difficult to find “in the required quality and quantity” when following a vegan diet.
In addition, meat, eggs and milk are “particularly vital” for children, young people and the elderly, as well as pregnant and lactating women. A 2019 paper also noted that vitamin B12 deficiency, which is more common in vegans, could increase the risk of stroke.
This was because its absence inhibits the secretion of proteins from the bloodstream, leading to inflammation – which in turn increases the likelihood of blood vessel damage. This is a key risk factor for stroke. Adults need about 2.4 mg of vitamin B12 a day to function normally, US officials say.
