Meat is essential for warding off depression and anxiety, a top nutrition expert has revealed, sending a blow to veganism.
Dr Georgia Ede, a Harvard-trained nutritional and metabolic psychiatrist and author of Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind, studies the relationship between what we eat and our mental and physical health.
And despite the health halo that vegan diets have been given over the last few years, she claims that giving up meat could be detrimental for mental health.
‘The brain needs meat,’ she told KIRO News Radio.
‘We’re used to hearing that meat is dangerous for our total health, including our brain health, and plants are really the best way to nourish and protect our brains.’
‘But the truth of the matter is that it’s actually — that’s upside down and backward.’
Dr Ede said that while getting enough protein has long been a concern surrounding vegan diets, eating meat is about more than protein.
‘It’s actually less about protein and more about all of the other nutrients that are inside meat,’ she said. ‘You can get your protein needs met through a vegan and vegetarian diet if you plan it carefully.’
Proteins are made up of chemicals called amino acids, which build and repair muscles and bones.
While animal products like eggs, meat, cheese, and Greek yogurt are high in protein, it can also be found in vegan options like lentils and broccoli.
‘But many of the other essential nutrients are much more difficult if not in some cases impossible to obtain from plants,’ Dr Ede said.
She noted that meat is ‘the only food that contains every nutrient we need in its proper 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.
Vitamin B12, for example, helps with the formation of oxygen-rich red blood cells and DNA. However, it has also been linked to regulating mood-boosting serotonin, and low levels of serotonin have been linked to increased risks of depression and anxiety.
PERCEPTION RESET 