Meat has long been associated with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. However, most studies are demographic studies or use food recall questionnaires. Both have limitations compared to clinical trials, and so, are lacking. For this reason, most governmental dietary guidelines include meat as a nutritious part of healthy eating, even with its undeserved bad reputation. Conversely, authorities have prompted the spread of vegetarianism and veganism, based on the assumption that non-meat diets provide more health benefits than diets that include meat. A recent study that included 90% of the world’s population showed a strong correlation between higher animal-based food consumption and longer lifespans. I will break the study down in today’s post for its strengths and weaknesses.
Read MoreVitamin B12 deficiency is way more common than most conventional physicians are willing to admit. The literature states that only 7% of the population is deficient, but t the current limit of 200 ng/ml is probably too low. Neurological symptoms can be experienced in the low-normal range, and western medicine ignores this fact. Using functional medicine standards, which are higher, nearly half of the population may be suffering from B12 deficiency. Data from the Tufts University Framingham Offspring Study suggests that 40 percent of people between 26 and 83 have plasma B12 levels in the low-normal range. Most surprising to the researchers was that low B12 levels were as common in younger people as in the elderly. This is alarming as children suffer irreparable neurological damage with chronic B12 deficiency. Today I would like to talk about B12 deficiency and how to avoid it.
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