Part 17 (1/2)
The basic test for B12 is a serum B12 which tests for active B12 in the blood. We normally have about 40% of the B12 in the blood as a.n.a.logs. The O malhamensis bacteria (which will only grow on human-active B12) test shows only the active B12 and is probably the most accurate. A generally safe range is between 150 and 200 micrograms per cc. In one study on students put on a vegan diet without B12 supplements, it was noted that within one to two years most of the students' serum B12 dropped and then leveled off slightly above 200 micrograms/cc. A basic blood test for B12 deficiency is the one for anemia a.s.sociated with enlarged red blood cells. There are some new tests which measure h.o.m.ocysteine and methymalonic acid in the urine (the secretion of these two metabolites is increased when the B12 levels are lowered). This test is particularly good for screening for subtle neurological changes when the blood lab tests are normal. It is good for children and infants as well.
Because of the relativity of the serum B12 levels and the urine metabolite levels, a B12 deficiency should be diagnosed by evidence of clinical symptoms plus these tests being low. A low B12 level can be used as encouragement to take more B12-containing foods, such as yeast, sea vegetables, or the algae from Klamath Lake. A good time to do a screening for B12 is about two years after becoming vegetarian to see where one's B12 has leveled off. Afterwards, one should check every three to five years since it takes that long to run out of B12 if there is a malabsorption problem. My belief is that any vegetarian whose health has been compromised in some manner and who chooses not to take any high-B12-containing foods would be wise to screen once a year for a possible low B12 level. Although there is little reason for a healthy vegan to be concerned, everyone who has gone 20 years as a vegan would be wise to check their B12 levels. The results would be important data to share.
Summary of B12 Discussion.
HEALTHY VEGETARIANS (LACTOVEGETARIANS AND VEGANS), as a matter of practical reality do not have to worry about B12 deficiency problems and do not have to take any B12 supplementation, except during pregnancy, when yeast, sea vegetables, and/or algae from Klamath Lake are advisable as a preventative measure. Synthetic B12 supplementation and flesh foods are not really needed. For people eating 80% or more live food, even less whole-food supplementation is needed. On the other hand, vegans should be aware that although the B12 is sufficient when they are healthy, they do seem to have lower B12 serum levels than people on a flesh-centered diet. Because of this they run a higher risk of developing a B12 deficiency under a variety of stressors, as mentioned above. The slight risk of a B12 deficiency for a vegetarian under stress may be well worth it as compared to the major risks to health taken by those on a flesh-food diet in terms of heart diseases, cancer, decreased endurance, and the general inferior health of a flesh-centered diet as compared to a vegetarian diet. By regularly including high-B12 foods, even this risk is minimized.
The healthiest and best prevention for lactovegetarians and vegans against B12 deficiency is to honor Mother Nature and our bodies with optimal health habits and a live-food diet in which no B12 is destroyed by cooking. I was not able to find any studies of B12 levels in live-food vegans, but my observation of the few raw-food vegans who have been on such a diet for more than 20 years without any supplementation of B12 is that they are the healthiest group of people I have ever seen in our Western culture. The health and vitality of some of these people in their 70s and 80s is heart-warmingly astounding.
If you regularly use alcohol, coffee, birth control pills, antibiotics, more than 500 mg of vitamin C a day, aspirin, or have chronic digestive or colon problems, you are in danger of becoming Bu-deficient, especially if you are a vegetarian who cooks your food.
Cooking food destroys 30-90% of the B12-protect yourself by giving up these habits and/or taking brewer's yeast, bee pollen, sea vegetables, or algae from Klamath Lake.
A healthy vegetarian with a healthy lifestyle does not need to worry about B12 deficiency, especially if 80% of the food eaten is uncooked.
Preview of Chapter 16.
IN THIS CHAPTER WE DIRECTLY SHOW, with the use of population studies and other forms of discussion, that ideas held in the West and in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) about the ”dangers” of a vegetarian diet are primarily myths. Although there may appear to be a shade of truth to some of these ideas in the short run, when the whole process of the skillful transition to vegetarianism is considered over time, these shades of truth become significantly less relevant. Are you ready to learn more information about the safety of a vegetarian diet?
I. Cultural bias of TCM against vegetarianism A. Myth of spleen yang deficiency B. Vegetarian diet superior to meat-centered in prevention of chronic disease and creation of health, vitality, endurance II. Why vegetarians have less anemia.
III. Why vegetarians in Alaska are not cold.
IV. Doctors' issues with vegetarianism.
V. Vegetarian women have normal menses.
Doubts About a Vegetarian Diet.
NOW THAT WE HAVE CONSIDERED some of the health issues, it is time to address some of the cultural doubts arising about vegetarianism. I have already answered some of the usual questions that arise in our Western culture; now I will include some of the questions raised by the system of medicine known as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). More and more people in the West are using this system. TCM is a time-honored medical system that has a unique way of conceptualizing health and disease. The main approaches used in TCM are acupuncture, herbs, and dietary advice. This system has its primary roots in China, which is still its major advocate; however, variations of TCM have been created in j.a.pan and Korea, and interest is growing in the West.
Within the ancient system of TCM there is a widespread belief that a vegetarian diet, and especially a live-food diet, will create a ”spleen yang deficiency.” A spleen yang deficiency is usually a.s.sociated with anemia, less endurance, decreased digestive power, excess water, excess phlegm (mucus), edema, internal coldness, a weakened immune system, paleness, cyclic imbalances (including the cessation or imbalance of the menstrual cycle), and general poor health. These ideas need to be critically addressed.
Not all TCM pract.i.tioners believe these symptoms automatically happen on a vegetarian diet. For example, one of the world's most respected leaders in cla.s.sical acupuncture, Englishman Jack Worsley, N.D., C.A., director of the Worsley Inst.i.tute of Cla.s.sical Acupuncture, does not hold this unqualified negative att.i.tude on the merits of vegetarian diets. Other Western-trained acupuncturists are also moving in this direction of accepting the health benefits of vegetarianism. Like Westerners who are trained in Ayurvedic medicine who do not share certain Indian cultural beliefs about vata and live foods, these Western acupuncturists are not blindly holding onto the ancient Chinese cultural beliefs about vegetarianism. With some noteworthy exceptions, such as the vegetarian Shaolin priests, throughout history and to this day the Chinese culture has attached a higher social status to including flesh in the diet. Being a pure vegetarian in China is, to some degree, a.s.sociated with poverty and lack of social standing. This bias is reflected in the Chinese medical establishment, which in turn influences medically endorsed dietary advice. Fortunately, most modern research shows that these myths are not substantiated either epidemiologically or on the individual dynamic level.
In all fairness, I must point out that although China does not embrace vegetarianism as its main dietary system, it is not as heavy a meat-eating country as the US. According to the China Health Project, a major study I mentioned in a previous chapter that was initiated in 1983 by scientists from the Chinese Academies of Preventative Medicine, Cornell University, and University of Oxford, only 7% of the protein in the Chinese diet comes from animal sources as compared to 70% in the American diet. In the Chinese dietary pattern, eating a whole steak as the main part of a meal is considered to be unbalanced and excessive. In China, a flesh-eater may have only three to four ounces of meat per day, whereas a typical heavy flesh-eater in the US consumes much more. The prestigious researchers of the China Health Project concluded that the Chinese eating patterns were considerably healthier because so much less flesh food was eaten. In essence, the Chinese traditional diet is closer in content to a Western vegetarian diet than the typical Western, meat-centered diet.
With almost every bias, however, there is also some shade of truth that is expanded upon, and in this case exaggerated into somewhat of a myth regarding the dangers of a vegetarian diet. It is inevitable and unavoidable that with any kind of diet, vegetarian or otherwise, there will always be some individuals who will become unbalanced due to their own health problems and psychophysiological const.i.tutions they bring to the situation. These exceptions may become yang-deficient and/or imbalanced on a poorly chosen vegetarian diet if they do not have appropriate guidance in the type of vegetarian diet they need. It may also be possible that a flesh-food diet more quickly improves a person who is yang-deficient. However, it does not mean that it is healthier in the long term than a vegetarian diet.
Another category which I call the transition phase to vegetarianism, can also temporarily support the myths. As the body adjusts to vegetarianism and/or live foods, it is common that there be some internal and external sensitivity to coldness for a while. When the transition is carefully, patiently, and intelligently made, one eventually pa.s.ses through this coldness and begins to feel warmer. For example, during fasting, one may feel cold and weak as the detoxification process unfolds. If one happened to be seen by a TCM doctor in the middle of this detoxification phase, one might receive a yang-deficient diagnosis and be advised to eat meat for strength and heat. But what is actually happening is that the vital force is healing and strengthening at a deeper inner level so that by the end of the fast the person emerges stronger and more vital than when he or she began. In other words, looking at the total process gives a radically different understanding than simply looking at the apparent, observable symptoms at one point in the process. I believe this misunderstanding of the significance of the transition process is how some of the bias and confusion has manifested into a belief system.
In intelligently handling the detoxification stage of the transition to vegetarianism and dealing with the ”internal process” of s.h.i.+fting the body's physiology, the true remedy is not flesh food but the highest-quality vegetarian foods, herbs, and enzymes that enhance and balance the transition process so the person glides to a higher level of health. Although flesh foods may temporarily balance someone, by patiently travelling through the vegetarian transition phase, one becomes grounded on a deeper level of health.
In fact, the epidemiological statistics show that in the long run flesh foods speed the aging process and lower vitality so that one becomes permanently grounded (six feet underground?) sooner. If we look at health patterns in different nations and cultures with a high incidence of longevity, more people over 100 years old are vegetarians or primarily vegetarians than meat eaters, or they may eat meat on a monthly frequency only. As previously mentioned, only 5 of 154 Bulgarians over 100 were not vegetarians. The research I've already cited shows that vegetarians have between two and three times the endurance and, at least in one study, recover from physical activity at least two times faster.
The general health data indicate that vegetarians have a lower incidence of chronic disease and cancer in all categories and superior health, vitality, and endurance. Because of this, one can deduce that their immune systems would also be stronger. Live-food vegetarians, in addition, do not suffer from the chronic overstimulation of the immune system caused by the effects of cooked food. Although I do not know of any studies comparing the immune system strengths of live-food vegetarians to flesh-food eaters, theoretically the immune system of a live-food eater should be stronger. I have observed in my clinical practice that live-food vegetarians seem to have the most resistance to disease. This stronger immune system is contrary to what would be a.s.sociated with a spleen yang-deficient pattern as theoretically predicted by the TCM system.
The Chinese are not alone in their cultural myths. If we were to believe the culturally biased propaganda of the beef industry, a juicy steak dripping with blood is supposedly loaded with the high-quality iron that one cannot get anywhere else. Nowadays it is easy to be scared into believing the mythology that vegetarians will become anemic and therefore spleen yang-deficient. The research, however, shows this is just another cultural myth disseminated through the flesh-centered Chinese or American medical establishments. One of the most startling historical events to repudiate this myth is evidenced by the British statistics during World War II. When the meat supply was seriously curtailed due to scarcity and the diversion of meat to the fighting soldiers, the population in England had significantly less flesh foods in the diet. The rate of anemia significantly decreased in the total civilian population during the time of the least flesh food consumption.
Why do vegetarians have less anemia? The answer, I believe, lies in the leafy greens, which often have a higher concentration of iron than flesh foods. For example, according to the U.S.D.A. Handbook no. 456, gram for gram, kale has fourteen times more iron than red meat. Spinach-Popeye's comic strip power food-has approximately eleven times the iron of ground beef. Strawberries, cabbage, bell peppers, and even cuc.u.mbers have more iron per weight than ground beef or sirloin steak. Researchers have also found that vitamin C, which is high in fruits and vegetables, significantly enhances the body's ability to a.s.similate iron.
In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1984, research by Hallberg and Rossander showed that nonheme iron (iron found in vegetarian food as compared to the heme iron of flesh food) was absorbed four times better if there were enough accompanying fruits and vegetables to provide 65 mg of vitamin C. There is at least that much vitamin C in one-half green pepper. Vegetables such as kale, spinach, broccoli, and mustard greens are high in both vitamin C and iron. Beans and peas are also high in iron. Cooking in iron pots is another indirect source of iron. According to White, in Let's Talk About Food, the iron in food can be increased by 100 to 400% by being prepared in iron pots. The clinical evidence as reported in such science journals as the Journal of Human Nutrition, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and Journal of the American Dietetic a.s.sociation clearly shows that in vegetarians, iron a.s.similation is as high as, or higher than, that of flesh-food eaters. Anderson, Gibson, and Sabry, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, report that the hemoglobin and iron levels in vegetarian women who were regularly menstruating were higher than that of women of comparable age in the general population. The iron in the vegetarian diets of these women was also higher than in the diets of the general population.
Research cited by Rudolph Ballentine, M.D., in his book Transition to Vegetarianism indicates that moderate amounts of oxalates and fiber found in a vegetarian diet do not block iron uptake. This may also be true for phytates as well. This is significant because of myths that fiber and oxalates may block uptake of iron. Dr. Ballentine points out there is some speculation by scientists that long-term vegetarians a.s.similate the iron from vegetables more efficiently, and perhaps differently, than meat-eaters.
Two major foods that decrease iron uptake are excessive dairy products and black tea with meals. It is common that in the transition to vegetarianism people increase their dairy product consumption as a protein subst.i.tute in order to a.s.suage their illusory fear stemming from the ”inadequate protein” myth. The problem is that dairy foods are very low in iron. To equal the amount of iron in a bowl of spinach, one would have to drink approximately fifty gallons of milk. In addition, dairy products are thought to have inhibitors to iron absorption which have not yet been specifically identified. Narins, in Biochemistry of Non-heme Iron, points out that breast-fed babies have a higher rate of iron absorption than babies given cow's milk, even if their formulas are enriched with iron. This is a significant consideration because the populations at high risk for iron deficiency are pregnant women and children. The fetus depends on iron for a normal development, and in infants iron is also specifically needed for mental development.
Eating a lot of milk products, such as milk, cheese, yogurt, b.u.t.ter, and ice cream, contributes to an iron deficiency. A high-dairy-product intake not only blocks iron uptake, but because it is filling, it diminishes intake of high-iron foods such as fruits, grains, and vegetables. The few new vegetarians who may become iron-deficient because of a high dairy intake may psychologically crave what they remember on a subliminal level as the prime source of iron and find themselves wanting meat. As meat is also a good source of iron, they feel better if they eat it. In one's transition to vegetarianism, to avoid an iron deficiency it is better to eat a minimal amount of dairy and lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains.
The tannic acid in black teas is another common cause of blocked iron uptake. If one insists on drinking black teas in one's diet, it is best to drink the tea at least one hour before meals. Tannic acid is also found in the skins of almonds. If one eats a lot of almonds, then it is a good idea to take off the skins, as explained in the food preparation section.
A note of caution for those who are iron-deficient: The best way to increase iron is to eat high-iron foods such as kale and spinach. Iron supplementation for a short time will not cause an imbalance, but research reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1986 shows that long-term use of iron supplementation can result in a decreased copper, zinc, and selenium absorption.
Does Vegetarianism Make You ”Cold”?
WHAT TCM PRACt.i.tIONERS DESCRIBE AS ”internal cold” and ”dampness,” two symptoms of yang deficiency, is worth considering, especially if one is a kapha type. In the Ayurvedic system, people with predominantly kapha const.i.tutions tend toward water imbalances and internal cold. They also have problems with excess mucus production when the weather is cold and damp. These are also symptoms of ”internal cold and dampness” in TCM. Excess mucus in itself can contribute to coldness. My clinical experience shows that kapha types have considerably less mucus on a live-food vegetarian diet. My findings parallel the findings of Arnold Erhet's mucusless diet approach. Erhet found that when he put himself and thousands of his followers on a diet that eliminated highly mucus foods, such as flesh food, dairy, and cooked grains, they had less mucus and phlegm. According to Erhet, my clinical experience with patients, and my own personal experience (my predominant const.i.tutional type is kapha), a live-food vegetarian diet is the best for decreasing mucus in the body. This is distinctly opposite to what is hypothesized by TCM pract.i.tioners.
It is possible to create a water excess in a vegetarian, particularly with a live-food diet. This is done by increasing fruit and vegetable intake and not decreasing intake of other fluids. Fruits and vegetables contain more water than flesh foods and grains. Fruits consist of approximately 80% highly structured water, the most biologically active water available. There is no better water that one can take into the body. The more fruits and vegetables one eats, the less one needs to drink water or other liquids. In this way the fluid balance can be maintained at a healthy level. Making the adjustment of drinking less fluid to avoid a fluid excess and ”dampness” in the system as one increases fruit and vegetables in the diet is primarily important for those with kapha const.i.tutions. In general, most people do not get enough fluid, so the increased intake of fruits and vegetables will usually be beneficial to health. By being aware of this dynamic interplay between water intake, biological water from fruit and vegetables, and one's const.i.tution, one can intelligently work with the diet to become more in tune with optimal fluid needs.
Initially, one may feel a little colder on a live-food vegetarian diet. If one stops one's observation and efforts at this beginning transition stage, one will jump to the conclusion that there is a spleen yang-deficient condition developing because of the experience of coldness. If one continues to make scientific observations on the process, after several months, and even a year or so with some individuals, one actually becomes warmer. As the body becomes healthier, the arteries become less clogged and circulation improves. With better circulation, vitality, and health, the body then begins, in the long term, to become warmer on a vegetarian and live-food diet, even in a climate as harsh as Alaska. In the meantime, until one completely adjusts, dressing a little more warmly, exercising, and using heating herbs and foods will make this transition easier.
This increased warmness has certainly been my own experience. My body is more tolerant of cold now than when I was on a flesh-centered diet or when I initially became a vegetarian. Earlier, I mentioned a preliminary retrospective survey that I conducted with vegetarians and live-fooders in chilly Anchorage, Alaska. It was carried out at my suggestion by the owners of Enzyme Express, a wonderful live-food restaurant in Anchorage. We found that one hundred percent of the vegetarian customers who filled out the questionnaire had no difficulty with the cold Alaskan weather. More than two-thirds of these people ate 50% or more of their exclusively vegetarian food live. Approximately one-third of the total surveyed ate 75% of their food live. All reported increased health and vitality on this diet, even in the Alaskan climate. This is consistent with the finding in Diet for A New America which showed that ”over 95% of former meat eaters report that a switch to a vegetarian diet increases their energy, vitality, and overall feeling of well-being....” About half of these people in the Alaskan study used warming herbs and one-third used exercise to help keep them warm during the winter. Most were long-term vegetarians, although 10% had made the transition to vegetarianism in the last six months.
In the transition to a vegetarian or live-food diet, the moderate use of heating herbs such as ginseng, cayenne, ginger, curry, and black pepper helps to supply a drying and heating energy. The point is that even an initial transitory coldness can be compensated for by the use of heating herbs and food as part of the diet. Although I initially used ginseng to increase yang heat, I stopped using it after one year because it made my body too hot. This was obviously a sign that the transition to increased internal heat had been made.
Another powerful approach to increasing body heat is to exercise vigorously on a daily basis. This distinctly increases body yang energy and dries the body of excess fluid. This is consistent with Ayurvedic teachings which stress the importance of kapha people exercising regularly. With intelligent application of the use of heating herbs, foods, and exercise, the initial coldness that one may encounter transitioning to vegetarianism, particularly if one is a kapha or vata type, can be intelligently compensated for and balanced. The best use of these herbs and exercise is during the time of maximum kapha imbalance toward excess mucus and coldness between 6 AM and 10 AM, or 6 PM and 10 PM. If one is a vata, the use of herbs and exercise is best between 2 AM and 6 AM, and 2 PM and 6 PM.