Had to laugh at that article YMMV posted.
The author ([a former psychiatrist for Smith College] writes:
"Iodine deficiency affects two BILLION people, and is the most common preventable cause of intellectual disabilities in the world."
Like a scare tactic. While in many 3rd world counties this is a big problem and leads to goiters etc, in the US at least this should never be a problem if one eats regular table salt.
Another thing she writes [On vitamin B12]:
"Unfortunately, deficiency is still far more common than it should be, with some studies finding that as many as 86% of adults (regardless of chosen diet) are deficient."
"Regardless of chosen diet "is the key there. Wait, you mean meat eaters can get low on B12 too?!
No doubt vegans/vegetarians should watch their B12, D, iron levels etc. But I'd recommend all runners/athletes (regardless of diet) watch their levels on these types of things. I've seen tons of guys run and try to train at a high level while eating a bunch of red meat and they still get low on iron. They also get stress fractures, muscle tendon strains/tears, need corrected vision, have poor tooth health, and get low T....which of course may or may not be related to their diet....but I digress....[note I'm kind of joking with this last sentence as it is something that vegans often get accused of getting more often].
And why do people insist we need K2 again? She writes:
"When most people think of vitamin K they think of vitamin K1, which is abundant in many plant foods, but vitamin K2 is just as important and often overlooked. " Is it really "just as important though"? Last I checked K2 is non-essential. Way too much emphasis placed on K2. It seems like meat eaters are just desperate to find the "one thing" that you can't get from plant-based sources and then highlight how essential it is for human health. But K2 is in something like Natto anyway.
For sure as a vegan (plant based) I take vitamin B12 and an algae based oil with EPA/DHA for essential fatty acids. Its really not that hard. I eat a lot of legumes for zinc etc. I know generational vegans who have thrived (they are very intelligent people so I doubt their brains have withered away over the decades for a lack of cholesterol or something).
A lot of Americans eat way too much cholesterol. They get heart attacks and cancer. They may become obese and get type II diabetes. Then they want to simply blame "sugar" or "carbs/grains" and those evil "anti-nutrients" and think there is a big conspiracy by the "big bad vegetable and grain companies" to take away their beef and dairy or something. From a business standpoint of course beef/dairy is a multi-billion dollar industry in the US though. No wonder some people get so defensive.
People grow up on a certain diet eating their favorite types of foods and become emotionally triggered to certain staples or ways of eating and living. I grew up vegetarian so I have that bias (and will passionately post about my type of diet....much like a Paleo or LCHF person does on here).
In regards to diet there are obvioulsy a lot of variables at play with developing something like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Most Americans however, would probably be much better off if they simply ate more fruits and veggies though.
