What Do Vegans Die Of?

[tresu]

Helloooooooo. I really hope this question doesn't offend or upset anyone, but I was just wondering... what do vegans die of? I know that there would be many things, and that vegans aren't completely immune to the diseases of omni's but considering all the health benefits of veganism you'd expect a lot of those aging illnesses to be avoided well into old age... But then what?

I was just thinking about how I kind of consider omni-eating to be like smoking and heavy drinking... Bad for your health but everyone (a bit of a generalization there I know) still does them sometimes, but we know that cutting them out totally being ideal for health (according to the literature). If smokers have higher rates of lung cancer and other diseases than non-smokers, and if heavy drinkers have higher rates of liver damage and other diseases than non-drinkers, then it makes sense to say that if omnis have higher rates of certain diseases (cancers, heart disease, osteoperosis, general illnesses, ect.) than vegans, then a vegan diet should be considered to be ideal (like abstaining completely from smoking and heavy drinking). I'm sure non-smokers and non-drinkers expect not to die of lung cancer or liver disease, and vegans don't expect to die of omni-associated diseases caused by omni-eating (because they don't eat omni!)... So do vegans die of the same diseases as omni's, but not caused by an omni-diet?

What a ramble... Sorry this might not be making a lot of sense!

Also I just want to say I know a vegan diet isn't a cure for or way to avoid all disease :D

[missbettie]

well...vegans can die from the same diseases as omnis because diet is not a sole cause of most of those diseases. In many cases its less likely but it still will happen.
i.e
Many Vegans are overweight and there is a link btwn obesity and heart disease.

but really most Vegans just die from eatting too much carrots....its a fact i swear! :D

[Fuhzy]

I would say many vegans probably end up dying in some way or another from nutrient deficiencies, since many vegans don't watch their nutrient intakes all that closely...

[sugarmouse]

ill probably die of cider poisoning:)

[treehugga]

Extremely old age :D

[Pilaf]

Sexual frustration :P

[erfoud]

Do we die, really? I went vegan to be immortal! WHat a letdown!

[Pilaf]

It's actually a goal of mine to live to be 150. Wish me luck.

[ellaminnowpea]

Hmmmm, interesting, I don't think theres been a full generation of vegans in the industrialized countries. I've only ever heard of one completely vegan culture in Asia, which is not industrialized and has not been studied very much. I would have to guess (in no particular order):

1) cancer, I really dont think it's preventable
2) environmental toxins and exposure to pollution
3) weakened heart, which eventually stops. It is a muscle and deteriorates over time.
4) alzheimers or other brain deterioration
5) blood clots, heart disease, strokes, etc
6) travel-related illnesses such as tropical disease
7) mental disorders
8) acute illnesses like respiratory illness or digestive problems
7) same things as omnis, in a lesser degree

I got really into that... can you tell I'd love to work in preventative medicine?

[harpy]

tresu, have you looked at this page, which mentions a couple of scientific studies:

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/veganhealth

The most common cause of death among vegans seems to be "other causes" which presumably includes cider poisoning and sexual frustration :D

[vava]

heh!

[DiaShel]

Well, I think a vegan who eats whole unprocessed foods and has an active lifestyle will die of very different things then one that eats a lot of vegan junk food and sits on the couch all day. I don't think that the second one would die of different reasons then an omni. You can even have an omni that follows a pretty healthy lifestyle (as healthy as can be still eating meat and dairy) that is more healthy then a vegan that eats a lot of junk. I think on the most part vegan are more healthy of course but you can people on opposite extremes.

I'd either want to do before of an accident doing something crazy, like rock climbing or jumping out of a plane (at an old age though, not now!) or just because I'm like 120 years old, healthy as hell, but am just too old to be alive anymore.

[sugarmouse]

Theres three causes of death, Trauma, aging and disease..and vegans dont escape any of them by default, it depends on lifestyle,fate and the grim reaper:D

[sandra]

I would say many vegans probably end up dying in some way or another from nutrient deficiencies, since many vegans don't watch their nutrient intakes all that closely...

This applies to most omnivores too though! :)

[rantipole]

If nothing else gets you, your kidneys will fail eventually. They take the brunt of all the toxins produced as natural byproducts of our metabolism. They also don't regenerate as well as the liver does. So, that will get you in the end.

Also, although it is healthiest to be a vegan, even healthy plant foods produce damaging chemcials during metabolism--free radicals, peroxides, carcinogens, etc. These will catch up with you in time.

The process of cell division allows random mutations to crop up in DNA. Over time, this leads to cellular death, cell dysfunction, cancer, and other problems.

Truly, from the second you are conceived, you are starting to die. Morbid, but true.

So, vegans die of all of these things, assuming no accidents, violence, or other factors.

Cheers,
rant

[eve]

I agree with sugarmouse that there are three causes of death, trauma, ageing, and disease, but don't forget inheritance - there are many tendencies to poor health conditions that we can inherit. Vegans can't escape them by default, but our lifestyle can make a heap of difference. I don't believe in fate though, and the grim reaper will come just when we don't expect a visit!

[emzy1985]

I wonder what the difference in life expectancy between a healthy vegan and a raw vegan is? Ofcourse we will just have to wait and see.

There is that vegan community in Japan that is vegan. (Ottawanian?) All the elders are 100+ and look like they are 50. They have never been exposed to processed foods, only tofu and vegetables! :D

[harpy]

If you mean Okinawans, emzy, unfortunately they seem to be the kind of "vegans" who eat fish!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_diet

ETA there could of course be somewhere else in Japan where they don't eat fish, which would be interesting to know about.

[Pilaf]

I don't recall ever hearing the Okinawans were vegan anyway.

They certainly have a VERY healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle but it's not vegan. They do consume some animal products but mostly seafood.

[Fungus]

From wikipedia ..


A 1999 metastudy[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism#cite_note-AJCN_metastudy-5) compared six major studies from western countries. The study found that the mortality ratio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_ratio) was the lowest in fish eaters (0.82) followed by vegetarians (0.84) and occasional meat eaters (0.84), and was then followed by regular meat eaters (1.0) and vegan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan) (1.0)[68] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism#cite_note-67) . When the study made its best estimate of mortality ratio with confounding factors considered, the mortality ratio for vegetarians was found to be (0.94)[69] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism#cite_note-68).

[DiaShel]

From wikipedia ..


A 1999 metastudy[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism#cite_note-AJCN_metastudy-5) compared six major studies from western countries. The study found that the mortality ratio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_ratio) was the lowest in fish eaters (0.82) followed by vegetarians (0.84) and occasional meat eaters (0.84), and was then followed by regular meat eaters (1.0) and vegan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan) (1.0)[68] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism#cite_note-67) . When the study made its best estimate of mortality ratio with confounding factors considered, the mortality ratio for vegetarians was found to be (0.94)[69] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism#cite_note-68).

Woah! How can that be!! Am I reading that wrong?

[Pilaf]

Woah! How can that be!! Am I reading that wrong?

It's probably all the extra omega 3. Theorteically their diets should be mich richer in it than the average vegan diet, although we can get it from other sources. It's one nutrient I admit I should probably eat more myself. I need more flax.

edit: I just noticed we scored as bad as meat eaters..haha wow. Okay so maybe we should be more conscious about a wider variety of vitamins and minerals! I personally suspect I don't get enough iron for one.

[emzy1985]

Damn! I thought they were vegan. :(

Nevermind...looks like we all need to be taking more care of ourselves!

[Gorilla]

don't forget the great Donald Watson, founder of the Vegan Society, who died aged 95 - pretty much from old age i believe, and was fit and healthy right up until his death. :)

[Korn]

I would say many vegans probably end up dying in some way or another from nutrient deficiencies, since many vegans don't watch their nutrient intakes all that closely...

I don't think there's any evidence that vegans lack more nutrients than non-vegans. Nutrient deficiencies among meat eaters are well documented. (http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24)

OTOH, too much of anything isn't good either, and while we have no reason to assume that too high B12 levels are desirable, too low B12 levels aren't good either. One theory suggests that the higher the higher life expectancy values for lacto-vegetarians is that they have higher B12 levels, and that vegans would live circa 4 years longer than non-veggies if they would combine all the health benefits of a plant based diets with making sure their B12 levels were good enough.

There are so many myths about B12, one of them being that we never need supplements if we eat 'natural' food (which isn't correct in our 'un-natural' times).

On another note, many people eat vegan for ethical reasons, and may not pay much attention to the nutritional aspect of changing one's dietary habits. Peta, for instance, which claim to have between 1.5 and 2 million members don't focus much on health and nutrition at all. Historically, I guess more people have turned lacto-vegetarian than vegan for health reasons, but we may live in a period where this is about to change.

Some people assume that one can compensate for a poor diet or lack of focus on nutrition by eating multivitamins, which means that there may be lots of 'pasta-vegans' out there who are involved in AR activism while eating junk foods plus vitmain pills. That's just not good enough. We need to rely on actual food for our nutrients, and compensate or lacking nutrients when necessary - not the other way round.

Another fact that may influence these numbers is that many people go vegan or vegetarian when they have serious health issues like cancer, heart problems or extreme obesity, and even if they may have been eating meat for 60 years, and die at 65, they are part of the veg*n life expectancy statistics.