Veganism
Tofu scramble, soy pizza, makizushi, cupcakes
Early proponents	James Pierrepont Greaves (1777–1842) Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) Donald Watson (1910–2005) H. Jay Dinshah (1933–2000)
Origin of the term	November 1, 1944, with the foundation of the British Vegan Society
Description	Elimination of the use of animal products

Veganism (/ˈviːgənɪzəm/) is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, as well as an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of sentient animals. A follower of veganism is known as a vegan.

Distinctions are sometimes made between different types of vegans and veganism. Dietary vegans (or strict vegetarians) eliminate animal products from their diet (not only meat and fish, but also dairy products, eggs and often honey, as well as other animal-derived substances). The term ethical vegan is often applied to those who not only follow a vegan diet, but extend the vegan philosophy into other areas of their lives. Another term used is environmental veganism, which refers to the rejection of animal products on the premise that industrial farming of animals is environmentally damaging and unsustainable.^[1]

The term vegan was coined in England in 1944 by Donald Watson, co-founder of the British Vegan Society, to mean “non-dairy vegetarian”; the society also opposed the consumption of eggs. In 1951 the society extended the definition of veganism to mean “the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals,” and in 1960 H. Jay Dinshah started the American Vegan Society, linking veganism to the Jain concept of ahimsa, the avoidance of violence against living things.^[2]

Veganism is a small but growing movement. In many countries the number of vegan restaurants is increasing, and some of the top athletes in certain endurance sports—for instance, the Ironman triathlon and the ultramarathon—practise veganism, including raw veganism.^[3] Well-planned vegan diets have been found to offer protection against certain degenerative conditions, including heart disease,^[4] and are regarded by the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada as appropriate for all stages of the life-cycle.^[5] Vegan diets tend to be higher in dietary fibre, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, and phytochemicals, and lower in calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12.^[6] Because uncontaminated plant foods do not provide vitamin B12 (which is produced by microorganisms such as bacteria), researchers agree that vegans should eat foods fortified with B12 or take a daily supplement (see below).^[7]

Contents 1 History 1.1 19th century 1.2 Early 20th century 1.3 1944: Coining the term “vegan” 1.4 Demographics 2 Animal products 2.1 Avoidance 2.2 Milk and eggs 2.3 Honey and other insect products 3 Vegan diet 3.1 Cuisine 3.2 Health arguments 3.3 Nutrients 3.3.1 Vitamin B12 3.3.2 Protein 3.3.3 Calcium 3.3.4 Vitamin D 3.3.5 Iron 3.3.6 Omega-3 fatty acids 3.3.7 Iodine 3.4 Pregnancy, babies and children 4 Vegan toiletries 5 Dietary, ethical, and environmental perspectives 5.1 Dietary veganism 5.2 Ethical veganism 5.2.1 Philosophy 5.2.2 Debate about the “Paris exemption” 5.3 Environmental veganism 5.3.1 Resources and the environment 5.3.2 Debate over animals killed in crop harvesting 6 See also 7 Notes 8 Further reading

[edit] History

[edit] 19th century

Vegetarianism is defined by the International Vegetarian Union (IVU) as “a diet of foods derived from plants, with or without eggs, dairy products, and/or honey”; the British Vegetarian Society adds that vegetarians avoid the “by-products of slaughter.”^[8] The word “vegetarian” seems to have come into use in the early 19th century to refer to those who avoided meat; those who also avoided fish, eggs and dairy products were known as strict or total vegetarians.^[9] The Oxford English Dictionary attributes the earliest use of the word to the English actress Fanny Kemble (1809–1893) writing in Georgia in the United States in 1839.^[10] It is clear from these early references that the word was in sufficiently widespread use as to be easily understood.^[11]

In 1834 Amos Bronson Alcott, the American Transcendentalist and strict vegetarian (father of Louisa May Alcott), opened the Temple School in Boston to promote his ideas, and in 1838 James Pierrepont Greaves opened Alcott House in Surrey, England, a cooperative community and boarding school that followed a strict-vegetarian diet.^[12] In 1844 Alcott founded Fruitlands, a strict-vegetarian community in Harvard, Massachusetts, though it lasted only seven months.^[13]

Members of Alcott House – along with the ovo-lacto vegetarian Bible Christian Church and readers of the Truth-Tester temperance journal – were involved in 1847 in forming the British Vegetarian Society. The Society held its first meeting, chaired by Salford MP Joseph Brotherton (1783–1857), in September that year at Northwood Villa in Ramsgate.^[14] In 1886 the Society published the influential A Plea for Vegetarianism by the English campaigner Henry Salt (1851–1939), one of the first writers to make the paradigm shift from animal welfare to animal rights.^[15] In it, Salt acknowledged that he was a vegetarian, writing that this was a “formidable admission” to make, because “a Vegetarian is still regarded, in ordinary society, as little better than a madman.”^[16] In 1851 an article appeared in the Vegetarian Society’s magazine about alternatives to using leather for shoes, which the IVU cites as evidence of the existence in England of another group that wanted to avoid using animal products entirely.^[17]

[edit] Early 20th century

The first known vegan cookbook, No Animal Food by Rupert H. Wheldon, was published in England by C.W. Daniel in 1910.^[19] Leah Leneman writes that in 1912 the editor of TVMHR, the journal of the Vegetarian Society’s Manchester branch, started a debate among readers as to whether vegetarians ought to avoid eggs and dairy. He summarized the views of the 24 vegetarians who responded, writing: “The defence of the use of eggs and milk by vegetarians, so far as it has been offered here, is not satisfactory. The only true way is to live on cereals, pulse, fruit, nuts and vegetables.” The journal wrote in 1923 that the “ideal position for vegetarians is abstinence from animal products,” and that most of the society’s members were in a transitional stage. In 1935 it wrote that the issue was becoming more pressing with every year.^[19]

In 1931 Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) addressed a meeting in London of the Vegetarian Society—attended by Henry Salt—arguing that it ought to promote a meat-free diet as a moral issue, not as an issue of human health. Norm Phelps writes that this was a rebuke to members of the Society who had focused on the health benefits of vegetarianism. Gandhi argued that “vegetarians had a habit of talking of nothing but food and nothing but disease. I feel that this is the worst way of going about the business. … I discovered that for remaining staunch to vegetarianism a man requires a moral basis.” He became friends with other leading vegetarian campaigners, including Salt and the English physician Anna Kingsford (1846–1888), author of The Perfect Way in Diet (1881).^[18] Although Gandhi continued to drink cow’s milk—calling it the tragedy of his life that he could not give it up—Phelps argues that his speech was a call for the Society to align itself with Salt’s views on animal rights, and a precursor to the ideas of Donald Watson in 1944.^[18]

[edit] 1944: Coining the term “vegan”

In July 1943 Leslie Cross, a member of the Leicester Vegetarian Society, expressed concern in its newsletter, The Vegetarian Messenger, that vegetarians were still eating dairy products. A year later, in August 1944, two of the society’s members, Donald Watson (1910–2005) and Elsie “Sally” Shrigley (died 1978), suggested forming a subgroup of non-dairy vegetarians. When the executive committee rejected the idea, they and five others met at the Attic Club in Holborn, London, on November 1 to discuss setting up a separate organization, which they called the Vegan Society.^[20]

Other suggestions for a concise term to replace “non-dairy vegetarian” included dairyban, vitan, benevore, sanivore, and beaumangeur, but Watson decided on “vegan” – pronounced “veegun” (/ˈviːɡən/), with the stress on the first syllable – the first three and last two letters of vegetarian and, as Watson put it in 2004, “the beginning and end of vegetarian.”^[21] The word was first independently published in the Oxford Illustrated Dictionary in 1962, defined as “a vegetarian who eats no butter, eggs, cheese or milk.”^[20] Fay K. Henderson published Vegan Recipes the following year; it was the first recipe book with the word “vegan” in the title.^[19]

The first vegan society in the United States was founded in 1948 by Dr. Catherine Nimmo of Oceano, California, and Rubin Abramowitz of Los Angeles. Nimmo had been a vegan since 1931, and began distributing the British Vegan Society’s Vegan newsletter to her mailing list within the United States.^[22] In 1951 the British Vegan Society broadened its definition of veganism to “the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals.” Leslie Cross, the society’s vice-president wrote that veganism is a principle, that it is “not so much about welfare [of animals] as liberation.” The society pledged to “seek to end the use of animals by man for food, commodities, work, hunting, vivisection and all other uses involving exploitation of animal life by man.” Members were expected to declare themselves in agreement and to live as closely to the ideal as they could.^[23]

In 1957 H. Jay Dinshah (1933–2000), the son of a Parsi from Mumbai, visited a slaughterhouse and read some of Watson’s literature. He gave up all animal products and, on February 8, 1960, he founded the American Vegan Society (AVS) in Malaga, New Jersey. He incorporated Nimmo’s society and explicitly linked veganism to the concept of ahimsa, a Sanskrit word meaning “non-harming.” The AVS called the idea “dynamic harmlessness,” and named its magazine Ahimsa.^[24] Two key books explained the philosophy: Dinshah’s Out of the Jungle: The Way of Dynamic Harmlessness (1965), and Victoria Moran‘s Compassion, the Ultimate Ethic: An Exploration of Veganism (1985), the latter first published as a series of essays in Ahimsa.^[25] Today the word “veganism” is still used to refer either to the plant-based diet or to a lifestyle that seeks to eliminate animal use entirely.^[1] Since 1994 World Vegan Day has been held every November 1, the founding date of the British Vegan Society in 1944.^[26]

[edit] Demographics

Surveys in the United States suggest that between 0.5 and three percent there are vegan. In 1997 three percent said they had not used animals for any purpose in the previous two years.^[27] In 2006 a poll by Harris Interactive suggested that 1.4 percent were dietary vegans, a 2008 survey for the Vegetarian Resource Group reported 0.5 percent, or one million, and a July 2012 Gallup poll found 2 percent report being vegan, 91 percent “not vegan,” and 7 percent reported “no opinion.”^[28] In the UK The Times estimated in 2005 that there were 250,000 vegans there, in 2006 The Independent estimated 600,000, and in a 2007 British government survey two percent identified as vegan.^[29] The Netherlands Association for Veganism estimated there were 16,000 vegans in the Netherlands as of 2007, around 0.1 percent of the population.^[30]

[edit] Animal products

[edit] Avoidance

Ethical vegans entirely reject the commodification of animals. The Vegan Society in the UK will only certify a product as vegan if it is free of animal involvement as far as possible and practical.^[31]

An animal product is any material derived from animals, including meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, dairy products, honey, fur, leather, wool, and silk. Other commonly used, but perhaps less well known, animal products are beeswax, bone char, bone china, carmine, casein, cochineal, gelatin, isinglass, lanolin, lard, rennet, shellac, tallow, whey, and yellow grease. Many of these may not be identified in the list of ingredients in the finished product.^[32] The detailed reasons vegans may not use a specific animal product are varied. In the case of wool for example, Merino sheep have been bred to have unusually wrinkly skin, which can lead to heat exhaustion in summer and the practice of mulesing to counter flystrike.^[33]

Ethical vegans will not use animal products for clothing, toiletries, or any other reason, and will try to avoid ingredients that have been tested on animals. They will not buy fur coats, cars with leather in them, leather shoes, belts, bags, wallets, woollen jumpers, silk scarves, camera film, and certain vaccines, etc. Depending on their economic circumstances, they may donate such items to charity when they become vegan, or use them until they wear out. Clothing made without animal products is widely available in stores and online. Alternatives to wool include cotton, hemp, rayon, and polyester. Some vegan clothes, in particular shoes, are made of petroleum-based products, which has triggered criticism because of the environmental damage associated with production.^[34]

[edit] Milk and eggs

One of the main differences between a vegan and a typical vegetarian diet is the avoidance of eggs and dairy products such as milk, cheese, butter and yogurt. Ethical vegans state that the production of eggs and dairy causes animal suffering and/or premature death. In battery cage and free-range egg production, unwanted male chicks are culled or discarded at birth during the process of securing a further generation of egg-laying hens.^[35] To produce milk from dairy cattle female calves are separated from their mothers soon after birth and fed milk replacer, so that the cow’s milk is retained for human consumption. Vegans say that this breaks the natural mother-calf bond. Unwanted male calves are either slaughtered at birth or sent for veal production. To prolong lactation, dairy cows are kept almost permanently pregnant through artificial insemination.^[36] After about five years, once the cow’s milk production has dropped, they are considered “spent” and sent to slaughter for hamburger meat and their hides. A dairy cow’s natural life expectancy is about twenty years.^[37]

[edit] Honey and other insect products

There is disagreement among vegan groups about the extent to which products from insects must be avoided. Some vegans view the consumption of honey as cruel and exploitative with modern beekeeping a form of enslavement.^[38] Once the honey is harvested, it is common practice to substitute the bees natural food store (honey) with sugar or corn syrup to maintain the colony over winter. Neither the Vegan Society nor the American Vegan Society considers the use of honey, silk, or other insect products to be suitable for vegans, while Vegan Action and Vegan Outreach regard it as a matter of personal choice.^[39]

[edit] Vegan diet

[edit] Cuisine

Further information: Wikibooks Cookbook list of vegan recipes

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Vegan cuisine Vegan substitutions

Any plant-based dish may be vegan. Common vegan dishes prepared without animal ingredients include ratatouille, falafel, hummus, veggie burritos, rice and beans, veggie stir-fry, and pasta primavera. Ingredients such as tofu, tempeh, and seitan are widely used in vegan cuisine. Plant cream and plant milk—such as almond milk, grain milk, or soy milk—are used instead of cows’ or goats’ milk. Vegan recipes use apple sauce, ground flax seeds, mashed potatoes, soft or silken tofu, or commercial starch-based egg-substitute products, instead of chickens’ eggs.^[40]

Meat analogues, or “mock meats,” made of soy or gluten—including vegetarian sausage, vegetarian mince, and veggie burgers—are widely available, and are often vegan. Cheese analogues made from soy, nuts and tapioca are commonly used. Vegan cheeses like Chreese, Daiya, Teese and Tofutti can replace the taste and meltability of dairy cheese in various dishes.^[41] Joanne Stepaniak writes that cheese substitutes can be made at home, using recipes from Vegan Vittles, The Nutritional Yeast Cookbook, and The Uncheese Cookbook.^[42]

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine recommends what they call the “Four New Food Groups.” They suggest that vegans and vegetarians eat at least three servings of vegetables a day, including dark-green, leafy vegetables such as broccoli, and dark-yellow and orange such as carrots, five servings of whole grains (bread, rice, pasta), three servings of fruit, and two of legumes (beans, peas, lentils).^[43]

[edit] Health arguments

There is a growing scientific consensus that a plant-based diet reduces the risk of a number of degenerative diseases, particularly coronary artery disease and diabetes.^[44] Winston Craig, chair of the department of nutrition at Andrews University, writes that vegan diets tend to be higher in dietary fibre, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, and phytochemicals, and lower in calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12. He writes that vegans tend to be thinner, with lower serum cholesterol and lower blood pressure. He adds that eliminating all animal products increases the risk of nutritional deficiencies; of particular concern are vitamins B12 and D, calcium, and long-chain n–3 (omega-3) fatty acids. He advises vegans to eat foods fortified with these nutrients or to take supplements, and writes that iron and zinc may also be problematic because of limited bioavailability.^[6]

According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a report issued by the US Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture, a vegetarian diet is associated with lower levels of obesity and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.^[45] The American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada said in 2003 that properly planned vegan diets were nutritionally adequate for all stages of life, including pregnancy and lactation, and provided health benefits in the treatment and prevention of certain diseases.^[5] People avoiding meat are reported to have lower body mass index; from this follows lower death rates from ischemic heart disease, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and fewer incidences of type 2 diabetes, prostate and colon cancers.^[46] The Swiss Federal Nutrition Commission and the German Society for Nutrition do not recommend a vegan diet, and caution against it for children, the pregnant and the elderly.^[47]

A group of prominent physicians in the United States – John A. McDougall, Caldwell Esselstyn, Neal D. Barnard, Dean Ornish, and Michael Greger – together with nutritional biochemist T. Colin Campbell, have argued that diets based on animal fat and animal protein, such as the standard American diet, are detrimental to health, and that a low-fat vegan diet can not only prevent, but may also reverse, certain diseases.^[4] A 2006 study by Barnard found that in people with type 2 diabetes, a low-fat vegan diet reduced weight, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol, and did so to a greater extent than the diet prescribed by the American Diabetes Association.^[48]

The Oxford Vegetarian Study recruited 11,000 subjects between 1980 and 1984 (6000 vegetarians and a control group of 5000 non-vegetarians) and followed up after 12 years. The study indicated that vegans had lower total- and LDL-cholesterol concentrations than meat-eaters. Death rates were lower in non-meat eaters. The authors wrote that mortality from ischemic heart disease was positively associated with higher dietary cholesterol levels and the consumption of animal fat. They also wrote that non-meat-eaters had half the risk of meat eaters of requiring an emergency appendectomy, and that vegans in the UK may be prone to iodine deficiency.^[49]

A 1999 meta-analysis of five studies comparing mortality rates in Western countries found that mortality from ischemic heart disease was 26 percent lower in vegans than in regular meat-eaters. This was compared to 20 percent lower in occasional meat eaters, 34 percent lower in pescetarians (those who ate fish but no other meat), and 34 percent lower in ovo-lacto vegetarians (those who ate no meat, but did consume animal milk and eggs). The lower rate of protection for vegans compared to pescetarians or ovo-lacto vegetarians is believed to be linked to higher levels of homocysteine, caused by insufficient vitamin B12; it is believed that vegans who consume sufficient B12 should show even lower risk of ischemic heart disease than lacto-ovo vegetarians. No significant difference in mortality was found from other causes.^[50] A 15-year survey that investigated the association between diet and age-related cataract risk in the UK found a progressive decrease in cataracts in high meat eaters to low meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians, and vegans; vegans had a 40 percent lower risk than the biggest meat eaters.^[51]

The American Dietetic Association indicated in 2003 that vegetarian diets may be more common among adolescents with eating disorders, but that the evidence suggests the adoption of a vegetarian diet may serve to camouflage an existing disorder, rather than causing one.^[46] Other studies support this conclusion.^[52]

[edit] Nutrients

[edit] Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is a bacterial product needed for cell division, the formation and maturation of red blood cells, the synthesis of DNA, and for normal nerve function. Reed Mangels of the department of nutrition at the University of Massachusetts Amherst writes that a deficiency can lead to a number of health problems, including megaloblastic anemia and nerve damage. That vegans are unable in most cases, at least in the West, to obtain vitamin B12 from a plant-based diet without consuming fortified foods or supplements is often used as an argument against veganism.^[53]

Neither plants nor animals make B12; it is produced by microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi and algae. Herbivorous animals obtain it from bacteria in their rumens, either by absorbing it or by eating their own cecotrope faeces; rabbits, for example, produce and eat cecal pellets. When those animals are eaten, they become sources of B12. Plants from the ground that are not washed properly may contain B12 from bacteria in the soil, often from faeces; drinking water may also be contaminated with B12-producing bacteria, particularly in the developing world.^[53] Mangels writes that bacteria in the human digestive tract produce B12, but most of it is not absorbed and is expelled in the faeces, with tiny amounts also expelled in the urine. A group of vegans in Iran were found to have normal B12 levels because they were eating vegetables grown in human manure (known as night soil) and not thoroughly washed. The human mouth is another source of B12, but in small amounts and possibly analogue (not biologically active).^[54]

Western vegan diets are likely to be deficient in B12 because of increased hygiene. Vegans can obtain B12 by taking a supplement or by eating fortified foods, such as fortified soy milk or cereal, where it may be listed as cobalamin or cyanocobalamin.^[55] B12 supplements are produced industrially through bacterial fermentation-synthesis; no animal products are involved in that process. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for adults (14+ years) is 2.4 mcg (or µg) a day, rising to 2.4 and 2.6 mcg for pregnancy and lactation respectively; 0.4 mcg for 0–6 months, 0.5 mcg for 7–12 months, 0.9 mcg for 1–3 years, 1.2 mcg for 4–8 years, and 1.8 mcg for 9–13 years.^[56]

There is some disagreement within the vegan community as to whether supplementation is needed; several studies of vegans who did not take supplements or eat fortified food, including in Western countries, found no sign of B12 deficiency.^[57] Mangels writes that the disagreement is caused in part because there is no gold standard for assessing B12 status, and also because there are very few studies of long-term vegans who have not used supplements or fortified foods. According to Mangels, all Western vegans not using supplements or fortified foods will probably develop a B12 deficiency, though it may be decades before it appears.^[58] There are reports that certain plant foods are sources of B12. Mangels writes that fermented foods such as tempeh and miso, as well as edible seaweed (such as arame, wakame, nori, and kombo), spirulina, and certain greens, grains and legumes, have been cited as B12 sources, as has rainwater. She writes that tiny amounts have been found in barley malt syrup, shiitake mushrooms, parsley and sourdough bread, and higher amounts in spirulina and nori, but these products may be sources of B12 analogues.^[59] The consensus within the mainstream nutrition community is that vegans and perhaps even vegetarians should eat fortified foods or use supplements.^[60]

[edit] Protein

Proteins are composed of amino acids. Mangels writes that omnivores generally obtain a third of their protein from plant foods, and lacto-ovo vegetarians a half.^[61] Vegans have to obtain 100 percent of their protein from plant sources, and a common concern is whether plant protein supplies an adequate intake of the essential amino acids, which cannot be synthesized by the human body.^[62]

Soybeans have a high protein content, as does quinoa (pronounced keenwa), both of which contain all the essential amino acids and are known as complete proteins.^[63] Otherwise the essential amino acids can be obtained by eating a variety of complementary plant sources over the course of a day that provide them in combination, though protein combining in the same meal is not necessary.^[64] Common combinations are brown rice and beans, corn and beans, and hummus and whole-wheat pita; a 1994 study found a varied intake of such sources to be sufficient.^[65] According to a 2005 review article, studies suggest that an adequate intake of plant proteins protects against certain degenerative diseases.^[62] Mangels writes that there is little reason to advise vegans to increase their protein intake, but erring on the side of caution (taking into account the lower digestibility and poorer amino acid pattern of plant protein), she would recommend a 25 percent increase over the RDA for adults, to 1.0 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight.^[66]

[edit] Calcium

Calcium is needed to maintain bone health, and for a number of metabolic functions, including muscle function, vascular contraction and vasodilation, nerve transmission, intracellular signalling and hormonal secretion. Ninety-nine percent of the body’s calcium is stored in the bones and teeth. The RDA is 200 mg for 0–6 months, 260 mg for 7–12 months, 700 mg for 1–3 years, 1,000 mg for 4–8 years, 1,300 mg for 9–18 years, 1,000 mg for 19–50 years, 1,000 mg for 51–70 years (men) and 1,200 mg (women), and 1,200 mg for 71+ years.^[67]

Vegans are advised to eat three servings per day of a high-calcium food, such as fortified soy milk, fortified tofu, almonds or hazelnuts, and to take a supplement as necessary.^[46] Plant sources include Chinese cabbage (bok choi), kale, broccoli and turnip; the bioavailability of calcium in spinach is poor. Whole wheat bread contains calcium; grains contain small amounts.^[67] Because vitamin D is needed for calcium absorption, vegans should make sure they consume enough vitamin D too (see below).^[68]

The EPIC-Oxford study suggested that vegans have an increased risk of bone fractures over meat eaters and vegetarians, likely because of lower dietary calcium intake, but that vegans consuming more than 525 mg/day have a risk of fractures similar to that of other groups.^[69] A 2009 study of bone density found the bone mineral density (BMD) of vegans was 94 percent that of omnivores, but deemed the difference clinically insignificant.^[70] Another study in 2009 by the same researchers examined over 100 vegan post-menopausal women, and found that their diet had no adverse effect on BMD and no alteration in body composition.^[71] Biochemist T. Colin Campbell suggested in The China Study (2005) that osteoporosis is linked to the consumption of animal protein; he wrote that, unlike plant protein, animal protein increases the acidity of blood and tissues, which is then neutralized by calcium pulled from the bones. Campbell wrote that his China-Cornell-Oxford study of nutrition in the 1980s found that, in rural China, “where the animal to plant ratio [for protein] was about 10 percent, the fracture rate is only one-fifth that of the U.S.”^[72]

[edit] Vitamin D

Vitamin D (calciferol) is needed for a number of functions, including calcium absorption, enabling mineralization of bone, and for bone growth. Without it bones can become thin and brittle; together with calcium it offers protection against osteoporosis.^[73] Mangels writes that it may also play a role in protecting against heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, multiple sclerosis and dementia.^[74] Vitamin D is produced in the body when ultraviolet rays from the sun hit the skin; outdoor exposure is needed because UVB radiation does not penetrate glass. It is present in very few foods (mostly salmon, tuna, mackerel, cod liver oil, with small amounts in cheese, egg yolks and beef liver, and in some mushrooms).^[73]

Most vegan diets contain little or no vitamin D, unless the food is fortified (such as fortified soy milk), so supplements may be needed depending on exposure to sunlight.^[73] Vitamin D comes in two forms. Cholecalciferol (D3) is synthesized in the skin after exposure to the sun and may be consumed in the form of animal products; when produced industrially it is taken from lanolin in sheep’s wool. Ergocalciferol (D2) is suitable for vegans; it is mostly human-made and is derived from ergosterol from yeast. Several conflicting studies have suggested that the two forms may or may not be bioequivalent.^[75] According to a 2011 report by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, the differences between D2 and D3 do not affect metabolism, both function as prohormones, and when activated exhibit identical responses in the body.^[76]

Supplements should be used with caution because vitamin D can be toxic, especially in children.^[77] The RDA is 10 mcg for 0–12 months, 15 mcg for 1–70 years, and 20 mcg for 70+.^[73] People with little or no sun exposure may need more, perhaps up to 25 mcg daily.^[78] The tolerable upper intake level (daily) for 9 years to adulthood is 100 mcg, according to the National Institutes of Health; for children it is 25 mcg for 0–6 months, 38 mcg for 7–12 months, 63 mcg for 1–3 years, and 75 mcg for 4–8 years.^[73]

Vegan Outreach writes that light-skinned people can obtain adequate amounts of vitamin D by spending 10–15 minutes in sunlight each day, while dark-skinned people need 20 minutes and the elderly 30 minutes. Otherwise supplements are recommended.^[79] The extent to which sun exposure is sufficient to meet the body’s needs will depend on the time of day, cloud and smog cover, skin melanin content, whether sunscreen is worn, and the season. According to the US National Institutes of Health, most people can obtain and store sufficient vitamin D from sunlight in the spring, summer and fall months, even in the far north. They report that some vitamin D researchers recommend 5–30 minutes of sun exposure without sunscreen between ten in the morning and three o’clock in the afternoon, at least twice a week. They also report that tanning beds emitting two to six per cent UVB radiation will have a similar effect, though using tanning beds may be inadvisable for other reasons.^[73]

[edit] Iron

Vegetarian and vegan diets usually contain as much iron as animal-based diets, or more; vegan diets generally contain more iron than vegetarian ones because dairy products contain very little. There are concerns about the bioavailability of iron from plant foods – assumed by some researchers to be around 5–15 percent compared to 18 percent from a nonvegetarian diet – though body absorption processes may adjust to lower intakes over time by enhancing absorption efficiency.^[80] Iron deficiency anaemia is found as often in nonvegetarians as in vegetarians, though studies have shown vegetarians’ iron stores to be lower.^[81]

The RDA for nonvegetarians is 11 mg for 7–12 months, 7 mg for 1–3 years, 10 mg for 4–8 years, and 8 mg for 9–13 years. The RDA then changes for men and women to 11 mg for 14–18 years (men) and 15 mg for 14–18 years (women), 8 mg for 19–50 years (men) and 18 mg for 19–50 years (women). It return to 8 mg for 51+ (men and women).^[82] Mangels writes that because of the lower bioavailability of iron from plant sources, the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences established a separate RDA for vegetarians and vegans of 14mg for vegetarian men and postmenopausal women, and 33 mg for premenopausal women not using oral contraceptives.^[83] Supplements should be used only with caution after consulting a physician, because iron can accumulate within the body and cause damage to organs; this is particularly true of anyone suffering from hemochromatosis, a relatively common condition that can remain undiagnosed. The tolerable upper intake level (daily), according to the National Institutes of Health, is 40 mg for 7 months to 13 years, and 45 mg for 14+.^[82]

Molasses is a high-iron food source and many vegans take it in spoonfuls. Tom Sanders, a nutritionist at King’s College London, writes that iron absorption can be enhanced by eating a source of vitamin C along with a plant source of iron, and by avoiding coingesting anything that would inhibit absorption, such as tannin in tea.^[84] Sources of vitamin C might be half a cup of cauliflower, or five fluid ounces of orange juice, consumed with a plant source of iron such as soybeans, tofu, tempeh, or black beans.^[85] Some herbal teas and coffee can also inhibit iron absorption, as can spices that contain tannins (turmeric, coriander, chillies, and tamarind).^[86]

[edit] Omega-3 fatty acids

To ensure adequate consumption of omega-3 fatty acids, Vegan Outreach advises vegans to consume 0.5 g of alpha-linolenic acid daily by eating, for example, 1/4 teaspoon of flaxseed oil (also known as linseed oil), and to use oils containing low amounts of omega-6 fatty acids, such as olive, canola, avocado, or peanut oil.^[87]

[edit] Iodine

Iodine supplementation may be necessary for vegans in countries where salt is not typically iodized, where it is iodized at low levels, or where, as in Britain and Ireland, dairy products are relied upon for iodine delivery because of low levels in the soil.^[49] Iodine can be obtained from most vegan multivitamins or from regular consumption of seaweeds, such as kelp.^[88] The RDA is 110 mcg (0–six months), 130 mcg (7–12 months), 90 mcg (1–8 years), 120 mcg (9–13 years), 150 mcg (14+). The RDA for pregnancy and lactation is 220 and 290 mcg respectively.^[89]

[edit] Pregnancy, babies and children

The American Dietetic Association considers well-planned vegan diets “appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence,” but recommends that pregnant vegans supplement for vitamin B12. They may also need to take extra vitamin D, depending on their exposure to sunlight. Doctors may recommend iron supplements for most pregnant women (vegan, vegetarian and non-vegetarian); a doctor or registered dietitian should be consulted.^[90] The British Vegan Society recommends that vegan mothers breastfeed to enhance their child’s immune system and reduce the risk of allergies.^[91] The Swiss Federal Nutrition Commission and the German Society for Nutrition caution against a vegan diet for pregnant women and children.^[47] Researchers have reported cases of vitamin B12 deficiency in lactating vegetarian mothers that were linked to deficiencies and neurological disorders in their children.^[92]

Newspapers have reported several cases of malnutrition in children whose parents said they were vegan. A 12-year-old girl in Scotland who had eaten no meat or dairy since birth was found in 2008 to be suffering from rickets (caused by a lack of vitamin D), and had several fractures.^[93] In 2000 in London, a nine-month-old girl died after her vegan mother fed her a fruitarian diet of raw fruit and nuts.^[94] In 2004 in Atlanta, a six-week-old boy died after his vegan parents appear to have fed him mostly apple juice and soy milk. The prosecution argued that the case was not about veganism, but that the child had simply not been fed. Dr. Amy Lanou, nutrition director of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and an expert witness for the prosecution in that case, argued that vegan diets are “not only safe for babies; they’re healthier than ones based on animal products,” and wrote that “the real problem was that [the child] was not given enough food of any sort.”^[95]

[edit] Vegan toiletries

The British Vegan Society criteria for vegan certification are that the product contain no animal products, and that neither the product nor its ingredients have been tested on animals by the manufacturer, by others on behalf of the manufacturer, or by anyone over whom the manufacturer has control. The society’s website contains a list of certified companies and products.^[96] Beauty Without Cruelty is well-known within the vegan community as a manfacturer of vegan toiletries and cosmetics. Animal Aid in the UK sells vegan toiletries and other products online, as does Honesty Cosmetics.^[97] Kiss My Face and JĀSÖN sell a range of vegan toiletries in the United States, Canada and the UK. Lush is based in a number of countries and sells products online; the company says that 83 percent of its products are vegan. Haut Minerals in Canada make a range of vegan products, including a vegan BB cream.^[98] In South Africa, Esse Organic Skincare is one of several companies certified by Beauty Without Cruelty.^[99] The Choose Cruelty Free website in Australia lists vegan products available there.^[100]

Because animal ingredients are cheap, they are ubiquitous in toiletries. After animals are slaughtered for meat, the leftovers (bones, brains, eyes, spines and other parts) are put through the rendering process, and some of that material, especially the fats, ends up in toiletries and cosmetics. Common animal products in toiletries include tallow in soap; glycerine (derived from collagen), used as a lubricant and humectant in haircare products, moisturizers, shaving foam, soap and toothpaste (there is a plant-based form but the glycerine in most products is probably animal-based); lanolin from sheep’s wool, found in lip balm and moisturizers; and stearic acid, found in face creams, shaving foam and shampoos (as with glycerine, there is a plant-based form, but most mainstream manufacturers use the animal-derived form). Lactic acid, an alpha-hydroxy acid derived from animal milk, is another common ingredient, as is allantoin, derived from the comfrey plant or cow’s urine and found in shampoos, moisturizers and toothpaste. Vegans often refer to Animal Ingredients A to Z (E. G. Smith Collective, 2004, 3rd edition) to check which ingredients might be animal-derived.^[101]

[edit] Dietary, ethical, and environmental perspectives

[edit] Dietary veganism

Dietary vegans eat an entirely plant-based diet—either for health reasons or out of concern for animal welfare—but may continue to use animal products for other purposes. Joanne Stepaniak, author of Being Vegan (2000), argues that to place the qualifier “dietary” before “vegan” dilutes its meaning—like using the term “secular Catholic” for people who want to practise only some aspects of Catholicism.^[103] She writes that people should not call themselves vegan simply because they have embraced the diet: “Practising a vegan diet no more qualifies someone as vegan than eating kosher food qualifies someone as Jewish.”^[104]

The Associated Press reported in January 2011 that the vegan diet is moving from marginal to mainstream in the United States, with vegan books such as Skinny Bitch (2005) becoming best sellers, and several celebrities exploring vegan diets. According to the AP, over half the 1,500 chefs polled in 2011 by the National Restaurant Association included vegan entrees, and chain restaurants are starting to mark vegan items on their menus.^[105]

Oprah Winfrey went on a vegan diet for 21 days in 2008, and in 2011 asked her 378 production staff to do the same for one week.^[106] Former U.S. president Bill Clinton adopted a vegan diet in 2010 after cardiac surgery; his daughter Chelsea was already a vegan. His diet followed the advice of Dean Ornish, Caldwell Esselstyn, and T. Colin Campbell: mostly beans, legumes, vegetables, and fruit, and a daily drink of almond milk, fruit, and protein powder.^[107] In November 2010 Bloomberg Businessweek reported that a growing number of American CEOs were becoming vegan, such as Steve Wynn, Mortimer Zuckerman, and Russell Simmons.^[108]

[edit] Ethical veganism

[edit] Philosophy

Ethical vegans see veganism as a philosophy, lifestyle, and set of principles, not simply a diet. Bob Torres, author of Vegan Freak (2005), writes that ethical veganism consists of “living life consciously as an anti-speciesist.”^[109] Carol J. Adams, the vegan-feminist writer, has used the concept of the absent referent to describe what she calls a psycho-social detachment between the consumer and the consumed. She wrote in The Sexual Politics of Meat (1990), described by The New York Times as a bible of the vegan community:

Behind every meal of meat is an absence: the death of the animal whose place the meat takes. The ‘absent referent’ is that which separates the meat eater from the animal and the animal from the end product. The function of the absent referent is to keep our ‘meat’ separated from any idea that she or he was once an animal, to keep the ‘moo’ or ‘cluck’ or ‘baa’ away from the meat, to keep something from being seen as having been someone.”^[110]

The philosophical debate about the moral basis of veganism reflects a division of viewpoints within animal rights theory between a rights-based or deontological approach and a utilitarian/consequentialist one. Tom Regan, professor emeritus of philosophy at North Carolina State University, is a rights-theorist who argues that animals possess inherent value as “subjects-of-a-life”—because they have beliefs and desires, an emotional life, memory, and the ability to initiate action in pursuit of goals—and must therefore be viewed as ends in themselves, not as means to an end.^[111] He argues that the right of subjects-of-a-life not to be harmed can be overridden only when outweighed by other valid moral principles, but that the reasons cited for eating animal products—pleasure, convenience, and the economic interests of farmers—are not weighty enough to override the animals’ moral rights.^[112]

Gary L. Francione, professor of law at Rutgers School of Law-Newark, is also a rights-theorist. He argues that “all sentient beings should have at least one right—the right not to be treated as property,” and that adopting veganism must be the unequivocal baseline for anyone who sees nonhuman animals as having intrinsic moral value. To fail to do so is like arguing for human rights while continuing to own human slaves, he writes. Francione sees no coherent difference between eating meat and eating dairy or eggs; animals used in the dairy and egg industries live longer, are treated worse, and end up in the same slaughterhouses. He is critical of consequentialist positions that admit of occasional exceptions to vegan principles.^[113]

Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton University, approaches the issue from a utilitarian perspective. He argues that there is no moral or logical justification for refusing to count animal suffering as a consequence when making ethical decisions, and that sentience is “the only defensible boundary of concern for the interests of others.” He does not contend that killing animals is wrong in principle, but argues that from a consequentialist standpoint it should be rejected unless necessary for survival.^[114] He therefore advocates both veganism and improved conditions for farm animals to reduce animal suffering.^[115]

[edit] Debate about the “Paris exemption”

Unlike Francione, Singer is not concerned about what he calls trivial infractions of vegan principles, arguing that personal purity is not the issue. He supports what is known as the “Paris exemption”: if you find yourself in a fine restaurant, allow yourself to eat what you want, and if you’re in a strange place without access to vegan food, going vegetarian instead is acceptable.^[116]

Singer’s support for the “Paris exemption” is part of a debate within the animal rights movement about the extent to which it ought to promote veganism without exception. The positions are reflected by the divide between the animal protectionist side (represented by Singer and PETA), according to which incremental change can achieve real reform, and the abolitionist side (represented by Regan and Francione), according to which apparent welfare reform serves only to persuade the public that animal use is morally unproblematic. Singer said in 2006 that the movement should be more tolerant of people who choose to use animal products if they are careful about making sure the animals had a decent life.^[117] Bruce Friedrich of PETA argued in the same year that a strict adherence to veganism can become an obsession. Veganism should not be dogma, he wrote:

[W]e all know people whose reason for not going vegan is that they “can’t” give up cheese or ice cream. … Instead of encouraging them to stop eating all other animal products besides cheese or ice cream, we preach to them about the oppression of dairy cows. Then we go on about how we don’t eat sugar or a veggie burger because of the bun, even though a tiny bit of butter flavor in a bun contributes to significantly less suffering than any non-organic fruit or vegetable does or a plastic bottle or about 100 other things that most of us use. Our fanatical obsession with ingredients not only obscures the animals’ suffering—which was virtually non-existent for that tiny modicum of ingredient—but also nearly guarantees that those around us are not going to make any change at all. So, we’ve preserved our personal purity, but we’ve hurt animals—and that’s anti-vegan.^[118]

Francione writes that this position is similar to arguing that, because human rights abuses can never be eliminated entirely, we should not safeguard human rights in situations we control. By failing to ask a server whether something contains animal products, in the interest of avoiding a fuss, he argues that we reinforce the idea that the moral rights of animals are a matter of convenience. He concludes from this that the PETA/Singer position fails even on its own consequentialist terms.^[119]

[edit] Environmental veganism

[edit] Resources and the environment

People who adopt veganism for environmental reasons often do so because it consumes fewer resources and causes less environmental damage. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization released a report, Livestock’s Long Shadow, in November 2006 linking animal agriculture to environmental damage. The report concluded that the livestock sector (primarily cows, chickens, and pigs) was one of two or three most significant contributors to the planet’s most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global. According to the report, it is responsible for at least 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, as measured in CO₂ equivalents. Livestock sources (including enteric fermentation and manure) account for about 3.1 percent of US anthropogenic GHG emissions expressed as carbon dioxide equivalents.^[121] In June 2010 a report from the United Nations Environment Programme declared that a global shift towards a vegan diet was needed to save the world from hunger, fuel shortages and climate change.^[122]

Greenhouse gas emissions are not limited to animal husbandry. Plant-based sources such as rice cultivation cause similar problems.^[123] A 2007 Cornell University study that simulated land use for various diets for New York State concluded that, although vegetarian diets used the smallest amount of land per capita, a low-fat diet that included some meat and dairy—less than 2 oz (57 g) of meat/eggs per day, significantly less than that consumed by the average American – could support slightly more people on the same available land than could be fed on some high-fat vegetarian diets, since animal food crops are grown on lower-quality land than are crops for human consumption.^[124]

[edit] Debate over animals killed in crop harvesting

Steven Davis, a professor of animal science at Oregon State University, asked Tom Regan in 2001 what the difference was between killing a field mouse while cultivating crops, and killing a pig for the same reason, namely so that human beings could eat. Reagan responded with a utilitarian position that we must choose foods that, overall, cause the least harm to the least number of animals. Davis argued that a plant-based diet would kill more than one containing beef from grass-fed ruminants.^[125] Andy Lamey, a philosopher at Monash University, calls this the “burger vegan” argument, namely that if human beings were to eat cows raised on a diet of grass, not grain, fewer animals would be killed overall, because the number of mice, rats, raccoons, and other animals killed during the harvest outnumbers the deaths involved in raising cows for beef.^[126]

Based on a study finding that wood mouse populations dropped from 25 per hectare to five per hectare after harvest (attributed to migration and mortality), Davis estimated that 10 animals per hectare are killed from crop farming every year. He argued that if all 120,000,000 acres (490,000 km²) of cropland in the continental United States were used for a vegan diet, approximately 500 million animals would die each year. But if half the cropland were converted to ruminant pastureland, he estimated that only 900,000 animals would die each year – assuming people switched from the eight billion poultry killed each year to beef, lamb, and dairy products. Therefore, he argued, according to the least-harm principle we should convert to a ruminant-based diet rather than a plant-based one.^[125]

Davis’s analysis was criticized in 2003 by Gaverick Matheny in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. Matheny argued that Davis had miscalculated the number of animal deaths based on land area rather than per consumer, and had confined his analysis to grass-fed ruminants, rather than factory-farmed animals. He wrote that Davis had equated lives with lives worth living, focusing on numbers rather than including in his calculations the harm done to animals raised for food, which can involve pain from branding, dehorning and castration, a life of confinement, transport without food or water to a slaughterhouse, and a frightening death. Matheny argued that vegetarianism “likely allows a greater number of animals with lives worth living to exist.”^[127] Lamey argued that Davis’s calculation of harvest-related deaths was flawed because based on two studies; one included deaths from predation, which is “morally unobjectionable” for Regan because not related to human action, and the other examined production of a nonstandard crop (sugarcane), which Lamey wrote has little relevance to deaths associated with typical crop production.^[128] Lamey also maintained, like Matheny, that accidental deaths are ethically distinct from intentional ones, and that if Davis includes accidental animal deaths in the moral cost of veganism, he must also include the accidental human deaths caused by his proposed diet, which, Lamey wrote, leaves “Davis, rather than Regan, with the less plausible argument.”^[129]

[edit] See also

Find more about Veganism at Wikipedia’s sister projects
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[edit] Notes

[edit] Further reading

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