Medical Conditions

Jambo221

I have friends who are vegetarian, not out of choice, but for health reasons. I was just curious, are there many medical conditions which would prohibit someone from eating meat? I can't seem to find any on google :P

sweet-rasmus

I presume a vegetarian diet has a much lower fat intake?! I don't know myself, I'm not a dietician.

--LOS--

Jambo221 wrote: »

I have friends who are vegetarian, not out of choice, but for health reasons. I was just curious, are there many medical conditions which would prohibit someone from eating meat? I can't seem to find any on google :P

I would see a vegetarian diet as being more healthy as you eat less processed foods, less chemical-laced foods and youre not introducing animal diseases into your system. Im not sure about any conditions prohibiting you from eating meat? I would see it more as prevention of ill-health rather than a cure.

Whispered

There is also a sickness nicknamed either the celts disease or the celtic disease where your body and liver store too much iron. This can lead to liver failure. So cutting out red meat at the very least would be beneficial to those people.

(apparently called that because of a high number of people of Irish and scottish descent who have it without realising. It can lead to liver failure and likely contributed to the idea that all Irish are drunkards when 30something year olds were dying of liver failure)

EDIT: more info http://www.americanhs.org/celtic.htm

very interesting - apparently between 11 - 25% of Irish people have this gene mutation. Apparently due to the famine.

bythewoods

There are plenty of health benefits to being a vegetarian, although most of them are preventative as far as I can tell. People may be advised to cut out meat from their diet as a further step in the right direction for certain illnesses, as opposed to it being a "cure" if you will.

According to papers I've glanced at, vegetarianism can be a good intervention for everything from Kidney Failure, Type 2 Diabetes, lowering cholesterol, lowering Blood Pressure, reducing the risk heart disease, certain types of cancer (like bowel cancer, which can be associated with, say, heavy consumption of cured meats... also veggies tend to get more fibre in their diet which also decreases the risk!) and loads more...

It's hard to actually say if vegetarianism itself is a more healthy lifestyle choice OVERALL or if it just tends to be health conscious people who choose vegetarianism I guess! I can see why not eating red meat is preferable, but from a health perspective, there are loads of benefits to, say, eating fish.
I've been advised to eat meat again (after 6 years) as my blood pressure is incredibly low and despite taking supplements and having what I would consider to be a balanced diet (most of the time...)my iron levels are also quite low.

Whispered wrote: »

There is also a sickness nicknamed either the celts disease or the celtic disease where your body and liver store too much iron. This can lead to liver failure. So cutting out red meat at the very least would be beneficial to those people.

Haemochromatosis!

Breezer

bythewoods wrote: »

Haemochromatosis!

Hereditary haemochromatosis Not eating meat ain't gonna cut it for that, though I imagine it would help.

OP, I've never come across a medical condition where eating meat would be specifically contraindicated. Though as others have pointed out, if done right it's generally healthier than the typical Western diet.

Mellor

--LOS-- wrote: »

I would see a vegetarian diet as being more healthy as you eat less processed foods, less chemical-laced foods and youre not introducing animal diseases into your system. Im not sure about any conditions prohibiting you from eating meat? I would see it more as prevention of ill-health rather than a cure.

The overwhelming majority of processed foods are vegetarian, ditto for chemical laced foods.

Eating or not eating meat isn't really related in any way.

babouska

I have cousins that have PKU which means they can't process protein and are borderline veggie, they do sometimes indulge in the odd sausage or burger, and normally after beer! But others I know with this iiiiles are strict vegetarian.

Breezer

babouska wrote: »

I have cousins that have PKU which means they can't process protein and are borderline veggie, they do sometimes indulge in the odd sausage or burger, and normally after beer! But others I know with this iiiiles are strict vegetarian.

You got me. Completely forgot about PKU

Whispered

Breezer wrote: »

Hereditary haemochromatosis Not eating meat ain't gonna cut it for that, though I imagine it would help.

No but not eating meat would make it easier to keep your iron levels down.

Breezer

Whispered wrote: »

No but not eating meat would make it easier to keep your iron levels down.

That's what I was getting at