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Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

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41–50 of 231 posts

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#41

I'd say the first big thing to highlight is that correlation is not causation - you wouldn't want someone to take this study as proof that eating meat makes you less depressed. I would imagine that vegans (in particular vegans who chose their diet on ethical grounds) are overall more concerned about the state of the world around them - or are at least subjected to more of an echo-chamber effect from their peers - whi…

I would reverse the causation. People become vegans because they are highly empathetic and emotionally driven - this personality type also is more susceptible to anxiety and depression

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#43
post #40
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is easy to lack some vitamins or nutrients while going on a vegan diet. Some of them have an impact on mental health. Unless you are very comited into calculating your intake in every mineral and vitamin, I would recommend to take some supplements if you are going vegan (which is something I support but did not totally go through yet)

Many (most?) meat eaters are deficient in nutrients their body needs. The USDA found that only about 3% of people get their daily recommended amount of fiber. Eating meat doesn’t mean you get what your body needs

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Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#44
post #40
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is easy to lack some vitamins or nutrients while going on a vegan diet. Some of them have an impact on mental health. Unless you are very comited into calculating your intake in every mineral and vitamin, I would recommend to take some supplements if you are going vegan (which is something I support but did not totally go through yet)

Many (most?) meat eaters are deficient in nutrients their body needs. The USDA found that only about 3% of people get their daily recommended amount of fiber. Eating meat doesn’t mean you get what your body needs

what diseases are linked to lack of fiber? you have a generous definition of "need".

edit: I'm not disputing the benefits of fiber for the average person, but the implied necessity of fiber is just false. Fact: A zero fiber diet is not guaranteed cause disease, whereas essential nutrient deficiencies will cause disease.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#45

I'd say the first big thing to highlight is that correlation is not causation - you wouldn't want someone to take this study as proof that eating meat makes you less depressed. I would imagine that vegans (in particular vegans who chose their diet on ethical grounds) are overall more concerned about the state of the world around them - or are at least subjected to more of an echo-chamber effect from their peers - whi…

On the other hand, correlation is a consequence of causation. Pragmatically one can reach a plausible conclusion, despite a lack of positive verification. In my own experience, I can conclusively report that a high quality steak definitely improves my mood. Causation of emotional states is bafflingly complex, so it could be some hidden cause, but to my senses it's just that eating delicious meat feels good.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#46

How much faith do you have in nutrition science? How sure are you that they know all the vitamins, fatty acids, amino acids, etc that are important to your health? We know for sure that there are vitamins that it is pretty much impossible to get with a normal vegan diet (without either taking a supplement or consciously consuming certain foods to supplement) such as vitamin B-12. Other minerals such as iron are more…

I'd suggest going over https://veganspeak.info/.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#47

I'd say the first big thing to highlight is that correlation is not causation - you wouldn't want someone to take this study as proof that eating meat makes you less depressed. I would imagine that vegans (in particular vegans who chose their diet on ethical grounds) are overall more concerned about the state of the world around them - or are at least subjected to more of an echo-chamber effect from their peers - whi…

Good point. I wish people would apply your insight to housing. Denser housing leads to HIGHER prices, not lower prices. Look at NYC or Hong Kong.

Does it? Or does high population density lead to both high density housing and higher prices? I can make a very good casual link. Higher population density means more competition for housing. Meaning they need to build more houses and we can follow traditional supply and demand curves to obtain high prices.

I don't know if this is true or not, but it is definitely plausible. I'm getting at you because you're congratulating the parent for not linking correlation and causation and then you yourself are linking correlation and causation in the same breath.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#48

clearly mentions "Funded by Beef Association". Sample size is 91.8% meat eaters. Clearly Biased. Be smart #GoVegan #MeatCausesCancer 1. World Health Organization - https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/cancer-carcinogenic... 2. https://www.cancercouncil.com.au/1in3cancers/lifestyle-choic...

What did you mean "Clearly Biased"? Because the sample is unbalanced?

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#49

I'd say the first big thing to highlight is that correlation is not causation - you wouldn't want someone to take this study as proof that eating meat makes you less depressed. I would imagine that vegans (in particular vegans who chose their diet on ethical grounds) are overall more concerned about the state of the world around them - or are at least subjected to more of an echo-chamber effect from their peers - whi…

Good point. I wish people would apply your insight to housing. Denser housing leads to HIGHER prices, not lower prices. Look at NYC or Hong Kong.

Quite, like how wet pavements cause rain.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#50
post #27

I'd say the first big thing to highlight is that correlation is not causation - you wouldn't want someone to take this study as proof that eating meat makes you less depressed. I would imagine that vegans (in particular vegans who chose their diet on ethical grounds) are overall more concerned about the state of the world around them - or are at least subjected to more of an echo-chamber effect from their peers - whi…

Heh, without reading the article, I thought "correlation isn't causation" and clicked into the comments to see if anyone else who read the article thought so, too. And I see you at the top of the comments. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

I did exactly the same and went to leave a comment saying as much and saw this.

I hoped that the article itself would make at least some attempt to deal with the issue, but it does not. It’s a meta study (meta meat?) that includes a set of studies. Those studies do not randomly assign people to eat/abstain from meat. It’s as bad as it sounds. Further, they use their poor study to criticise other, poorer, studies.

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