Eating enough vegetables and fruits promotes good health; however, following a fad raw vegan diet can pose a risk
Vegetarian and vegan diets have become more popular, along with the trendy raw vegan diet followed by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Demi Moore. While plant-based diets can benefit your health, the raw vegan diet can pose a risk.
On a raw vegan diet, people eat only raw plant foods that can be consumed without cooking. Some people don’t eat foods that have been highly processed.
Proponents of the raw vegan diet believe that cooking will cause food to lose important nutrients and enzymes. By consuming raw plant foods, they believe they can have more energy, prevent disease, and will improve their health.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), consumption of fruits and vegetables can support immune function and prevent chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some types of cancer.
Eating vegetables is very healthy, but following raw vegan diets for too long can cause more harm than good, according to Laura Moreno, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition, Food and Health Sciences, University of Teesside via The Conversation.
Although some vegetables can lose nutrients during cooking, others have a higher nutrient content when cooked. “Cooking breaks down cell walls, which allows nutrients to be released and absorbed more easily by the body,” explains Moreno.
In addition to allowing for greater nutrient absorption, cooked vegetables can also provide the body with more antioxidants.
Important nutrients can be lost on a raw vegan diet
Raw vegan diets can lack important vitamins and minerals, including vitamins B12 and D, selenium, zinc, iron, and two types of omega-3 fatty acids. According to Moreno, this is because many of the foods that contain high levels of these vitamins and minerals come from animals, such as meat and eggs.
Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that helps keep neurons and blood cells healthy. The deficiency of this vitamin can cause different symptoms, from anemia to depression and damage to the nervous system.
Can lead to missed menstrual periods
A raw vegan diet that has not been well planned can be very low in calories. A very low-calorie diet may not meet the body’s nutritional needs.
Moreno points out that research has found that 30% of women under 45 who followed a raw food diet for more than three years had partial or complete amenorrhea (absence of menstruation).
Amenorrhea can also lead to other problems such as infertility, reduced bone mineral density, and osteoporosis.