Masai Use of Herbs

When a carnivorous diet is not

I have seen some bloggers cite the Masai as an example of a people who consume a diet high in saturated fats from animal products, eating no plant foods, yet have a very low average serum cholesterol (approximately 150 mg/dl) and little or no cardiovascular diseases.

Some have suggest that the Masai provide “proof” that humans don’t need plant products to maintain good health.

Do the Masai “prove” that humans thrive on a plant-free diet? No, not because they don’t thrive, but because they don’t eat a plant-free diet.

I recently read Wild Health, by biologist Cindy Engel, Ph.D. , who specializes in studying the health maintenance behavior of wild animals. Wild Health presents a lot of evidence indicating that wild animals deliberately engage in “non-nutritive ingestive behaviors” that appear to have medicinal functions. In other words, they go out of their way to consume items that have little or no nutritive value (clay, various herbs). I plan to write more about this in the future.

In the last chapter of this book, Engel discusses paleo diet and the deficiencies of agricultural diets. She notes that paleo people had higher intakes of phytonutrients even if they ate a meat-based diet:

“Agriculturalists select and domesticate plants for ease of cultivation and palatability. Over time they have chosen plants with fewer bitter-tasting or astringent secondary compounds, and these plants are inevitably more susceptible to disease. Modern crops, therefore, need more chemical intervention than wild plants, which retain their own defensive pesticides. Consuming modern crops is consequently very different from consuming wild plants, and when we eat the meat of domesticated animals fed on these domesticated plants, our total intake of beneficial plant compounds is far lower than if we had eaten wild game.”

Many people tell me they dislike the “gamey” flavor of wild game or, as Joel Salatin calls it, “salad bar” beef from 100% grass-fed animals. That “gamey” flavor disappears when we feed animals corn (witness corn-fed bison), because that flavor comes from the fat-soluble secondary plant compounds present in the green leafy vegetation eaten by wild or grass-fed animals. So a real hunter-gatherer would get a daily dose of “greens” via the phytonutrients in his meat, even if s/he didn’t eat a lick of leaves directly. (This is one reason I recommend regular consumption of green leafy vegetables, unless you eat only grass-fed meat and do so every day.)

Engel refers to the some papers by Timothy Johns, a nutritionist who has studied the use of herbs in the Masai diet. I got a hold of a couple of papers that Johns wrote:

Phytochemicals as Evolutionary Mediators of Human Nutritional Physiology, Int J Pharmacognosy 1996, 34:5:327-34.

The Chemical Ecology of Human Ingestive Behaviors, Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 1999, 28:27-50.


In these papers, Johns presents the following hypothesis:

1. Human evolution involved gains in brain and body size; increased ingestion of long-chain (omega-3) polyunsaturated fats, cholesterol, and total fat and calories; heating of fatty food; and greater longevity, all of which increase cumulative oxidative stress.
2. Meanwhile, increased reliance on meat and reduced reliance on plants decreased ingestion of exogenous antioxidants.
3. These two trends led to selection for “nonnutritive ingestive behaviors” as a compensatory mechanism for increasing intake of antioxidants, including the development of herbal medicine. In other words, they favored the development of the use of herbs as both dietary components and medicines, to compensate for the loss of plant secondary compounds due to the reduced direct reliance on plant food.

To illustrate, Johns points to the Masai (Maasai). According to Johns, Maasai usually consume meat with or as soup, using 28 different herbs to make the soups, using the herbs in levels that make the food bitter. They also add a dozen plants to milk to prepare a tea-like beverage called orkiowa. Such use of herbs occurs universally.

Screening of 12 of the Masai food additives found that 82 percent contained potentially hypocholesterolemic saponins and/or phenolics. The Masai, when questioned, state that a person would not maintain health without using these additives. They recognize the most widely used of additives, okiloriti (Acacia nilotica) as a digestive aid, flavoring, and nervous system stimulant (in high doses). The Masai’s appreciation of the digestive effects of these herbs likely relates to their ability to stimulate bile flow to emulsify fats in their high fat diet, lack of which would lead to diarrhea.

Plug “Acacia nilotica” into a PubMed search window, and you will find that this herb has strong free radical scavenging compounds, and displays anticancer, antimutagenic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antifungal, anthelminthic (kills worms), antidiarrheal, and antiplatelet-aggregation activities.

Johns also points out that chewing of plant gums, resins, and latexes occurs universally. The Maasai use 25 different gums, and adults chew gum an average of 3 days per week, with a third of the people chewing daily. Of gums and resins used by the Masai, Commiphora africana (A.Rich) Engl., of the genus that includes myrrh, is the most important. Some research indicates that phytosterols in Commiphora mukul Hook. ex Stock have

hypocholesterolemic effects

hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic effects

and

thyroid-stimulating effects.

It may also inhibit oxidation of LDL.


So, to eat like the Masai you have to use the full complement of herbal additives that the Masai use. They do not eat a purely carnivorous diet composed only of meat and milk, and the herbs that they consume may actually be essential to the success of their dietary regime from both an ecological adaptation standpoint and a health standpoint. If you eat milk and meat but avoid bitter herbs, you can't expect that you will have the same lipid profile or good health as the Masai, because you aren't eating like the Masai.

Since it appears that wild humans naturally and continuously ingested many plant secondary compounds, both directly from plants and herbs, and indirectly from wild game meat, and did so for millions of years, it seems very likely that human physiology adapted in specific ways to these components and now requires them to maintain normal functions. I find the hypothesis put forward by Johns fairly compelling as an explanation for the universal human use of herbs as food additives and medicines.

Breath of Life; Understanding our Respiratory System

This article is part of the Anatomy and Physiology section of www.HerbMentor.com.

When we draw in a breath, we share that air with all other human beings and all other life on our planet. Through respiration, our oneness with trees becomes a manifest fact, and our communion with the oceans has immediate impact. The reality of the planetary whole reveals itself, with implication for all human life, through the circulation of the gases and energy of the atmosphere. This vision underlies holistic healing as much as it does ecology. The anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system is a complex and beautiful embodiment of integration and wholeness.

-David Hoffman, Herbalist

The respiratory system is divided into the upper and lower respiratory tracts.

The upper respiratory system consists of the organs located above the thorax.

This includes:

Nose

Pharynx

Larynx

Part of the trachea

The lower respiratory system consists of:

Bronchial tree

Lungs

The respiratory system plays a crucial role in delivering oxygen to the cells of our body. The cells of the body require a continuous supply of oxygen; without this oxygen, we would die within minutes.

In this article we will explore the different organs of the respiratory system to better understand the physiological function of breathing. At the end of this article we will explore different pathologies or problems within the respiratory system by reading articles written by herbalists.

Nose

Bones and cartilage support the protruding portion of the nose, which is made up of connective tissue and skin. The nostrils, which form two external passages, are lined with hairs that help to filter out large particles in the air. The nostrils open up into the nasal cavity. The nasal cavity is separated from the mouth by the hard and soft palettes. It is lined with ciliated columnar epithelium and cells within these structures produce mucous that line the upper respiratory system. This mucous is an important defense mechanism of our immune system as it traps airborne particles, including pathogens. The cilia move the mucous with the entrapped particles to the throat where it is swallowed. Gastric juices from the stomach then kill most micro-organisms.

The mucous in the nasal cavity also moistens air as it moves through the nasal passageways. The mucous membranes are blood rich and serve to warm the inhaled air. In this way, air traveling through the nasal passageways are filtered, warmed, and moistened before heading to the lungs, which is why it is better to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Several bones that surround the nasal cavity contain air-filled hollow areas called paranasal sinuses. Sinuses in this area serve to lighten the weight of the skull and increase voice resonance. They are also lined with the same ciliated mucous membranes found within the nasal cavity.

Pharynx

More commonly called the throat, the pharynx is a short tube that extends from behind the nasal cavity to open to the larynx and esophagus. It is a muscular wall that is lined with mucosal tissue. The tonsils are located within the pharynx and we will be discussing those in greater detail when we look at the immune system.

Larynx

The larynx consists of cartilaginous tissues. It connects the pharynx to the trachea and the esophagus. The larynx houses the vocal chords whose vibrations produce the sounds of speech.

When swallowing, muscles lift the larynx, which causes the epiglottis to fold over and cover the opening to the trachea, which leads to the lungs. If food, water, or other particles somehow breach the trachea, a strong coughing reflex is produced that will expel the materials.

Trachea

The trachea, commonly known as the windpipe, is a tube that connects the larynx to the bronchial tree and allows for inhaled air to proceed to the lungs and exhaled air to leave the body. Cartilaginous rings support the trachea and hold it open despite the changing air pressure within this tube.

The trachea is lined with the same ciliated mucous membranes that we find in the rest of the respiratory system. It also traps airborne particles and then transports the mucous upwards towards the pharynx where it is swallowed and proceeds to go down the esophagus.

The trachea splits into two sections at about the mid-chest to form the left and right primary bronchi.

Bronchial Tree

The term bronchial tree refers to a series of structures within the lungs that actually resembles a tree! I find this incredibly fascinating. Trees transform CO2 into oxygen. Humans transform oxygen to CO2, and the human organ for performing this process looks like a tree!

The left and right primary bronchi further branch to form smaller secondary bronchi. There is a secondary bronchi in each lobe of the lung. These secondary bronchi continue to branch into smaller and smaller tubules.

All of these airways continue to be lined with ciliated mucous membranes that also trap and then remove airborne particles.

As these branches become tubules they are called bronchioles. Structures the size of bronchioles are not lined with the same mucosal tissue as the rest of the respiratory system. As a result, foreign particles that reach these sections are harder to remove. If the mucosal tissue that contains the ciliated mucous membranes becomes damaged, say from cigarette smoke, more particles can reach these vulnerable areas and create more bronchial infections.

Bronchioles continue to branch until finally leading to microscopic alveolar ducts that then terminate in alveoli. Back to our image of a tree, the primary bronchi is similar to the trunk of a tree, the secondary bronchi are the main branches, which then become smaller branches and, finally, leaves.

There are 300 million alveoli in each lung. They resemble a grape cluster on a vine and have a surface area of 75 square meters. A capillary network surrounds each alveolus.

The alveoli perform the magical task of infusing blood with oxygen, while removing excess CO2 from the body. This chemical process takes place between the alveoli membranes and the rich capillary network that surround them.

Lungs

The lungs are two large organs that fill much of the rib cage. The right lung is slightly larger than the left and is made up of three lobes. The smaller left lung is made up of two lobes. A secondary bronchus, blood and lymphatic vessels, and nerves support each lobe of the lungs. The heart and the mediasteinum separate the two lungs from each other.

The lungs are primarily made up of connective tissue, which gives them their soft and spongy texture. They also consist of blood, lymphatic tissue, air passageways, and alveoli.

Surrounding each lung is the serous membrane. It serves to protect and enclose each lung. The visceral pleura is the next layer of tissue around the lungs. The parietal pleura encases the inner wall of the rib cage. The space between the parietal pleura and the visceral pleura is referred to as the pleural cavity.

Breathing

Here’s an overview of the breathing process.

Air is inhaled through the nose and or mouth and travels down a series of tubes including the pharynx and trachea until it reaches the bronchi and finally down to the microscopic aveloi. At the membrane surface of each alveolus, a gas exchange between oxygen and CO2 takes place. The oxygen enters in the blood stream and binds to red blood cells while the CO2 is expelled back out of the respiratory system and exhaled into the atmosphere.

Inspiration – The act of inhalation

We breathe about 5,000 times a day or about 15 to 20 times each minute. With each inhalation the muscles of respiration contract. When the diaphragm, a flat skeletal muscle tissue at the base of the rib cage, contracts it flattens and creates more space in the thoracic cavity for the lungs to expand. Concurrently, the external intercostals elevate the ribs and sternum, creating even more space for lung expansion.

This expansion of the lungs increases the volume of internal air passageways, which then means that the air pressure inside the lungs decreases below the air pressure of the air outside the body. This change in air pressure causes the atmospheric air to rush into the lungs, because gas likes to move from regions of high pressure to low pressure.

Expiration – The act of exhaling

With each exhalation the diaphragm and external intercostal muscles relax. This causes the elastic fibers in lung tissue to recoil to their original volume. Air pressure is now reversed and so the air rushes out. During times of rapid breathing such as exercising, exhaling is further facilitated by the intercostals muscles and the abdominal muscles contracting.

“Chronic lung conditions compromise quality of life for millions of people around the world”

Dr. Michael Alberts

Support the health of your respiratory system

There are many things we can do to help encourage the health of our respiratory system and prevent any problems later on down the road. I’ve listed some important elements below and you may also find this comprehensive article informative as well.

Food and herbs

Many studies show that what we eat has a direct correlation with our respiration health. Diets high in fish (omega 3s) and anti-oxidants from fruits and vegetables seem to have the most positive benefits. ^{1, 2}

Vitamin D

Recent studies have shown that vitamin D has a huge impact on the health of our respiratory system. ¹ In one study the difference in people with normal levels of Vitamin D and low levels of Vitamin D was essentially the same difference as in people who do not smoke and those who do in terms of mortality rates.

Breathing Exercises

All around the world ancient traditions have supported the breath. Although the Anatomy and Physiology series on HerbMentor.com has been entirely focused on a Western view of the body systems, I would like to briefly go into how the Chinese view the Lungs. According to acupuncturist Suzanne E. Sky,

“Chinese medicine states the Lungs receive Pure Qi from the heavens. The air we breathe is an essential ingredient that sparks the formation of Qi, the life force that flows through our body. Qi flows throughout specific pathways in our bodies to nourish and vitalize all our organs, tissues, and systems and to energize biochemical and electrical activity in our body. Thus, the Lungs are the root of the body’s Qi and are said to dominate the Qi. The Lungs rule physical strength and stamina and are also called the Master of Breaths.”

Breathing exercises can be employed to support our health, reduce anxiety, promote meditation and mindfulness, and increase overall vitality.

Pranayama of Yoga, A fabulous overview of the importance of breath in the yogic tradition

Breathing Exercises, by Dennis Lewis (an expert on breathing)

Breathing article by herbalist Chanchal Cabrera

Another short but important article on Breathing by herbalist Todd Caldecott

Breathing Clean Air

The air we breathe directly influences the health of our respiratory system. Environmental pollution such as car exhaust and other toxins can weaken our lungs over time. Harsh household cleaners can do the same. Dust and smoke from a wood fire can taint even the most pristine country locations. And not only does smoking directly inhibit our lungs’ ability to work well, but second hand smoke (breathing smoke from someone else’s cigarette) and third hand smoke (breathing fumes on someone’s clothes, car, house) can also impact the health of the lungs. ¹

^{Reducing stress, including excessive grief}

Stress has a direct effect on our overall health and the respiratory system is no exception. Here is an article outlining Stress and Respiratory Health.

In Chinese medicine the lungs are where we hold our grief. If that sounds strange to you, think of how you feel when you are really sad and you may be reminded of that crushing or overwhelming feeling right in your lungs. Getting the support we need during times of grieving can go a long ways in supporting lung health.

Avoiding excessive mucous in the body

Mucosal membranes line the respiratory system and the digestive tract. These membranes and the mucous they produce are an integral part of our vitally functioning body. However, excess mucous in the body can create problems. Eating large amounts of cold foods (raw fruits, veggies, dairy), especially in the cold months can create this. For many people cold dairy food such as yogurt, milk, and cheese can create an overabundance of mucous. Fresh-from-the-farm milk, drank warm with warming herbs such as cinnamon, may reduce this effect.

Lung tonics

There are many herbs that affect the respiratory system. Some are even tonifying or strengthening to the respiratory system. A classic Chinese combination includes Astragalus root and Codonopsis root. In Western Herbalism, Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) and Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) are often used to strengthen respiratory health. In this pdf, 7song has listed a comprehensive materia medica for the respiratory system.

Common complaints within the respiratory system

Asthma

A pdf from David Winston outlining the eclectic protocols for asthma

David Hoffman gives an overview of asthma here

An overview of childhood asthma by Janet Zand

Bronchitis

David Hoffman has two articles delineating the difference between acute and chronic bronchitis.

Jill Stansbury discusses Bronchitis Recipes and Formulae

Sinusitis

jim mcdonald has written the ultimate view on surviving sinusitis here

An article by David Hoffman looking at sinusitis

Upper Respiratory Infections and Coughs

The Herbal Remedies for Cold and the Flu Ebook extensively covers coughs

Aviva Romm gives a comprehensive overview of Upper Respiratory Infections in Children (pdf)

An article on herbal expectorants by Shane Foley

Henriette looks at Herbs for Coughs and then at Lung Grunges and what you can do to strengthen your lungs.

Botanical Approaches to Winter Respiratory Complaints

by Jill Stansbury, N.D.

Tonics for the Upper Respiratory System by David Hoffman

Emphysema

An article by David Hoffman

Pertussis

An article by David Hoffman

Allergies

Henriette gives an overview of considerations

Guido Mase’ looks at asthma and allergies

David Hoffman explores Hay Fever

Laryngitis

An article by David Hoffman

Stop smoking cigarettes

A formula by David Winston

Neti Pot

Neti pots can be an important aid in maintaining respiratory health. Here is a pdf from Todd Caldecott explaining how to use a neti pot and other ayurvedic means to support the respiratory system.

Works Consulted

The anatomy of physiology of this article was extracted mainly from The Principles of Anatomy &f Physiology, Tortora, Grabowski. I also used Anatomy and Physiology by Stanley E. Gunstream 4^th ed.

The second half of this article giving us an herbal perspective on the nervous system would not have been possible without jim mcdonald’s Article Index. Thanks a thousand times to jim for putting this together.

Paleo Diet Interview Opportunity

I just received a call from a reporter with local (Phoenix, AZ) ABC-15, who wants to interview people eating paleo/primal diets, particularly interested in hearing about weight loss and health improvements.

I want to arrange the interview for Monday the 18th at my office. If you can't make that, she will come to you.

I welcome anyone following this blog to participate.

Creating your own Herb Press

My Meals 1/10/10

Breakfast:

1 large bowl osso buco chili (about ¼ of recipe below)
2 soft boiled omega-3 eggs (dropped in chili)
½ avocado
~1 ½ cups broccoli, steamed, seasoned with olive oil, pepper, and a touch of salt
1 sweet potato, no skin, topped with about 1 T pastured butter

Dinner:

Sirloin steak, about ¾ pound
Salad of romaine, red radish (roots and greens), red onion, and raisins, dressed with white pepper, very little salt, lemon juice, and olive oil
1 orange
1 apple with roasted walnut butter


Osso buco chili

1 T beef tallow
1.25 lb osso buco
1 lb grass fed ground beef
1 can Ro Tel* (tomatoes and green chilis)
1 small jalapeno pepper
~1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped finely
½ white onion, minced
4 cloves garlic minced
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin powder
1 t Hungarian paprika
1 heaping t Mexican oregano
1 t black pepper
2 cups bone broth

Save until end of cooking:

¼ cup lemon juice
3 T arrowroot powder

Heat the tallow in a heavy dutch oven. Brown the osso buco in the tallow. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the lemon juice and arrowroot. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to the lowest temperature (no boil), and, if using a gas stove, put the pot on a flame tamer. Cover tightly and simmer 6 to 8 hours or overnight. If done right, you will find it soupy with the osso buco meat fallen off the bone. One hour before serving, bring back to a boil, remove the bone, clean marrow from bone and add to chili, break up the meat, and cook down for 45 minutes or so. Stir the arrowroot powder into the lemon juice until dissolved, then pour the lemon juice-arrowroot mixture into the chili, stirring as it thickens.

* I would normally use canned tomatoes and fresh chilis, but I saw a recipe with Ro Tel and decided to try it.

The Old Way: Plant foods in the !Kung Diet

Some advocates of ancestral diets promote very low or no intake of plant produce, preferring to model their diet plans after some circumpolar tribes like Inuit (Eskimos) and Chukchi who eat almost nothing but meat.

I disagree with this approach because I don't think these circumpolar tribal diets represent the norm for humans in evolutionary time or among recorded hunter-gatherers. Humans originated in Africa, in an equatorial climate, where the environment provided plenty of edible plant products along with wild game.

When we look at observed equatorial hunter-gatherer diets, we find that the people get a significant portion of their energy (calories) from plant foods, particularly roots and tubers.

In the film Journey of Man (PBS, 2003), Dr. Spencer Wells, Ph.D. presents the story of his discovery of the genetic evidence that all modern humans have descended from a group of people who were ancestors of the people of the present-day Ju/wasi (aka !Kung or Bushman) tribe. Given this, the diet of contemporary Ju/wasi can probably give us important insight into ancient human diets.

In The Old Way (Sarah Crichton Books, 2006), Elizabeth Marshall Thomas describes the life of the Ju/wasi from her first-hand experience living with them. Regarding their diet, Thomas reports:

"The meat of big game, large harvests of nuts, and large, delicious windfalls such as palm hearts were profoundly welcomed by all concerned, but months could pass before the people obtained these kinds of foods, foods that required sharing. Most of the time, people ate the berries, roots, and slow game obtained by ordinary, everyday gathering, usually but not necessarily done by women..." (p. 108)

"By far the most important staple foods of the Ju/wasi were roots––the twenty-five kinds of bulbs, rhizomes, corms, and tubers. The other foods were either small, such as berries, or scarce, such as truffles, or seasonal, such as certain fruits or the spinachlike leaves. Roots were the everyday meal, and even in some cases were sources of water...For the Ju/wasi as for the people of the past, roots were excellent nutrition, and best of all, unlike fruits or berries, could be noted in one season and gathered in another, as few other creatures were competing for them." (p. 110)

I want to emphasize that meat played an important role in the Ju/wasi diet. They highly valued meat. How much? I'll let Ms. Thomas speak again:

"Meat united people. A meal of life-giving meat was meant for all. On the day that Short/Kwi came home dragging the heart-shot ostrich that had charged him, the women in the camp stood up and started dancing, just from the joy of seeing the eat and from having a man like Short/Kwi living among them, bringing a bounty of life-giving food to share with his people. My mother wrote: 'Women bring most of the daily food that sustains the life of the people, but the roots and berries of the Nyae Nyae Ju/wasi are apt to be tasteles and harsh and not very satisfying. People crave meat. Furthermore, there is only drudgery in digging roots, picking berries, and trudging back to the encampment with the heavy loads and babies sagging in the pouches of the leather capes; there is no splendid excitement and triumph in returning with vegetables. The return of a hunter from a successful hunt is vastly different. The intense craving for meat, the uncertainty and anxiety that attend the hunt, the deep excitement of the kill, and finally, the eating and the satisfaction engage powerful emotions in the people.'"

The Ju/wasi diet may give us important insight into the ancestral diet of humanity prior to the exodus from Africa about 50,000 years ago. Although I have no doubt it contained plenty of meat and fat, it probably had much more plant food than the Inuit diet. In Africa, our ancestors most likely would have found enough plant foods to make them a significant portion of their diets, just as did the Ju/wasi described by Thomas.

The Old Way gives the reader a first hand, nearly insider account of hunter-gatherer life. I highly recommend it to students of paleo diet.

Does a vegan diet cause B-12 deficiency diseases?

A commenter on my post on McDougall's ideas about B-12 claims:

"McDougall does have a point when he says that there is no good evidence so-called low B12 causes any diseases in vegans. This is the core of the debate. Most diseases that are associated with low B12 are found in the elderly who are in fact eating meat and dairy."

And:

"At the end of the day it has been shown that you can eat certain plant foods (chlorella in particular and purple nori) and they do increase plasma B12 (as measured by methy malonic acid) more so that meat and eggs do."

My quick response:


I followed McDougall and veganism for about 10 years. I made me sick. I saw many people get benefits in the first 1-2 years, then get ill. I saw babies impaired by B-12 deficiency in mothers. The idea that we have no evidence of B-12 deficiency causing illness in vegans and that B-12 deficiency diseases mostly occur in elderly omnivores is a crock of corn grits.

Vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with coronary artery disease in an Indian population.

Nutritional vitamin B12 deficiency in a breast-fed infant of a vegan-diet mother.

Severe vitamin B12 deficiency in infants breastfed by vegans


Metabolic complications and neurologic manifestations of vitamin B12 deficiency in children of vegetarian mothers


Subacute Combined Degeneration of the Spinal Cord in Vegetarians: Vegetarian's Myelopathy [free full text, includes radiographs of the lesions]

Pancytopenia in nutritional megaloblastic anaemia. A study from north-west India.
Low red and white blood cell counts in long term veg*ns and increased infections.

Vegetarian diet and cobalamin deficiency: their association with tuberculosis. [Full text, found nearly 3 times greater incidence of tuberculosis among vegetarians compared to omnivores.]


Vitamin B12 deficiency due to a strictly vegetarian diet in adolescence.

Brain damage in infancy and dietary vitamin B12 deficiency


A syndrome of methylmalonic aciduria, homocystinuria, megaloblastic anemia and neurologic abnormalities in a vitamin B12-deficient breast-fed infant of a strict vegetarian.

Low bone mineral density and bone mineral content are associated with low cobalamin status in adolescents.


Signs of impaired cognitive function in adolescents with marginal cobalamin status. [full text]

The commenter also claimed:

"At the end of the day it has been shown that you can eat certain plant foods (chlorella in particular and purple nori) and they do increase plasma B12 (as measured by methy malonic acid) more so that [sic] meat and eggs do."

Even veganhealth.org reviews the evidence and concludes we do not have evidence that chlorella and nori prevent B-12 deficiency (because they contain analogues).

On the page B12 in Tempeh, Seaweeds, Organic Produce, and Other Plant Foods you will find this:

"Until chlorella is tested on humans to determined whether it lowers MMA levels, it should not be considered to be a reliable source of vitamin B12, especially since the study by Pratt & Johnson showed no vitamin B12. "

This commenter also wrote:

"And this study found that meat and eggs do nothing to increase plasma B12 - "Dietary sources of vitamin B-12 and their association with plasma vitamin B-12 concentrations in the general population: the Hordaland Homocysteine Study.""

The abstract states: "Plasma vitamin B-12 was associated with intakes of increasing amounts of vitamin B-12 from dairy products or fish (P for trend <0.001 for both) but not with intakes of vitamin B-12 from meat or eggs. For the same content of vitamin B-12, intake from dairy products led to the greatest increase in plasma vitamin B-12. Total intake of vitamin B-12, particularly from milk and fish, decreased the risk of vitamin B-12 concentrations <200 pmol/L and impaired vitamin B-12 function (vitamin B-12 <200 pmol/L and methylmalonic acid >0.27 micromol/L) in the total group and in 71-74-y-old subjects."

So this commenter ignores the finding that fish and milk do raise B-12, selectively citing the finding that B-12 from meat or eggs did not raise levels. I haven't read the full text, but I doubt they actually assayed the meat and eggs consumed, rather they probably relied on tables of nutritional value to estimate intakes of B-12 from meat and eggs.

This could mean the meat and eggs these people ate (factory farmed) had little B-12, compared to fish (mostly wild) and milk, and it does not prove anything about meat and eggs from grass fed animals. Further, fish and milk did increase B-12, so animal products did effectively raise B-12. This certainly does not support veganism.

Humans are omnivores and you pursue veganism at your own risk.