Talk:Vegetarianism

Rationale

I believe the following sentences require support: "Since vegetarian diets tend to be low in fat and cholesterol and high in dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals, some believe it is healthier to be a vegetarian. This, of course, depends on the particular diet. Additionally, vegetarian foods are less susceptible to various forms of food poisoning that are common in meats." The first issue is complex: how easy is it to construct a nutritionally balanced vegetarian diets and do vegetarian diets in common use meet those criteria. The UK Food Standards Agency advises: "It's important to get some of each of these essential amino acids at the same time. Soya and quinoa are the only vegetarian sources of the complete mix of essential amino acids. (The complete mix is also found in meat, poultry, fish and eggs.)" here for example, and make similar remarks about the need to obtain the trace element selenium. The second is an unsupported assertion. In each case please could we have references, since the text here seems to me to propose a particular point of view. Richard Pinch 19:06, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Dear Richard, The position of the UK government's article is no longer shared by many other authorities. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_combining which states "Many health organizations now consider protein combining within the same meal to be unnecessary.[1][2] Instead they recommend that vegans consume a variety of plant foods to ensure that all protein requirements are met.[2]" with [1] and [2] being References

  1. ^ "Vegetarian Diets". United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved on 2008-06-18. "Combining different protein sources in the same meal is not necessary."
  2. ^ a b "Position of the American Dietitians Association and Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian Diets". Dietitians of Canada (2003). Retrieved on 2008-06-18. "Research indicates that an assortment of plant foods eaten over the course of a day can provide all essential amino acids and ensure adequate nitrogen retention and use in healthy adults; thus complementary proteins do not need to be consumed at the same meal." 

Gary Giamboi 18:06, 13 December 2008 (EST)

I see that I didn't make myself clear. I believe that the statements in the article (1) overly simplify a complex issue (namely, how easy it is for a vegetarian diet to supply requisite nutritional elements) (2) do not adequately reflect the spectrum of opinions reflected by competent authorities (3) display a disturbing tendency to favour a particular point of view (4) are not supported by references to authoritative sources. If, as you point out, there is a divergence of opinion, that needs to be adequately represented and referenced. (I'm not particularly interested in debating the dietary issues here, but should make it clear that I do not hold the position that a vegetarian diet is incapable of supplying the requisite nutritional elements. The question of whether protein sources need to be combined in the same meal is, in particular, not one of the question I'm asking here.) Richard Pinch 13:04, 14 December 2008 (UTC)