Health and medicine blog.

Vegetarianism is a term that is often used quite loosely among those who are your typical herbivores. But the vegetarian eating lifestyle has its most strict following by people who call themselves vegans.

Most broad-based vegetarians keep quite a wide food selection open for the pallet compared to vegans. They will eat some animal products such as cheese, eggs and milk. Vegans on the other hand omit any animal product made from milk and cheese to even bee’s honey. In the past several years vegans have upped the bar with an more restricted diet that omits cooking altogether, which is the raw food diet.

The raw food diet is essentially the same as what vegans eat except with one caveat. All food must be eaten without strong heat applied. The temp cannot go over 112 degrees Fahrenheit as to preserve the natural enzymes that are in the plant’s cell structure.

Food that is eaten by the raw foodist is raw food items such as: fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and legumes.

Raw foodies have come up with some clever recipes of “cooking” their food. You’ll see lasagna and cheese cake, sans the cream cheese. This kind of food is what they believe can prevent cancer altogether.

B12 Vitamin Nutrition Supplements Needed for Raw Foodists

As with most strict vegetarians, B-12 vitamin nutrition is a specific argument against the diet. B-12 is a vitamin that can only come from meats and other animal products.

Opponents of the raw food diet, as do most dieticians, say that even the food that reports to have B-12 naturally (fermented foods and spirulina algae to name a few) exist in a state that is not the same when digested from animal sources.

Raw foodists will often use B-12 supplements that are derived from spirulina. Some studies show that the B-12 vitamin is actually an “analog” of the same vitamin found in animal source. So, even vitamin nutritional supplements may not quite cut it according to studies.

B-12 is very important for human growth. It is essential in building red blood cells and the maintenance of nervous system cell structures. The most acute system of vitamin B-12 deficiency is tiredness and signs of anemia.

It’s also necessary for the manufacturing of myelin, the fatty sheath that covers the nerve, similar to wire covering an extension cord to isolate and direct the electricity.

On the other side, raw food dietitians have consistently laid claim of the diet’s benefits after years of raw food consumption. Also, there has been some advancement in the manufacturing and supplementation of the B-12 vitamin.

As with all diet trends, those critical of the trend suggest having a doctor or dietitian keep tabs on the progress of the raw foodist to make sure that no anemic symptoms occur.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 8:06 pm and is filed under Healthy diet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.