In a study of Austrians, published in 2014, it concluded that adults who consumed a vegetarian diets were less healthly mentally and physically than those who consumed meat in their diets —  Nutrition and Health – The Association between Eating Behavior and Various Health Parameters: A Matched Sample Study, Nathalie Burkert, Johanna Muckenhuber, Franziska Großschaedl, Wolfgang Friedl, Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology, Medical University Graz, Austria, PLoS ONE 9(2): e88278. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088278 (2014).  Of course there are many other studies that indicate there are health benefits to a vegetarian diet like a lower incidence of cholesterol problems.

It is also interesting to note that the human anatomical system is not a purely herbivore/vegetarian system like a cow’s digestive system (with multiple stomachs for digesting plant material), nor are we purely carnivores (with a wide opening mouth and with a whole set of jagged and sharp teeth), but we are omnivores so we have a system that can handle both plant and animal foods.  The Austrian study was particularly interesting in that is looked at the mental health effects of a vegetarian diet compared to a diet with meat, and found that the meat eaters were better off mentally.

Is this study the final word on the issue — of course not!  The debate about the benefits of a vegetarian diet verse a diet with meat has been raging for decades. Remember the scene in the 1973 film Sleeper where the vegetarian health food owner, portrayed by Woody Allen, awakes from cryoprerservation to a future to learn that eating red is now good for you. My take away is that since we are omnivores, our body is designed to intake both meat and plant food, so why deny our body what it is designed to handle.  In losing weight, and being able to maintain that loss, I have tried to have a balanced diet, and as a result, have become a poster child for my doctors as to my physical state, whereas before, I had high cholestreal and Type II Diabeties, which I no longer have. So the take away, as with just about everything, is balance and moderation are the keys.