Well, Barbara, you seem to be on a couple of rants this morning :-) Firstly, most University Students would consider themselves young adults capable of making their own decisions so might feel a bit insulted by being called children; anyway, I think you'll find many students these days are veggie/vegan for health and ecological reasons. (Although, Mr Hawkes is probably right: the burger bars, kebab shops and chicken shacks won't go out of business yet in university towns.)I really don't know where you get your facts from, Barbara. There's no peer reviewed scientific or nutritional evidence I'm aware of that says children - or anyone - needs meat; after all, there's plenty of Buddhist and Hindu people who have survived on veggie diets for generations, and many who eat very little meat. The main adviced is to have a balanced diet; if one lives on veggie burgers and tofu sausages with chips all the time that's going to be almost as unhealthy as eating Big Mac's and nothing else. The scientific evidence seems to be indicating one should avoid ultra processed food (meat or veggie based), and I've been told many US cardiologists are turning to vegan diets and recommending them because of the damage they've seen done by eating too much meat and dairy products (sorry, don't have any references to hand at present).Granted, those living in deprived or famine areas may need to eat some meat to get protein if it's not available from other sources but that shouldn't be a problem in the UK. Well, perhaps it is in the UK, eating properly might be an issue if one can't afford the energy to cook, but that's going to be a problem whether one's eating meuat (which generally has to be cooked) or tofu (which is nicer cooked but can be eaten uncooked). And, yes, vegans need to take care to get their B12 which is why some develop health problems; a liking for Marmite or, preferably low salt options, is desirable - mmm, Marmite with crunchy peanut butter: protein plus B12 :-)Anyway we currently have a friend in her thirties staying with us who has been a lifelong veggie, and a vegan for around half of that, and she has no I'll effects from it - and neither does her dog who is also a vegan :-)
Michael Ixer ● 649d