Diet: which is the healthiest?
Among so many options, is there a food style that is the best to follow? Check out!
Vegetarian, vegan or omnivorous diets have their specificities and there is no way to say for sure which one would be healthier. The omnivorous diet, prevalent among humans, includes the ingestion of various types of organic substances, that is, all food groups are included. In contrast, the vegan diet excludes foods of animal origin: meat, fish, eggs, dairy and honey. At an intermediate point, the vegetarian diet excludes meat and fish but includes dairy and eggs. Each of them has benefits, as long as they follow proper planning.
A balanced omnivorous diet, for example, provides for no consumption of alcohol, processed products, sweets or red meat more than once a month. However, maintaining a healthy diet in the contemporary pace of life can be a challenge. As a consequence of the current scenario, there is an almost daily consumption of red meat, the unregulated intake of processed foods, such as ham, and alcohol. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, processed meat is one of the products that cause cancer, while red meat is classified as a probable carcinogen. As an example, DNA damage has been identified that demonstrate an association between high consumption of red meat and colorectal cancer.
On vegetarian and vegan diets , research is still relatively recent, as is the growing adherence to them, motivated by ethical concerns about animal life, health and the sustainability of the planet. The greater consumption of fruits and vegetables, cereals, legumes and protein sources of plant origin suggests that these diets would be healthier. It should also be taken into account that, as they do not contain products of animal origin, the foods consumed in these diets do not contain a high content of saturated fat.
It is also known that the organism needs to maintain homeostasis. In this sense, while meats, fish, eggs and cheeses promote acidic environments, fruits and vegetables help to promote acid-base balance. This indicates that the vegan diet would be healthier than the vegetarian one, which in turn would outperform the omnivorous diet in terms of health promotion.
In addition, it has already been found that a diet rich in the consumption of plant products is associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. Another factor that contributes to the defense of vegan and vegetarian diets concerns the intestinal microbiota. These two diets favor a better profile of intestinal bacteria, in order to protect the body from some diseases.
Considering the impacts on the environment of raising animals for human consumption, increasing the consumption of products of plant origin would be beneficial not only for humans, but also for the planet.
