That article actually supports what I've been saying all along that calorie-restriction is the real danger of vegetarian diets and that's what causes or worsens mental problems. It's from the lack of carbs & calories needed to fuel the brain. All the people I've seen here that said they failed on a veggie diet fell into the category of calorie-restriction, but no one wants to admit it.

"it certainly doesn't say that vegetarianism causes mental health problems."

"vegetarianism has been linked with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and particularly eating disorders (bingeing, restricting, and purging behaviors)."

"vegetarians are also more likely to be female (which is more likely to be associated with anxiety, depression, and eating disorders by a long shot)."

"Temporally, the adoption of a vegetarian diet, on average, tended to follow the mental health diagnosis, suggesting that the vegetarian diet was not in fact causal."

"several of my eating disordered patients have told me they adopted vegetarianism so they would have an excuse to restrict food and not have to eat in public."


When you calorie-restrict, your mental symptoms will get worse. Veggie diets are lower in calories per volume of food, so very easy to under-eat and as the article stated, it's a way for some with eating disorders to have an easier time restricting calories.

When ex-veggies start eating meat and feel better, it's because they are getting more calories and thus more nutrition, not because the nutrition quality of veggie diets is inherently inferior (where did the meat get its protein after all?!). These vegetarians and vegans just weren't eating enough.

Make sure you pay attention to the direction(s) of effect. That's a very important fundamental Science issue.

http://www.criticalthinking.org.uk/tigerrepellantrock/


Though I personally think that yes, correlation does imply causation. It just doesn't prove it. But the more correlation you have, the more likely there's some causal relationship. If you see A and B together all the time, maybe A causes B, or maybe B causes A, or maybe something causes both of them.

The article you link says

Temporally, the adoption of a vegetarian diet, on average, tended to follow the mental health diagnosis, suggesting that the vegetarian diet was not in fact causal. I know originally the abstract of the article said the opposite, but if you read the full text, you find that the abstract was misrepresentative.… So what is going on? In Germany, are the neurotic perfectionists who are more likely to be choosey about food (and thus sellect vegetarianism and eschew fast food) also more vulnerable to Depression and anxiety? Sure, could be. Or maybe those with mental troubles try to avoid what is thought to be bad food (meat and fast food). It is also possible that the nutrient deficiencies common in vegetarian diets (the most robustly studied being long chain omega 3 fatty acids and B12, though I think zinc and creatine and even too low a cholesterol could also be issues) could accelerate or worsen pre-existing mental conditions.

How many calories were you averaging per day on your old vegan diet? That can make all the difference in the world between healthy and not healthy. Too much fat also.