Meat eaters are costing the NHS more than vegetarians and vegans
Grahame King said that every vegetarian and vegan he has met in his life "has had hospital treatment for anaemia" (Mailbox, November 14). How many vegetarians and vegans has Mr King met? I know over 40 and none of them has anaemia.
Major health organisations, including the British Medical Association, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the American Dietetic Association, agree that vegetarians and vegans do not have a higher rate of iron deficiency anaemia.
Mr King asks: "How much it has cost the NHS over the years to treat vegetarians and vegans for their self-inflicted health problems?"
I don't know, Mr King, perhaps you can provide the facts and figures to support your argument.
However, a report published by WHO said "coronary heart disease, strokes, various cancers, diabetes mellitus, gastrointestinal disorders and various bone and joint diseases" are most frequently linked to "a pattern of eating typified by high consumption of energy-dense foods of animal origin and foods processed or prepared with added fat, sugar and salt."
I wonder how much it costs the NHS to treat these conditions? To that should be added the cost of BSE and vCJD, bird flu and swine flu.
Farm use of antibiotics has caused antibiotic resistance to medical drugs in several types of food poisoning, including salmonella, campylobacter and Ecoli. Think of the research costs involved to develop new drugs to treat these conditions.
An estimated 440,000 people fall ill each year from eating infected chicken alone. How much does that cost the NHS? It appears that those who consume animal-based foods cost the NHS far more than vegetarians and vegans!
Mrs Elizabeth Allison, Aylestone.
3 Comments
by jimbob6163
Monday, November 21 2011, 9:35PM
“What a load of rubbish my daughter if Vegetarian and she has never had any health problem, I am not a Vegetarian”
by graydjames
Monday, November 21 2011, 4:27PM
“This lady really is beginning to get my goat. Like most vegetarians and vegans it is the weakness of her position that requires her to leap to the defence of her unconventional lifestyle over and over again.
If not eating meat was accepted as widely as Mrs Allison would like, she would have no need to constantly bombard the LM with her diatribes and her absurd evangelical ramblings.”
by Eastonian
Monday, November 21 2011, 4:14PM
“Ah, another hysterical rambling from the 'Veggie Queen of Aylestone'.
I have no doubt at all the reason meat eaters supposedly cost the NHS more is simply because there are more of us. You don't have to quote from this, that and the other body it stands to reason.
I would also say that idiotic car drivers also cost the NHS more than those who driver with due care and attention!!
Is Ms. Allison inferring that if we all gave up meat we wouldn't need an NHS, that meat eaters are at the centre of all the ills of the NHS?”