People who think being vegetarian is healthy might want to re-assess now that the Omicron variant is doing the rounds.
"The variant could lead to more infections but vaccinated people likely remain protected from severe disease." the founder of BioNTech Ugur Sahin says.
Why is this?
He continues…..
“While the new variant (5) might evade the antibodies generated in reaction to the vaccine, the virus will likely remain vulnerable to immune cells that destroy it once it enters the body.” He continued.
Thanks to the content of all the essential elements for a strong and efficient immune system…meat eaters need not fear the new variant that much then.
Several studies already show that excluding meat and fish from the diet could have a possible negative impact on the immune response, since people who follow a vegetarian diet have fewer cells used to defend the body, resulting in a significantly lower antibody response.
Measurements of of serum immunoglobulin levels in vegetarian and omnivorous children (3.) shows that nutrient deficiency in vegetarian children can lead to a reduction in immunoglobulin levels, with lower immune defences compared to meat eaters.
The immune response is linked to iron, zinc, copper, magnesium and vitamin B6, all nutrients that we find in excellent quantity and bioavailability in meat. For this reason, the impact of the different assumptions of these nutrients on antibody levels has registered differences between vegetarians and omnivores, with lower levels of antibodies in vegetarian children.
“Older vegetarians revealed significantly suppressed proliferative response of T-lymphocytes to mitogens.” According to this study…so both ends of the age spectrum suffer if on a vegetarian diet. (6)
Children & the elderly who follow a diet without meat and fish have recorded a significantly lower count of white and red blood cells, with lower levels of neutrophils, monocytes, eosinophils, lymphocytes and basophils, all cells involved in the antibody response.
The analysis of the immune function revealed a lower phagocytic activity, that is a lower ability of the cells to ingest and destroy foreign substances such as viruses and bacteria, with a consequent reduction in the possibility of defending themselves from diseases.
Even a clinical study (4) by the University of Graz has concluded that vegetarians get sick more often and have a lower quality of life than omnivores, with a greater likelihood of suffering from allergies, asthma, diabetes, migraines, osteoporosis, heart disease, mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression, eating disorders and tumours, supporting once again how it is not at all advantageous to give up meat and fish.