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A new study analyzed a scenario in which all the people in the US followed a vegan diet.
A new research tried to answer an interesting question: What would happen if all the people living in the United States would have a vegan diet? This study focused more on the big scale effects rather than on the minor scale ones. The researchers wanted to find out what would happen to the US farmers in a scenario in which all North American citizens decided to live on a vegan diet.
Would it Be Easy Maintaining a Vegan Diet?
Scientists from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service obtained surprising results. They observed that the total food supply in the US would increase by 23% if all people went vegan. Based on the fact that land currently used for growing feed crops is not suitable for vegetables or fruits, the additional food produced might include high-calorie crops such as soybeans and corn.
A complete shift from food animal production would also have a great impact on the population. People following such a diet are more likely to suffer from calcium, vitamin B 12, fatty acids, and vitamin A deficiencies, to name just some of them. As it is, some of these types of diets can help people stay healthy. A vegan diet can be a healthy one if people take supplements to avoid deficiencies that could harm their health
However, the researchers mentioned that they conducted this study on the basis that the whole nation would be living on a diet based solely on plants. Since people can take supplements for these, the health problems should not be an issue.
A vegan diet would require that people eat more vegetables and fruits to meet their nutritional needs. This is because plants are not at as nutrient dense as meat. One important aspect is that a vegan diet can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emission. This could happen as almost half of it appears to be caused by animal food production.
“A take-home message from the study was that we need to expand the way we think about food production to account for the complex consequences of changing any individual piece within the wider food system,” stated Robin R. White, a Virginia Tech professor part of the research team.
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