Weight loss expert reveals vegan diet concerns

The Taoiseach’s revelation that he was cutting back on eating red meat to reduce his carbon footprint caused controversy, but days later a major paper by international health experts recommended reducing meat intake and increasing vegetable consumption to protect the planet for future generations. Dr Orsmond, who runs weight-loss clinics across Ireland, said a balanced vegan diet can be very healthy but cautioned against going on the fashionable diet without ensuring you have vital minerals and vitamins.

Dr Orsmond, who has just released a new book, Reverse Your Diabetes, said that processed vegan food can often be high in sugar.

“I’m not really a big fan of the whole thing because so many people out there just have this idea that they are now vegans. Then they go to the shops and buy frozen vegan food. What they do is take the animal fats away from these products which makes the food quite tasty and when that’s not in the product, they need to add sugar. So often those vegan processed ready-made foods are usually the worst foods you can buy.”

The straight-talking Finnish doctor said people embarking on a vegan diet for the first time need to do their homework to ensure they are getting all the nutrients they need.

“Really if you want to be vegan, you need to go somewhere and study properly and know your stuff.

“If you were doing a vegan diet properly, most probably it could be better and healthier than ordinary people who just put all sorts of processed grains and bread in their mouth.

“But I think we need to be careful not to start making it look like the vegan diet is super-healthy.

“You need to think about B12, you need to think about iron, and about Omega 3 fatty acids.

“You need supplements, you need the right supplements because where are you going to get your B12?”