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I'm a little bit peeved that none of the vegetarians and vegans who have posted letters have responded to my letter about vitamin B12 and other issues surrounding a plant-based diet.
Silenced is right on, of course. Anyone hoping to prescribe any sort of diet as a panacea is sorely mistaken. Our bodies have adapted over the years and, based on our heritage, some of us respond better to certain diets over others. Perhaps there are people out there who function on an extremely low-meat diet who perhaps only need to eat once per month, but I know that there are people in the world who live on high-fat, high-protein diets (such as the Eskimo) who eat virtually nothing but meat and still have reasonable lifespans.
Veganism is not going to be a viable long-term option for humanity until we learn to solve the problem of natural absorption of thiamine and B12. Fortifying tofu doesn't seem to work properly.
