Correspondence

Hi,

I post about nutrition to help those of you who want to be vegan follow a vegan diet and get all the nutrients you need - in the amounts you need them. With that, we can - hopefully (unfortunately, science doesn't make promises) - contribute to preventing all kinds of disease and to living an energy-filled, active, pleasurable, and - gasp - maybe even a meaningful life. Could it be possible?

If you are "one of those" vegans who does "not care" about healthy eating (---junk food and proud---), I would really urge you to take a vitamin B12 supplement at least. You can take a high-dose supplement once a week - easy and cheap!

If you have vegan children, you really should (---my former professor/boss says: Mr. Koeder, never say "should"---) know a bit more than that: see my recommendations, which are not very complicated at all.

True (---as a well known vegan author, whom you probably don't know, told me---) there is a lot we do not know about nutrition. But that does not mean that we don't know anything. For example, we know a lot about deficiencies of essential nutrients, such as vitamin B12 deficiency, which is very bad for your nerves (nervous system) and probably your arteries - so pretty much every part of your body.

Yes, it's easy to overestimate our own understanding. This line by Alexander Pope (from 1711, I think) sums it up quite well: "A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing"

(In German, there is a similar expression: "dangerous half-knowledge".)

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I don't currently offer nutritional counselling.

I offer nutritional information (repeat: simple r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s) that should make nutritional counselling unnecessary for the average vegan.

A vegan dietary pattern centred around fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds is likely going to have *AMAZING* effects on your health, compared to a typical omnivorous diet. But keep in mind that these healthy "food groups" do not necessarily supply ALL essential nutrients in ideal amounts, so please do check my (repeat) r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s, at least the first point, the one about vitamin B12.

Also keep in mind that, next to nutrition, other aspects of life are important for your health, notably:

physical activity/exercise
relaxation/stress management
getting sufficient good-quality sleep
... and likely also: having a sense of community
... and, of course, not smoking ... and avoiding passive smoking and any sort of massive air pollution (including wood dust, metal dust, etc.).
... and avoiding alcohol excess.

Smoking is probably the worst of all, generally speaking.

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If you want to contact me for whatever reason, why not? I sort of speak English, German, and Italo-Spanish. But I know people who, already 15+ years ago, communicated quite successfully, without sharing a language, using Google translate.

christiankoeder [AT] gmail [DOT] com

Because of veganism and its obvious link to vegan diets, the idea of animal rights is directly connected to nutritional science. But nutrition is connected to social justice issues in many more ways.

The vegan/animal rights movement - just like the rest of society - has so far largely failed to communicate practical, actionable nutrition information to the general (vegan) population. Why?

And some people have big Euro signs in their eyes - and people love them. And some organizations support them. Why? Some people and organizations do not take responsibility for their actions, even after realizing they were wrong. Why?

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One more thing: How do we know what's healthy?

In nutritional epidemiology certain methods are used to test which nutritional factors influence health and disease. This systematic way of testing is very different from anecdotal observations that any one person can make in their own lifetime. These systematic tests generate scientific evidence. Then this evidence must be summarized and weighed and evaluated. --- Don't rely on AI tools or your local YouTube charlatan to do this task. (my opinion)

At the same time, a science-based approach needs to understand that evidence is not everything - because many (or most) things have never been tested in scientific studies.

The scientific approach is very important, so we can understand which nutritional factors can help prevent (or even cure) many illnesses. And this is important if we want to make our lives (---and not just ours---) more pleasurable and less painful.

However, you as a vegan have some knowledge that most nutritional scientists do not have. You have the experience of living your life as a vegan, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That is worth something. But it does not make scientific research—which generates scientific evidence—superfluous. It's not scientific evidence vs. experience. Both are necessary.

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Sometimes I also post about other topics that interest me (and no one else). I've been vegan since 1997. And I've been a skateboarder since around 1989. And without skateboarding I probably wouldn't have found veganism.

Skateboarding is not a relevant issue to most people's lives (neither is veganism unfortunately). But maybe you can see parallels to something in your own life. May you find something that gives your life as much meaning and pleasure (and frustration? ... and scars and broken teeth?) as skateboarding does in my case.

May your life be happy and free. To all beings everywhere be happy and free.

In terms of university degrees, I have a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree in nutritional sciences, both from Justus Liebig University (JLU---for nutrition nerds: yes, that Justus Liebig), in Giessen (aka Gießen), Germany.

And I also have a PhD (technically, a doctorate in natural sciences ---Dr. rer. nat.--- so literally more like an ScD) also in the area of nutritional sciences, with a focus on plant-based diets, healthy lifestyle intervention, and cardiovascular risk markers. The PhD I obtained from Leibniz University Hanover (LUH) [Hanover aka Hannover], Germany. --- How come I have these? I've never played computer games in my life, except Tetris. And this was somehow similar.

I am not a member of any organization whatsoever (I think). Although "in the interest of full disclosure", I am a former member of the Giessen indoor skate park Skatelounge.

I *festively* declare that I have no conflicts of interest - with this I mean that vegan nutrition information needs to be neutral and objective. Wrong information - even if it's meant to make veganism look great - can harm vegans.
And if you don't mind me saying, science and veganism are not ends in themselves that need (or want) to be worshipped. They are tools to make our (animal) lives better and to create a world with less violence and prejudice and hatred, and a little (or a lot) more justice.

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"I'm not an evangelist. I'm not here to convert people. What I am here [for] is to extend the invitation of philosophy, and that is, as I say, to think independently, to think hard, logically, factually informed, freeing ourselves from prejudice." Tom Regan

(in Heidelberg, Germany, 2006)

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For those who have made it this far:

You can see a list of my scientific publications on my ORCID profile:

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3761-4220