Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret: Documentary Analysis

Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret is a documentary focusing on the environmental costs of an omnivorous diet and the benefits of a vegan diet. In an interview with filmmaker Kip Anderson, Dr. Michael A. Klapler, a vegan physician, states that vegan mothers can give birth to, and raise, healthy children on a vegan diet. Dr. Klapler also claimed that plants provide all the necessary nutrients for a healthy vegan lifestyle (Anderson, 2014). However, research has disproven Dr. Klapler’s claims: nutrients such as vitamin B₁₂ and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are only found in animal products and are vital to human health. Furthermore, grains and legumes contain high amounts of phytate, which prevent nutrient absorption. Pregnant vegan women must

In a 2006 poll, 1.4% of US adults identified as vegans. Vegans by definition refuse to consume animal products, including, but not limited to, dairy, meat, eggs, and fish. Religious beliefs, environmental concerns, and cultural background are just some of the reasons why people choose to follow this diet. The growing popularity of vegan-vegetarian diets has led to the growth of a $1.17 billion dollar market that provides processed foods, such as meat substitutes and soymilk, specifically for people who follow a plant-based diet (Mangels and Craig, 2009). Ironically, while veganism is associated with education and income level in rich, industrialized countries, in poorer nations a plant-based diet is synonymous with poverty. The prevalence of a large fast food industry that offers cheap, high-protein products, such as McDonald's, may account for this difference. All in all, the growing interest in plant-based diet requires increased study into the health benefits and costs of forgoing animal

This is because infants have not had enough time or intake of vitamin B₁₂ to build up adequate nutrient stores. Signs of deficiency in the infant include anemia, limited growth, and neurological problems. Vitamin B₁₂ participates in the synthesis of myelin sheaths of nerve cells, which functions in cell communication of the central nervous system (CNS). Low levels of B₁₂ can lead to decreased production and of myelin sheaths, impairing the development of the CNS in infants (Dror and Allen, 2008). Deficiency in infants can be due to vitamin B₁₂ deficiency in the mother or malabsorption of B₁₂. Malabsorption can be attributed to pernicious anemia or autoimmunity. Pernicious anemia is caused by the lack of intrinsic factor (IF). IF is secreted by parietal cells in the stomach and is necessary for B₁₂ absorption in the ileum of the small intestine.[However, a lack of adequate iron intake in the diet can lead to lower levels of IF and the subsequent deficiency of B₁₂.] Iron deficiency also affects B₁₂ absorption by damaging mucosa in the gastrointestinal tract, causing atrophic gastritis, the inflammation of the stomach mucosa and production of weaker hydrochloric acid (HCl). This affects the stomach’s ability to produce IF (Pawlak et al., 2013). [Autoimmunity