Alrighty...recently some information has been brought to my attention that would cause me to be concerned about my newly-adopted vegetarian diet. I'm a freediver, and have recently given up all fowl, red meat, and pork. Occasionally, I will partake in fish, and more often than that in mollusks (yummm...oysters). It has been mentioned that there may be health issues to which a vegetarian freediver is more susceptible, which of course caused me to kind of freak out. I get my omega-3 fatty acids, creatine, B12, and proteins from supplements and food additives (i.e. spirulina, bee pollen, flax seed oil and meal, whey and soy protein powder, yada, yada). I also did some research today, by perusing some scholarly articles. Though nothing was found specifically addressing breath-hold athletes, the following was interesting, nonetheless:
The citation for the following info is
Barr, S. & Rideout, C. (2004). Nutritional considerations for vegetarian athletes. Nutrition 20. p. 696-704. Retrieved from Google Scholar on July 18, 2008.
* Iron occurs as heme and non-heme. It is more readily absorbed by the body when it occurs as heme, and this form "represents about 40% of the iron in meat, fish, and poultry" (p. 698). Other than this, the information is conflicting: some research indicates "non-anemic iron deficiency" causes impaired performance, and other research doesn't.
* Exercise that is intense and lengthy can lead to an overabundance of free radicals, which can cause tissue stress (though once again there are conflicting research results...depending on your source). It appears that since vegetarians often supplement, that these diets contain "higher amounts of...vitamin E, vitamin C, and B-carotene" (p. 699). This theoretically means that vegetarians may have better protection against said oxidative stress caused by the aforementioned free radicals.
* Though long-term studies hadn't at the time of this publication been done with vegetarians and athletic performance, here are the summarized findings of Barr and Rideout: athletic performance is well-supported in vegetarian diets which are supplemented appropriately; "plant and animal protein sources appear to provide equivalent support to athletic training and performance" (p. 702); athletic endurance can be impaired by non-anemic iron deficiency, which occurs more often in vegetarian athletes.
What does all this mean? Well, certain researchers believe that the nutrients available in an omnivorous diet aid elite athletes in performance and/or recovery. Other researchers believe that by taking the appropriate supplements, a vegetarian athlete is at no disadvantage to their meat-eating counterparts. Those who choose to eat some animal protein (like me...yummm, oysters) have a bit of both worlds.
In short, there has been no definitive academic research (at least not in my studies, which entailed a thorough search of all scholarly articles referencing athleticism and vegetarianism from 1972-present) on the effects of vegetarianism and breath-hold diving. I guess in the end, we all have to just do what works for ourselves. But, honestly, if someone were to provide proof to me that eating a rare slab of beef would improve my dives at exponential rates--then I'd say, "Bring me a knife and some steak sauce...pronto!"
The citation for the following info is
Barr, S. & Rideout, C. (2004). Nutritional considerations for vegetarian athletes. Nutrition 20. p. 696-704. Retrieved from Google Scholar on July 18, 2008.
* Iron occurs as heme and non-heme. It is more readily absorbed by the body when it occurs as heme, and this form "represents about 40% of the iron in meat, fish, and poultry" (p. 698). Other than this, the information is conflicting: some research indicates "non-anemic iron deficiency" causes impaired performance, and other research doesn't.
* Exercise that is intense and lengthy can lead to an overabundance of free radicals, which can cause tissue stress (though once again there are conflicting research results...depending on your source). It appears that since vegetarians often supplement, that these diets contain "higher amounts of...vitamin E, vitamin C, and B-carotene" (p. 699). This theoretically means that vegetarians may have better protection against said oxidative stress caused by the aforementioned free radicals.
* Though long-term studies hadn't at the time of this publication been done with vegetarians and athletic performance, here are the summarized findings of Barr and Rideout: athletic performance is well-supported in vegetarian diets which are supplemented appropriately; "plant and animal protein sources appear to provide equivalent support to athletic training and performance" (p. 702); athletic endurance can be impaired by non-anemic iron deficiency, which occurs more often in vegetarian athletes.
What does all this mean? Well, certain researchers believe that the nutrients available in an omnivorous diet aid elite athletes in performance and/or recovery. Other researchers believe that by taking the appropriate supplements, a vegetarian athlete is at no disadvantage to their meat-eating counterparts. Those who choose to eat some animal protein (like me...yummm, oysters) have a bit of both worlds.
In short, there has been no definitive academic research (at least not in my studies, which entailed a thorough search of all scholarly articles referencing athleticism and vegetarianism from 1972-present) on the effects of vegetarianism and breath-hold diving. I guess in the end, we all have to just do what works for ourselves. But, honestly, if someone were to provide proof to me that eating a rare slab of beef would improve my dives at exponential rates--then I'd say, "Bring me a knife and some steak sauce...pronto!"
