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Why are Canadians going vegan?

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You may have noticed that veganism has been in the news a lot lately. Whether it is due to new vegan companies going public, new vegan meat substitutes being invented, or scientists discussing the impact of meat consumption on the climate, veganism has been popping up in the headlines on a fairly regular basis.

It should not surprise you to learn that veganism is on the rise in Canada as more and more people transition away from omnivorous or vegetarian diets to entirely plant-based diets and meals. According to a report from 2020, roughly 850,000 vegans were residing in Canada, along with 2.3 million Canadians who self-identified as vegetarian. Another report from 2021, which the Angus Reid Institute conducted, found that 22% of Canadians who regularly consume meat and meat-based products would like to reduce their meat consumption.

Veganism is on the rise in Canada – and around the world. However, if you do not know any vegans or have not researched the diet, you may not fully understand why hundreds of thousands of Canadians choose to go plant based. Keep reading to learn about this diet and why so many Canadians are reaching for the tofu.

 

Why go vegan?

Every vegan has their reasons for choosing a vegan diet, but it is a combination of health, ethics, and climate change for most people. A diet heavy in plants and plant-based products (such as tofu and olive oil) is one of the healthiest diets around. Some nutritionists suggest that vegan diets are healthier than the Mediterranean diet.

For ethical vegans, the choice to go vegan is motivated primarily by concerns for animal welfare. Many people transition to vegetarianism, and after a few years, they learn about the cruelty of the egg and dairy industry. Even if you choose free-range eggs and organic milk, at the end of the day, an animal is being exploited just so that you can enjoy your coffee and croissant. This concern motivates vegetarians and non-vegans to make the plant-based transition.

Finally, meat consumption and the consumption of eggs and dairy has an incredibly detrimental impact on the climate. Meat consumption is higher than ever. The process of raising, breeding, slaughtering, and processing billions of animals is incredibly resource intensive. These large land animals eat much more of the grain and soy than a person could eat, and they do not produce an equivalent amount of meat or dairy.

 

Incorporating self-care into your daily life

Many people have turned to veganism to feel physically better, meet specific weight goals, or reduce their carbon footprint. Veganism is often tied to wellness and self-care because it is viewed as a product of Los Angeles white women such as Amanda Chantal Bacon. However, this is a reductive and unfortunate stereotype as it pushes away many would-be vegans and dissuades them from giving it a try.

Taking care of your body and providing it with a nutritious, well-rounded diet is important, no matter who you are. Eating a healthy, well-rounded diet is heavy in fruits, vegetables, simple proteins, and healthy fats is one way to practice self-care and take care of your body.

Another way to incorporate self-care into your daily schedule is to set aside time for yourself. Whether that means working out, reading a book, listening to music, or playing a few games at online casinos, it is important to have time set aside to do what you enjoy and find interesting.

It might surprise readers to learn that online casinos have steadily grown in popularity and are now set to eclipse their physical counterparts – brick-and-mortar casinos and betting shops. As the industry grows and develops, it is likely that those physical buildings and shopfronts could be converted into other community spaces.

  

How to make the transition

Many vegans will transition without first understanding how to cook balanced vegan meals and care for their nutritional needs. Suppose that you are considering moving to veganism. In that case, it is important first to do your research and take the time to understand the supplements that you may need to stay healthy after cutting out or reducing animal products.

On top of supplements and vitamins, you will also need to understand the types of macronutrients that are important to consumers daily. Many new vegetarians and vegans are actually ‘carbatarians’ when they start.  They are left eating veggie burgers and chips because they do not understand how to create balanced and healthy meals.

The good news is that there are now hundreds, if not thousands, of vegan bloggers out there who are creating delicious, nutritionally dense meals that are easy to make. If you are seriously considering making the change, you should first research and practice your cooking skills. It may take a little time to get used to seasoning tofu, making seitan, or finding handy swaps for eggs, but many online resources and books are available to inspire your new diet.

 

The future of veganism in Canada

It is no longer the case that being vegan means that you will be eating tasteless black bean burger patties and potatoes for the rest of your life. More than ever, there are now thousands of vegan meat, dairy, and egg alternatives that can be easily used and incorporated into meals.

As more and more vegan and plant-based companies go public and become incredibly successful and popular, more people will likely give the diet a try and also just become more familiar with plant-based products. It is almost as if an entirely new segment of the market has opened up for business, and many companies are jumping at the chance to fill this gap. It is now very easy to make that change, learn a new skill, and embrace new eating habits as a vegan in Canada.

Health

Whooping cough is at a decade-high level in US

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Whooping cough is at its highest level in a decade for this time of year, U.S. health officials reported Thursday.

There have been 18,506 cases of whooping cough reported so far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. That’s the most at this point in the year since 2014, when cases topped 21,800.

The increase is not unexpected — whooping cough peaks every three to five years, health experts said. And the numbers indicate a return to levels before the coronavirus pandemic, when whooping cough and other contagious illnesses plummeted.

Still, the tally has some state health officials concerned, including those in Wisconsin, where there have been about 1,000 cases so far this year, compared to a total of 51 last year.

Nationwide, CDC has reported that kindergarten vaccination rates dipped last year and vaccine exemptions are at an all-time high. Thursday, it released state figures, showing that about 86% of kindergartners in Wisconsin got the whooping cough vaccine, compared to more than 92% nationally.

Whooping cough, also called pertussis, usually starts out like a cold, with a runny nose and other common symptoms, before turning into a prolonged cough. It is treated with antibiotics. Whooping cough used to be very common until a vaccine was introduced in the 1950s, which is now part of routine childhood vaccinations. It is in a shot along with tetanus and diphtheria vaccines. The combo shot is recommended for adults every 10 years.

“They used to call it the 100-day cough because it literally lasts for 100 days,” said Joyce Knestrick, a family nurse practitioner in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Whooping cough is usually seen mostly in infants and young children, who can develop serious complications. That’s why the vaccine is recommended during pregnancy, to pass along protection to the newborn, and for those who spend a lot of time with infants.

But public health workers say outbreaks this year are hitting older kids and teens. In Pennsylvania, most outbreaks have been in middle school, high school and college settings, an official said. Nearly all the cases in Douglas County, Nebraska, are schoolkids and teens, said Justin Frederick, deputy director of the health department.

That includes his own teenage daughter.

“It’s a horrible disease. She still wakes up — after being treated with her antibiotics — in a panic because she’s coughing so much she can’t breathe,” he said.

It’s important to get tested and treated with antibiotics early, said Dr. Kris Bryant, who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases at Norton Children’s in Louisville, Kentucky. People exposed to the bacteria can also take antibiotics to stop the spread.

“Pertussis is worth preventing,” Bryant said. “The good news is that we have safe and effective vaccines.”

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AP data journalist Kasturi Pananjady contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Scientists show how sperm and egg come together like a key in a lock

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How a sperm and egg fuse together has long been a mystery.

New research by scientists in Austria provides tantalizing clues, showing fertilization works like a lock and key across the animal kingdom, from fish to people.

“We discovered this mechanism that’s really fundamental across all vertebrates as far as we can tell,” said co-author Andrea Pauli at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna.

The team found that three proteins on the sperm join to form a sort of key that unlocks the egg, allowing the sperm to attach. Their findings, drawn from studies in zebrafish, mice, and human cells, show how this process has persisted over millions of years of evolution. Results were published Thursday in the journal Cell.

Scientists had previously known about two proteins, one on the surface of the sperm and another on the egg’s membrane. Working with international collaborators, Pauli’s lab used Google DeepMind’s artificial intelligence tool AlphaFold — whose developers were awarded a Nobel Prize earlier this month — to help them identify a new protein that allows the first molecular connection between sperm and egg. They also demonstrated how it functions in living things.

It wasn’t previously known how the proteins “worked together as a team in order to allow sperm and egg to recognize each other,” Pauli said.

Scientists still don’t know how the sperm actually gets inside the egg after it attaches and hope to delve into that next.

Eventually, Pauli said, such work could help other scientists understand infertility better or develop new birth control methods.

The work provides targets for the development of male contraceptives in particular, said David Greenstein, a genetics and cell biology expert at the University of Minnesota who was not involved in the study.

The latest study “also underscores the importance of this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry,” he said in an email.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Older patients, non-English speakers more likely to be harmed in hospital: report

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Patients who are older, don’t speak English, and don’t have a high school education are more likely to experience harm during a hospital stay in Canada, according to new research.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information measured preventableharmful events from 2023 to 2024, such as bed sores and medication errors,experienced by patients who received acute care in hospital.

The research published Thursday shows patients who don’t speak English or French are 30 per cent more likely to experience harm. Patients without a high school education are 20 per cent more likely to endure harm compared to those with higher education levels.

The report also found that patients 85 and older are five times more likely to experience harm during a hospital stay compared to those under 20.

“The goal of this report is to get folks thinking about equity as being a key dimension of the patient safety effort within a hospital,” says Dana Riley, an author of the report and a program lead on CIHI’s population health team.

When a health-care provider and a patient don’t speak the same language, that can result in the administration of a wrong test or procedure, research shows. Similarly, Riley says a lower level of education is associated with a lower level of health literacy, which can result in increased vulnerability to communication errors.

“It’s fairly costly to the patient and it’s costly to the system,” says Riley, noting the average hospital stay for a patient who experiences harm is four times more expensive than the cost of a hospital stay without a harmful event – $42,558 compared to $9,072.

“I think there are a variety of different reasons why we might start to think about patient safety, think about equity, as key interconnected dimensions of health-care quality,” says Riley.

The analysis doesn’t include data on racialized patients because Riley says pan-Canadian data was not available for their research. Data from Quebec and some mental health patients was also excluded due to differences in data collection.

Efforts to reduce patient injuries at one Ontario hospital network appears to have resulted in less harm. Patient falls at Mackenzie Health causing injury are down 40 per cent, pressure injuries have decreased 51 per cent, and central line-associated bloodstream infections, such as IV therapy, have been reduced 34 per cent.

The hospital created a “zero harm” plan in 2019 to reduce errors after a hospital survey revealed low safety scores. They integrated principles used in aviation and nuclear industries, which prioritize safety in complex high-risk environments.

“The premise is first driven by a cultural shift where people feel comfortable actually calling out these events,” says Mackenzie Health President and Chief Executive Officer Altaf Stationwala.

They introduced harm reduction training and daily meetings to discuss risks in the hospital. Mackenzie partnered with virtual interpreters that speak 240 languages and understand medical jargon. Geriatric care nurses serve the nearly 70 per cent of patients over the age of 75, and staff are encouraged to communicate as frequently as possible, and in plain language, says Stationwala.

“What we do in health care is we take control away from patients and families, and what we know is we need to empower patients and families and that ultimately results in better health care.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

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