http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41158365

I know a few people who are long-term vegan, and they all seem to suffer from some kind of stomach/gut related malaise. I cannot say that being vegan is the cause, but there is a definite overlap with conditions and diet there.

Now waiting for my mother’s Facebook feed to be all over this article, denouncing it as nonsense (and, yes, she’s one of those I’m thinking of in the above paragraph).

Everything in moderation. We are omnivores and are designed to eat a mixture of meat and plant products, so it isn't really a surprise that the body reacts to deficiencies in some products, when the diet changes. You will find other problems if you swing the other way and only eat meat.

Industrial farming of animals means that the average person eats a lot more meat these days than when I was a child, for example. My wife's family used to eat meat twice a week on average, when she was a child. She finds I eat much to much meat, because I eat some sort of meat most days.

Swbmo is lacto-ovo-vegetarian. I've never really got on with red meat (causes stomach pains and bloating), so for me becoming vegetarian hasn't been a difficult transition. I still eat fish and poultry when out and about but never really bothered at home. What I do hate (and what swmbo loves) is mock-meats. Why become vegetarian and then eat fake meat?!?!?

Yes, that has always struck me as silly.

We have vegan liver sausage over here! How can it be liver sausage, if there is no fragging liver in it?!?!?!

Under a new German law, vegetable replacements for dairy products can't use dairy names (no soya milk, it is a soya drink, no vegan yogurt etc.). I would like to see that extended to meat substitutes as well. There are already suitable "old fashioned" names for vegatable equivalents of meat products, for example a burger would be a "Gemusepuffer", but no, in modern double talk, it is a veggie burger...

I'm aware that some people are vegan due to the treatment of animals or that the animal was once alive (but differed from plants being alive). I wonder what they will make of the synthetic meat that's being developed in the labs.

My mum and sister are vegans. The militant kind, so any conversation kind of get steered around to the subject. My wife asked how they made cheesecake if cheese was off the ingredients list. The ensuing two hour conversation did everything but answer the question (lots of “isn’t being vegan wonderful” type comments though - lots). I expect they’d be very much against it. It’s meat, where it came from would be immaterial. I daren’t ask. I know the triggers, it’s not worth asking. I expect I’m a project - the goal being to get me to “turn”.

I have seen cheesecake being made with tofu of all things!

That's the bit I never understand - the desire for veganism combined with the desire to still eat non-vegan foods.

You’ve seen Quorn’s “Meat free chicken” (and other similarly named products) then?

Nothing more than 'modified mushroom'

I didn't know that was a thing. I know of vegetarians who desire the taste of meat - i.e. quorn, fakon etc.. but vegans tend to be hardcore fundamentalists IME.

My sister is vegetarian but she'll happily prepare and cook meat for her family and she'd rather die than go without eggs and cheese.

I'm a vegan! So hopefully I can answer some questions....why do we still eat 'meat-like' products? Because it's familiar. It's like finding out you're lactose intolerant and people asking why you still eat ice-cream? [I love dairy free ice-cream ] I get that it's my choice not to eat meat, but that doesn't take away from the fact I was bought up with that familiar taste and association with meat products. I know plenty of vegans who don't for the reasons out-lined above, but I do when I want an easy burger/meal. It's not that I desire to eat non-vegan foods, it's that I want something quick, easy and tasty to eat. As more bean-burgers etc become readily available I suspect these 'fake-meats' will decline.

I've never had any sort've stomach problems since becoming vegan [2+ years ago], most vegans will tell you how much better they feel, though I admit a certain amount of that must be down to having to watch what you eat and generally thinking more about what's in your food. I try not to be 'militant' and enforce the stereotype which the meat and dairy companies try so hard to promote. I just try to live my life as I did the previous 25 years as well as lead by example; in that you don't need to be militant and you can still be a fit, healthy human being [going boxing and what-not] without animal products in your diet.

Personally, I can't speak for 'they' the vegans, but as a vegan I don't support this 'man-made' meat; part of the reason I don't eat meat is because of the drugs and various other nasties that got into putting that on my plate, so a lab grown piece of food isn't top of my list to try. From a cruelty-free perspective though, I can see it becoming another popular alternative. Admittedly I occasionally eat Quorn or other processed 'fake-meats' but mostly for ease and less for health reasons!

My lot are doing that job pretty well without the need for anyone else to promote a stereotype. A lot of the time, those pushing the stereotype are the people who are the stereotype.