If there’s one topic of conversation that’s bound to get people riled up then it’s the vegan/vegetarian debate and an NHS cardiologist named Dr Aseem Malhotra has decided to wade in by saying that he believes his mother’s death at 68 would have been entirely avoidable had she not chosen to live her life as a vegetarian.

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Malhotra believes that her regular consumption of starchy carbohydrates, sugary and ultra-processed snacks alongside of a lack of animal products led to her death. Here’s what he had to say about it all:

Sadly, her devout religious faith to avoid consuming animal products, combined with a high starch, high sugar diet, was ultimately to the detriment of her health.

I very much hope that her premature and painful death was not in vain and we can learn that much of these ills are preventable.

A vegetarian diet is associated with poorer health (higher incidences of cancer, allergies and mental health disorders) a higher need for health care and a poorer quality of life.

I do not find an association with the consumption of unprocessed red meat and reduced life expectancy. There is no evidence that adopting a meat or animal product free diet is best for human and planetary health.

I mean I’m not sure if those last statements are strictly true and it’s probably something that we can argue about until the cows come home quoting various different studies but we’ll never agree upon.

It also sounds like Malhotra’s mother wasn’t living the healthiest lifestyle ever either – she had been overweight most of her adult life and this led to high blood pressure, severe degeneration of her spine and slipped discs. Malhotra also thinks that protein deficiency from her vegetarian diet led to a decline in muscle mass, even though she took B12 and iron supplements. He thinks protein needs to be obtained from a variety of different sources in order to be effective.

For more of the same, check out this guy who recently turned his back on the vegan diet because he couldn’t ejaculate. Seriously.