Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Vegetarianism

This refers to the article "Veggies smarter or smarties veggies?" (Dec. 28) based on a 1970 British study. Even though a large percentage of Nobel Laureates were meat eaters, the lone example of C.V. Raman shows that people need not be meat eaters to be smart. Genius S. Ramanujan did not suffer in England due to his strict vegetarianism. He suffered due to poverty and bad weather.

The statements that those who became vegetarians in later life had higher academic qualifications but were not richer, and that being smarter does not guarantee you will be richer, are contestable. There are many examples of rich veggies. Lord Swraj Paul is a vegetarian. Even though there are different opinions regarding food habits, if we analyse food habits of people from the sociological, economic, medical, and psychological perspective, we will find that veggies are the smartest.

Surindhar Vivekananthan,
Mayiladuthurai

I disagree with the theoretical proposition that veggies are smarter. Scientists in Europe and America, who are mostly non-vegetarians, have achieved much more than their counterparts in India, of whom, I am sure, many must be vegetarians. How can this be explained?

E. Sathya Prakash,
Hyderabad

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