Right. There's another aspect to this also, and that is that as peak oil develops basic overall health (prior to treatment for any health problems) may improve. In World War I, neutral Denmark was subject to the Allied blockade of the continent. They converted to a largely lacto-vegetarian diet and the mortality dropped by about 30%. In World War II, death rates for circulatory diseases and diabetes dropped dramatically in occupied Norway. In both cases, the death rates went back up when the wars ended (sources in my book "A Vegetarian Sourcebook").

A lot depends on how we react to the food situation. A lot of current health care expenses relate to degenerative conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, kidney disease, etc., all of which are strongly linked to diet and all of which tend to occur in the "civilized" nations but do not occur nearly as much in the less developed world.

In a world beset by all the other problems of a post-peak world (high prices, unemployment, etc.) switching the country to a vegetarian or largely vegetarian diet would not be either technically complicated and would not necessarily be that hard of a "sell."

Keith Akers