It's becoming more popular to eat meat-free at least part of the time.

While about 4% of Americans are full-time vegetarians, with about half of those also vegan, a recent poll by the Vegetarian Resource Group found that 46% of respondents say they always or sometimes eat vegetarian meals when dining out. The top reason? Health.

Although vegetarian eating does have a stellar health reputation, recent news has focused on what could be bad about vegetarian diets and more stringent vegan plans, including reports of stroke risk, harms to brain health, hair loss, and depression.

So, are there downsides to these supposedly healthy eating patterns?

"For generally healthy people, I don't see any reason that eating a vegetarian diet is risky to health," says ...