How to translate "being a"?

Question

I'm aware German doesn't have a gerund like the English language does, so I was just wondering how you could translate "being a" as in "being a vegetarian may cause health problems"? Would "als" work here?

Answer 1

There are different ways you could say that in German, and yes, a sentence with "als" would be one option. Here are some examples:

Als Vegetarier kann man Gesundheitsprobleme haben. (not my favorite one, though)

Vegetarier können oft Gesundheitsprobleme haben. (better)

Sich vegetarisch zu ernähren, kann oft zu Gesundheitsproblemen führen. (best)

Answer 2

I would probably re-work your sentence structure here and try to say what you are saying in a different way. It doesn't work as well in English, but I would probably say something along the lines of "Wenn Mann ein Vegetarier ist, dann Mann die Gesundheitsprobleme könnte haben" which directly translated would be "When you are a vegetarian, you could have health problems"