Many people today are choosing a vegetarian diet for a variety of reasons. Some are looking for healthy alternatives to animal products, others choose a vegetarian way of life for ethical reasons. Some may have milk and dairy allergies. Whatever your reasons, a vegetarian diet can be balanced, healthy and satisfying.
Vegetarians avoid meat, fish and poultry. Those who include dairy products and eggs in their diets are called lacto-ovo vegetarians while vegans eat no meat, fish, poultry, eggs, or dairy. Benefits of a vegetarian diet can include a healthier heart, lower blood pressure, controlling diabetes and helping prevent cancer.
A Healthy Heart
Vegetarians generally have much lower cholesterol levels than meat eaters and heart disease is less common. Vegetarian meals are typically low in saturated fat. The type of protein in a vegetarian diet may be another important advantage. Many studies show that replacing animal protein with plant protein lowers blood cholesterol levels even if the amount and type of fat in the diet stays the same. Studies show that a low fat, vegetarian diet has a clear advantage over other diets.
Lower Blood Pressure
A number of studies dating back to the early 1920s show vegetarians have lower blood pressure than non vegetarians. Some studies have also shown that adding meat to a vegetarian diet raises blood pressure levels rapidly and significantly. A vegetarian diet also reduces salt intake. When patients with high blood pressure begin a vegetarian diet, many are able to eliminate any need for medication.
Controlling Diabetes
Recent studies on diabetes show a vegetarian diet high in complex carbohydrates and fibre (which are found only in plant foods) and low in saturated fat is the best dietary prescription for controlling diabetes. A diet based on vegetables, legumes, fruits and whole grains, which is also low in fat and sugar, can lower blood sugar levels and often reduce or even eliminate the need for medication. Since individuals with diabetes have a higher risk of heart disease, avoiding saturated fat is important and a vegetarian diet is one of the best ways to do this.
Cancer Prevention
A vegetarian diet helps prevent cancer. Studies show death rates from cancer in vegetarians are 25 to 50 percent lower than the general population’s cancer-death rates. Breast cancer rates are dramatically lower in countries where typical diets are plant-based. When women from those countries adopt a Western, meat-based diet, their rates of breast cancer soar. Vegetarians also have significantly lower rates of colon cancer than meat eaters. Colon cancer is more closely linked to meat consumption than any other dietary factor.
Why Vegetarian Diets Help Protect Against Cancer
Firstly, they are lower in fat and higher in fibre than meat-based diets. But other factors are also important. Plants contain other cancer-fighting substances called phytochemicals, such as betacarotene and lycopene, and vegetarians usually consume more of these plant pigments. This might help explain why they have less lung and prostate cancers. Other studies have suggested diets low in dairy produce may reduce the risk of prostate and ovarian cancers.
Some anticancer properties of a vegetarian diet have not yet been fully explained. For example, researchers are not quite sure why vegetarians have more NK cells, white blood cells called natural killer cells, which are able to seek out and destroy cancer cells.
References: T. Colin Campbell PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II. The China Study. 2005. BenBella Books: Dallas
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