Vegetarians live longer, healthier lives!

Compared to people who eat meat daily, vegetarians can look forward to a longer and healthier life.  In fact, vegetarians live about 7 years longer, and and those on a strict vegan diet with no animal products live about 15 years longer than meat eaters according to a study from Loma Linda University.

Red and processed meat intakes are associated with an increase in risk of cancer mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, and an overall increase in total mortality in both men and women, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. 

Important factors that are linked to a longer life expectancy are elimination of “bad” fats and the inclusion of a multitude of antioxidants to the diet. Vegetarians also tend to have lower BMI values (body mass index) which add years to life expectancy.  It is important to note that a healthy vegetarian diet would include more than 60% whole fruits and vegetables.

The leading cause of premature death in the U.S. is heart disease. This is associated with the consumption of animal fats, particularly from red meat. In reality, heart disease would be more aptly named “artery” disease, because it is the buildup of plaque in the arteries that ultimately leads to the demise of the heart. This is a condition that can actually be reversed or cured with adherence to a strict vegan diet. (Read more on the link between animal fat and heart disease.)

Another leading cause of premature death is cancer of all types, to include prostate cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and blood cancers. Numerous clinical studies have shown that vegetarians are far less likely to develop cancer of any type, but especially the types mentioned above.  You can find more info on the cancer-diet connection here.

Finally, obesity has become an epidemic and contributes substantially to a shortened lifespan. A healthy diet that consists mostly of vegetables and fruits will fill you up with substantially fewer calories than a diet high in animal fats and protein. Fewer calories translate to less or no weight gain and longer life expectancy.  The connection between meat consumption and obesity has been highlighted in numerous studies.

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• Heart disease is reversed with plant-based diet
• Still fancy the full English? Study links processed meat consumption to risk of early death

Studies link meat diets to male infertility.

Image via Wikipedia

Recent studies have concluded that vegetarian diets play an important role in the production of healthy sperm, whereas diets high in animal fat contribute to male infertility:

• A diet of red meat had a negative impact on the sperm implantation rate according to a study published by Brazilian scientists  in Fertility and Sterility, November 2011. This study also concluded consumers of red meat had a diminished chance of pregnancy.
• A 2011 study by the Harvard School of Public Health links a diet that includes high intakes of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, to healthier sperm.  Conversely, diets heavy in red meats and processed grains had a detrimental effect on sperm motility (the ability to swim towards the egg). 
• A 2005 study from the University of Rochester concluded that infertile men were twice as likely to have low intake of fruits and vegetables compared to fertile men.
• Researchers in Spain have also noted a relationship between food intake and male infertility in a 2009 study. They noted that frequent intake of animal fat such as milk and red meat has a negative effect on sperm quality, whereas high consumption of fruits and vegetables maintain and improve sperm quality.

The causal relationship is unknown, however, scientists suspect the beneficial effects of natural antioxidants found in whole fruits, vegetables and grains may help to keep sperm healthy.

Men who regularly consume meat also have higher levels of PBDE, a substance used in flame retardants, and known to cause infertility.  Studies in Canada have found significant PBDE contamination in red meat, poultry, butter, cheese and salmon.

For more information:

• Environ Health Perspect. 2009 Oct;117(10):1520-5. Epub 2009 Jun 18. Diet contributes significantly to the body burden of PBDEs in the general U.S. population. Fraser AJ, Webster TF, McClean MD.
• Boston University School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. afraser@bu http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100119121434.htm.edu
• MLewis V, Kochman L, Herko R, Brewer K, Andolina E, Song G. Dietary antioxidants and sperm quality in infertile men. Paper presented at: Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine; October, 2006; New Orleans
• (Fertil Steril_ 2009;91:812–8. _2009 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.)
•  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001502821102677X

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Processed meat doubles the risk of Type II Diabetes.

Image by Dinner Series via FlickrDid you know that eating just two strips of bacon or one hot dog a day will DOUBLE your risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus? A study published in 2011 by the Harvard School of Public Health shows a very strong link between consumption of processed meats and type 2 diabetes.  This was a huge study, consisting of 442,101 participants—almost 30,000 of which went on to develop type 2 diabetes during the study.

Processed meats include items such as hot dogs, packaged lunch meat, deli meats such as pastrami and breakfast items such as sausage and bacon.  Only a single serving of one of these items a day will double-up your odds of eventually becoming diabetic.  Even if one avoids processed meats altogether, the consumption of a single 100 gram serving (3.5 oz.) of unprocessed red meat each day, such as a hamburger or steak, also increases diabetes risk by almost 20%. On the other end of the scale, the Harvard study shows that replacing red and processed meat with healthier proteins, such as nuts or whole grains, can significantly lower the risk.

What are the consequences of diabetes?  It is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, and amputations of legs or feet not due to accidental cause.  

Here’s a scary fact:  According to the CDC, if current trends hold, 1 out of 3 people will have type 2 diabetes by 2050.  Just last year, almost 2 million new cases were diagnosed.  If these trends are not reversed by shifting the world to a healthier plant-based diet, the current health care systems will be overwhelmed.

Type 2 is the most common type of diabetes accounting for 90-95% of all cases. It is caused when the body loses its ability to produce and use insulin, which is the hormone that converts sugars into energy. When this happens, glucose and fats remain in the blood, and over time will cause the body to degenerate.

It is suspected that the nitrates used to preserve processed meats as well as the higher amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol in both processed and unprocessed red meat are responsible for triggering type 2 diabetes. 

  

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• Red Meat Linked to Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes (baktoedenherbalproducts.wordpress.com)
• Red meat linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes (ctv.ca)
• Daily Hot Dog http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2011-releases/red-meat-type-2-diabetes.htmlMay Feed Diabetes Risk (nlm.nih.gov)
•  http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/AAG/ddt.htm

• Having bacon and sausages daily dramatically ups type 2 diabetes risk (news.bioscholar.com)

Diets high in animal protein increase risk of breast cancer.

Image via WikipediaWomen who frequently eat meat substantially increase their risk for development of breast cancer.  Countries with the highest rates of consumption of animal protein correspondingly have the highest rates of breast cancer.  A Japanese study showed that affluent women who consumed the highest amount of meat were 8.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer than poorer women who rarely, if ever, ate meat. (Hirayama T. Epidemiology of breast cancer with special reference to the role of diet. Prev Med. 1978;7:173-195).  Many other studies come to the same conclusion, as cited by The Cancer Project, sponsored by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

How meat contributes to increased cancer risk continues to be studied.  It is suspected that the residue of growth hormones that are used liberally by the cattle and dairy industries may contribute to the risks.  Other known and proven risks are the HCA’s, a family of carcinogenic compounds, which are produced when meat is cooked at high temperatures, such as grilling and frying.  Lastly, the high content of saturated fat in meat products is known to be responsible for increased incidence of most types of human cancers. 

A diet rich in vegetables, fruits and legumes, has been shown to help protect women from breast cancer.  (European Journal of Cancer, Volume 36, Issue 5, March 2000, Pages 636-646).  In particular, cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cauliflower, have a strong protective effect.  A recent study also showed walnuts to be protective. For women recovering from breast cancer, a diet high in vegetables and fruits, combined with exercise, improved survival rates by 50%.

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Meat consumption contributes to obesity.

Obesity has become a major health hazard all over the world. As the world’s consumption of meat products increases, so do the rates of obesity.  According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) over 2/3 of the population in the United States over the age of 20 is now considered to be overweight or obese.  

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeMichelle Obama has recently made an effort to publicize the issue of childhood obesity in America. To her credit, she has made headway in highlighting the importance of increasing our consumption of fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, with the huge lobbying power of meat production industries, it would be politically incorrect for her to point out that meat consumption is a major contributor to the obesity epidemic.

In a 2009 study at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, those who consumed the highest amount of meat per day had the highest percent of central obesity (belly fat), and those who consumed the lowest amount of meat accordingly had the lowest percentage of central obesity. (“Meat Consumption Is Associated with Obesity and Central Obesity among U.S. Adults” was written by Youfa Wang and May A. Beydoun.)  Comparing the Body Mass Index (BMI) of meat eaters, vegans and vegetarians, the meat eaters have the highest BMI and vegans have the lowest BMI.  In the middle were vegetarians who consumed dairy products and fish eaters (www.medscape.com/viewarticle/702782.)

“People who switch to a vegan diet typically lose about a pound a week—and this healthful prescription for weight loss doesn’t require any portion control or calorie counting,” according to Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., director of nutrition education for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

Asian countries that have a history of traditional vegetarian diets have doubled their meat consumption in the recent years, and it is not surprising that the rates of obesity have correspondingly increased as well.   It is the consumption of higher amounts of fat and protein, and a decrease of dietary fiber from fruits, vegetables and grains that leads to this phenomenon.

Daily intake of red meat can rob the body of calcium.

Image by Theen ... via Flickr

There seems to be an ongoing controversy regarding the role of a diet high in animal protein and bone health. There have been several recent studies that elaborate on this topic.  However, in sifting through the scientific literature, it is a well-established fact that protein does cause the body to lose calcium.  One study in particular, the Harvard Nurses Health Study, found that those who consumed five or more servings of red meat per week had significantly increased fracture risk.  Those who received their protein from plant sources had no increased risk. (Protein Consumption and Bone Fractures in Women, Feskanich et al. 1996, American Journal of Epidemiology, 143, 472).  

The question is—does plant protein have the same bone-robbing effect as animal protein?  Some studies, as the one mentioned above, show that plant protein does not increase the risk of fractures but there are contradictory studies on this subject.  Some of the confusion and controversy about animal protein vs. plant protein and bone loss is partly due to the fact that the meat, milk, egg, and feed-crop production industries support many of these papers through grants. It is not surprising that the conclusion of papers sponsored by these self-serving industries contain biased opinions about the superiority of animal protein.  

In reality, there are many ingredients that go into the making of healthy bones—not just protein.  The alkalizing effects of a diet plentiful in fruits and vegetables offset the calcium-stealing effects of protein.  To that end, vegetarians need to include in their diet foods rich in calcium and other essential minerals, make sure vitamin D levels are high, and there is increasing evidence that weight-bearing exercises are especially important in keeping bones healthy and strong.

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Meat and dairy cause increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

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A recent Swedish study has shown that eating just one sausage, or two pieces of bacon a day, will increase one's chance of getting pancreatic cancer by 19%.  More here.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the more lethal forms of cancer.  The awareness of this deadly disease has been raised by its notable victims, to include Steve Jobs, Patrick Swayze, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,  Joan Crawford, and Michael Landon, to name a few.     

The pancreas produces the enzymes that break down the fat and protein in meat, so it is not a far stretch to hypothesize that overloading the digestive track with a diet rich in meat will overtax the pancreas and make it susceptible to cancer.  A prospective 2009 study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed that risks of pancreatic cancer were directly related to the intake of dietary fat of animal origin.  This was a huge study, with the dietary intake of over 500,000 people being reviewed.

Only 4% of patients with pancreatic cancer survive more than five years after their disease is diagnosed. It would seem that this is a particularly viral and aggressive type of cancer, but in reality, pancreatic cancer cells take years to mature to the point of detection.  Research published in the journal Nature reveals that pancreatic cancer takes 20 years to grow to the point where it is diagnosed by conventional medical methods.   This is actually good news, giving people several years to change their nutritional intake patterns before the point of no return.

Once at the point of detection, the cancer is so advanced, there is little that can be done to stave it off.  However, in the preceding twenty years before detection, can a vegetarian diet reverse or even cure this deadly disease?  There is little research into this area (why would the cancer industry waste money on a simple and inexpensive cure?) but one study shows a constituent of cruciferous vegetables such as watercress called phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) stopped pancreatic cancer from developing in a hamster model that was given a cancer-causing agent (a carcinogen known as BOP) (Nishikawa A et al 2004). Other studies show that vitamins A, C, and E, as well as selenium and curcumin were toxic to tumor cells but not to normal cells.

There are reports of advanced pancreatic cancer patients who made a complete recovery through diet alone. Some long-term pancreatic cancer survivors credit the Gerson diet for saving their lives. This diet regime consists of a strict regimen of organic juicing, coffee enemas, and a supplementation program.  One of these survivors recounts her success story on the Health Explorers radio program (http://www.healthyfoundations.com/pancreaticsurvivor.html).  As amazing as her story is, it is important to note that the Gerson web site does point out that the diet is not very successful with pancreatic cancer patients who have already compromised their system with chemotherapy.  Those who go to the Gerson Clinic before undergoing traditional cancer treatments with chemo and radiation have the best results.

To learn more:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v467/n7319/full/nature09515.html

http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/101/14/1001.abstract

http://www.naturalnews.com/030219_pancreatic_cancer_tumors.html#ixzz1bnlwsU2f

Related article:

• You might want to really think twice about eating that hot dog; or any processed meat. (inquisitr.com)