Scientific Power of the Vegetarian Diet

For Instance, Osteoporosis:

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This degenerative disease causes people (disproportionately female) to lose bone mass as they age, which in turn leads to bone fractures and other painful injuries. Osteoporosis affects an estimated seventy-five million people in Europe, the United States, and Japan. One-third of women over fifty will experience these fractures and twenty percent of men. Thirty to fifty percent of women and fifteen to thirty percent of men will suffer a fracture related to osteoporosis in their lifetime. Disastrously, forty percent of the people who break their hips never walk independently again, and twenty percent die within a year from related complications. The medical cost of treating osteoporosis is enormous—and rising fast.

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Like the tireless hero in a superhero movie, the vegetarian diet once again comes to the rescue, providing strong protection against this devastating disease. How does this work? Scientists discovered that we use a great deal of calcium in the process of assimilating and excreting excess animal protein—which does not occur with plant protein. This calcium loss is far greater in individuals whose diets contain high levels of animal protein, including dairy products. Many nutritional scientists suspect that everybody absorbs calcium differently and while it may not be true for everyone, for a sizable portion of us, meat and dairy consumption actually requires calcium for digestion.

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In fact, only thirty percent of the calcium in a cup of milk is absorbed by the body. This is a well-known nutritional fact the dairy industry does NOT want you to know. Ironically, meat and dairy eaters are the most often the ones in danger of a calcium deficiency.

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Here is the main point: calcium is far more easily absorbed from plant sources: fresh vegetables, legumes, grains, soymilk, other vegetable milks, and nuts. Your body gets twice as much calcium from a cup of broccoli than a cup of milk! This dramatic fact is revealed in numerous studies and born out in large population studies.

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For instance, the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, which included over 57,000 women, found that women who consumed the most calcium from dairy products had almost double the rate of hip fractures compared to women who got the least amount of calcium from dairy sources. Another study found that vegetarian women between fifty and eighty-nine years old lost eighteen percent of their bone mass, while a control group of non-vegetarian women suffered a thirty-five percent bone loss.[1] And it stands to reason that osteoporosis-type hip fractures occur more frequently in countries with diets high in animal protein.[2]

 

Other Unpleasant Health Conditions:

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Gallstones and kidney stones are composed of cholesterol, bile pigments, and calcium salts. Vegetarians are largely protected from these painful conditions. Indeed, after controlling for age and weight, a meat eater is twice as likely to get gallstones as a vegetarian.[3] [4]

 

Even Asthma, maybe especially Asthma:

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A famous Swedish study demonstrated that individuals with asthma practicing a vegan diet for a full year have a marked decrease in the need for medications and in the frequency and severity of asthma attacks. For the participants in this study, the vegetarian/vegan diet was a miracle cure.

 

Arthritis Anyone?

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Similarly, a plant-based diet has been shown to reduce both the pain and symptoms of both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis with dramatic results, once again working far better than our best medicine.[5] [6] [7] A popular yoga teacher claimed she could watch a person’s yoga practice and tell if they were a meat eater. Why? Meat inhibits flexibility. Joint health and ease of movement become ever more important as we age and a plant-based diet enhances these blessings.

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"If we are reasonably sure of what our data from these studies are telling us, then why must we be reticent about recommending a diet which we know is safe and healthy? ...I personally have great faith in the public. We must tell them that a diet of roots, stems, seeds, flowers, fruit, and leaves is the healthiest diet and the only diet we can promote, endorse, and recommend."

—T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Director, The China Health Study

 

Moving on to Old Age—Alzheimer’s and other Dementias:

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How our bodies thrive on a vegetarian diet throughout our life, and like a savings account left to accrue compound interest, we cash in big time towards the end of our lives. Wellness matters most during our last decade on earth, but few people contemplate this until it is upon them. Our last years are also frequently a time of accelerated spiritual growth, where we reap the rewards from the accumulated wisdom and spiritual-religious practices of our lives. Nothing ensures this more than the fruits of a plant-based diet.

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However, Alzheimer’s and other dementias continue to increase throughout the world, robbing people of the treasure of their last years and sadly, most people reading this have a close relative or family friend with Alzheimer’s or dementia. An estimated twenty-four million people currently suffer some form of dementia, a number that is only expected to rise in the next twenty-five years with the world’s aging populations. There is overwhelming evidence that most Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias follow the familiar pattern of cardiovascular disease—both are strongly linked to obesity and diabetes.

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The vegetarian diet offers substantial protection against these devastating old-age diseases.[8] Other studies have shown that risk for Alzheimer’s is greater in people who consume diets high in cholesterol and saturated fats and low in fiber, vegetables, and fruits. The neuroprotective properties of a plant-based diet show up predominantly in vegetarian countries like India, where over eighty percent of the population does not eat beef and most are vegetarian. Here, a much lower percentage of the population is afflicted by Alzheimer’s (controlling, of course, for the age of the population).

 

“I am on the verge of 85 and still work as hard as ever. I have lived quite long enough and I am trying to die; but I simply cannot do it. A single beef-steak would finish me; but I cannot bring myself to swallow it. I am oppressed with a dread of living forever. That is the only disadvantage of vegetarianism.”

—George Bernard Shaw, playwright

 

George Bernard Shaw wittily articulates the conclusion of countless studies that demonstrate vegetarians live longer than meat eaters. The famous Loma Linda University study of 27,000 Seventh-day Adventists found a lower age-adjusted death rate for vegetarians than that of the general population. These vegetarians were less likely to die from heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and all cancers than the general population. Not only do vegetarians live longer, but those extra years will most likely be spent in good health.

 

“Vegetarians have the best diet. They have the lowest rate of coronary disease of any group in the country. They have a fraction of our heart attack rate and they have only 40 percent of our cancer rate.”

—William Castelli, M.D., Director, “Framingham Heart Study,” (the longest-running epidemiological study in medical history.)

 

For all those new to a vegetarian diet or interested in a brief but thorough presentation of basic vegetarian nutrition, please see the addendum at the end of this book.

 

[1] Sellmeyer, D.E., Stone, K.L., Sebastian, A., Cummings, S.R. (2001). A high ratio of dietary animal to vegetable protein increases the rate of bone loss and the risk of fracture in postmenopausal women. Study of Osteoporotic Fractures Research Group. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 73(1):118-22.

[2] Abelow, B.J., Holford, T.R., Insogna, K.L. (1992). Cross-cultural association between dietary animal protein and hip fracture: a hypothesis. Calcified Tissue International. 50(1):14-8.

[3] Kratzer, W., Kachele, V., Mason, R.A., Muche, R., Hay, B., Wiesneth, M., Hill, V., Beckh, K., Adler, G. (1997). Gallstone prevalence in relation to smoking, alcohol, coffee consumption, and nutrition. The Ulm Gallstone Study. Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology. 32:953–8.

[4] Hughes, J., Norman, R.W. (1992). Diet and calcium stones. Can. Med. Assoc. J. 146:137-143.

[5] Clinton, C.M., O’Brien, S., Law, J., Renier, C.M., Wendt, M.R. (2015). Whole-Foods, Plant-Based Diet Alleviates the Symptoms of Osteoarthritis. Arthritis. 2090-1984.

[6] Kjeldsen-Kragh, J., Haugen, M., Borchgrevink, C.F., Laerum, E., Eek, M., Mowinkel, P., Hovi, K., Førre, O. (1991). Controlled trial of fasting and one-year vegetarian diet in rheumatoid arthritis. The Lancet. 338(8772):899-902.

[7] McDougall, J., Bruce, B., Spiller, G., Westerdahl, J., McDougall, M. (2002). Effects of a very low-fat, vegan diet in subjects with rheumatoid arthritis. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 8(1):71-5.

[8] Gieem, P., Beeson, W.L., Fraser, G.E. (1993). The Incidence of Dementia and Intake of Animal Products: Preliminary Findings from the Adventist Health Study. Neuroepidemiology. 12:28–36.