Even the Utah Beef Council admits: "Several epidemiological studies show that vegetarians have lower morbidity and mortality from chronic degenerative diseases." Today, vegetarians make up only about two percent of the population, but every day more people stop eating red meat or try their first bite of tofu. Apart from ethics, what are the main reasons why people turn away from meat? Health and ecology.
Lower incidence of disease among vegetarians
Hundreds of different studies agree that vegetarians who eat a balanced diet have lower rates of coronary artery disease, hypertension, obesity and some cancers. Registered dietitian Winston Craig says meat consumption costs Americans somewhere between $30 billion and $60 billion a year in medical expenses for hypertension, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, gallstones, obesity and meat-related illnesses. Craig says a vegetarian diet is associated with lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure and less obesity.
In 1997, the World Cancer Research Fund recommended a vegetarian diet to reduce the risk of cancer. Lifelong vegetarians have 24% less heart disease, while vegans have a staggering 57% less. A comprehensive study of a vegetarian religious group, Seventh-day Adventists, found that they had half the incidence of high blood pressure and diabetes, half the incidence of colon cancer, and two-thirds the incidence of arthritis and prostate cancer than other groups (2001). In addition, Cornell University reported that eating less meat did more to reduce osteoporosis than supplementing the diet with calcium.
Do you have to be completely vegetarian to benefit?
In 1999, a meta-analysis of several vegetarian and vegan mortality studies was conducted. The results of these studies were compared together and reanalyzed. The researchers concluded that even limiting meat in your diet had a significant effect on reducing disease rates. People who ate meat just once a week had a 20% lower rate of death from heart disease and a 10% reduction in overall mortality.
Those who ate only fish experienced up to a 34% reduction in heart disease deaths, while their overall mortality was reduced by 18%.
In the same vein, the more you reduce your consumption of animal products, the more you seem to benefit. Only 7% of vegans studied died of cancer (lung, stomach and colorectal cancer). Alarmingly, 19% of all deaths in the US are from cancer.
A vegetarian diet is good for the planet
Every year, meat eaters contribute to the livestock industry. This industry uses agricultural land that could produce human food to produce grain for cows. As most people know, cows produce large amounts of environmentally toxic methane. Cow farming also uses scarce water resources.
Vegetarianism and the rainforest
However, you may not know that eating meat also contributes to the destruction of rainforests. In an effort to make cheaper Big Macs and Whoppers, companies raise cattle in Central America, where labor and other costs are lower. Eager Central Americans are cutting down and burning their native rainforests to make way for the beef industry.
Vegetarianism and carbon dioxide emissions
Estimates show that a vegetarian diet saves 1.5 tons of greenhouse gases per person per year. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports that producing one calorie of animal protein requires ten times more fossil fuels than producing one calorie of plant protein. Wow! In addition, eating a vegan diet reduces more carbon dioxide emissions than driving a hybrid car, according to New Scientist.
Vegetarianism and water supplies
More disturbingly, every hamburger that comes from a rainforest cow required the destruction of roughly 55 square feet of rainforest. Additionally, studies show that one pound of beef requires 2,500 gallons of water. The water used to make one hamburger patty is enough for two weeks of daily showers.
You must be logged in to post a comment.