[889] in Vegetarian_Support_Group
hey, check this out
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (elsiedee@MIT.EDU)
Fri Apr 5 00:44:17 1996
From: elsiedee@MIT.EDU
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 96 00:43:35 -0500
To: vsg@MIT.EDU
The following is an excerpt from a new book, _Prevention and Therapy
of Cancer and Other Common Diseases: Alternative and Traditional
Approaches_ by Charles L. Sanders, Ph.D.
Part of it is on-line at http://www.owt.com/infomedix/. I thought I'd
send out the following, which I thought was pretty interesting.
I found a reference to the web site while browsing the
misc.education.medical newsgroup.
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Vegetarians. Vegetarian-type diets are associated with a decreased
incidence of untimely death from cancer and cardiovascular diseases
[18328, 18331]. Vegetarians eat no food of animal origin, while
lactovegetarians consume dairy products and lacto-ovovegetarians
consume diary products and eggs. Abstinence from the use of tobacco,
alcohol and caffeine often is associated with vegetarianism
[10837-10841]. Vegetarians consume less calories but more fiber and
complex carbohydrates than omnivores [10842-10843]. The recommended
daily amount of protein for a 128 pound women consuming a 2,000
calorie diet is 44 grams [10845]. The intake of a variety of
high-protein plant foods, such as grains, seeds, nuts and legumes
provides sufficient levels of essential amino acids even for pregnant
and lactating women [10837, 10842, 10844]. Only about 2 percent of the
US population call themselves vegetarians [10836, 10869].
Vegetarians with a wide variety of foods in their diet have adequate
or better intake of most vitamins than omnivores [10837, 10842, 10844,
10846, 10848, 10851]. Vegetarians have a higher plasma
-tocopherol/cholesterol ratio than omnivores [10847]. The use of
tobacco, alcohol and certain drugs may cause a vitamin B12 deficiency
in vegetarians and omnivores [10849]. The use of vitamin D-fortified
milk may be necessary to overcome vitamin D deficiency in some
vegetarians [10837, 10842]. A vegetarian diet usually contains
adequate iron and zinc [10844, 10846, 10850]. Vegetarians may have
lower serum ferritin levels than omnivores, but it does not result in
more frequent anemia [10852]. Vegetarians consistently have a lower
body weight than omnivores [10838-10840, 10842, 10844,
10853]. Vegetarians have lower sodium intake and higher potassium
intake in their diet [10839-10840]. Potassium supplementation of
vegetarians has little, if any, effect on blood pressure
[10854-10855]. The 1995 US government advisory panel's new
recommendations for healthy eating has recognized vegetarians for the
first time. The report revises the 1990 edition and recommends that
vegetarians, especially children, supplement their diet with vitamin
D, calcium, zinc, iron and B vitamins. Long-term vegetarians may
experiencing vitamin B12 deficiency resulting in mild stage anemia
related to megaloblastic anemia [18611]. Vegetarians experience
significantly less cancer, heart disease, gallstones, diabetes and
osteoporosis than omnivores [149-150, 792-794, 1211, 1213, 1578,
1632-1633, 1639, 1987, 2328, 3407, 4149, 6989, 10860,
10863-10865]. Cancer risk for male vegetarians was about 50 percent
less and 25 percent less for female vegetarians compared to meat
eaters.
