Vegetarian Nutrition - Benefits of A Vegetarian Diet

Benefits of A Vegetarian Diet

Vegetarian diets are usually rich in carbohydrates, omega-6 fatty acids, dietary fiber, carotenoids, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium and magnesium. They usually contain lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein.

The Oxford Vegetarian Study showed that the health of vegetarians compares favourably with that of meat-eaters (excluding pescetarians). British vegetarians have lower death rates than non-vegetarians, although this is at least partly due to non-dietary lifestyle factors, such as a low prevalence of smoking and the generally high socioeconomic status of vegetarians, or to aspects of the diet other than the avoidance of meat and fish.

Loma Linda University School of Public Health has conducted three cohort studies that identify the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. The University is a Seventh-day Adventist health science institution. The first study, funded by the US Public Health Service in 1958 and limited to Adventists in California, included many vegetarians. The next cohort of California Adventists, the Adventist Health Study-1 (AHS-1), collected data from 1974 to 1976. From 2002 to 2007 the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) collected dietary data from 96,000 church members from the United States and Canada. Many scientific articles have been published on the health and nutrition properties of a vegetarian diet from these cohort studies. The most recent AHS-2 study includes findings on metabolic syndrome, Vitamin D absorption and type-2 diabetes

The 2010 version of Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services every five years, states that

In prospective studies of adults, compared to non-vegetarian eating patterns, vegetarian-style eating patterns have been associated with improved health outcomes—lower levels of obesity, a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and lower total mortality. Several clinical trials have documented that vegetarian eating patterns lower blood pressure.

On average, vegetarians consume a lower proportion of calories from fat (particularly saturated fatty acids); fewer overall calories; and more fiber, potassium, and vitamin C than do non-vegetarians. Vegetarians generally have a lower body mass index. These characteristics and other lifestyle factors associated with a vegetarian diet may contribute to the positive health outcomes that have been identified among vegetarians.

Vegetarians may avoid the negative health effects of red meat: A 1999 meta-study of five studies comparing vegetarian and non-vegetarian mortality rates in Western countries found that in comparison with regular meat eaters, mortality from ischemic heart disease was 34% lower in people who ate fish but not meat (pescetarians), 34% lower in ovo-lacto vegetarians, 26% lower in vegans and 20% lower in occasional meat eaters.

Doctors Dean Ornish, T. Colin Campbell, John A. McDougall, Caldwell Esselstyn and Neal D. Barnard claim that high animal fat and protein diets, such as the standard American diet, are detrimental to health. They also state that a lifestyle change incorporating a low fat vegetarian or vegan diet could not only prevent various degenerative diseases, such as coronary artery disease, but reverse them.

Studies of cancer have not shown clear differences in cancer rates between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. There is evidence that vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index, lower risk of obesity, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower homocysteine levels, lower risk of high blood pressure, and lower risk of type 2 diabetes. One large prospective study found that non-meat-eaters had only half the risk of meat eaters of requiring an emergency appendectomy.

Vegetarians are less likely to die by choking on food since the most common food to obstruct the airway is fish, which caused about 4,500 accidents a year in the UK as of 1998. Meat, poultry and bones were cited as the next three most common causes of choking, followed by sweets and non-food objects.