Vegetarian diet and longevity
"Animals are my friends, and I don't eat my friends."
-- George Bernard Shaw
THERE is no question that diet plays a very important role in the
development of cardiovascular diseases and some forms of cancer,
especially of the gastrointestinal tract. One particular diet -- one
high in saturated fat and cholesterol, and low in fiber -- consisting
mainly of red meats (pork, beef, non-skim dairy products, etc) and
eggs, has been branded as unhealthy. Voluminous clinical studies
have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that excess serum cholesterol,
specifically chronically elevated HDL (the bad cholesterol) and
triglycerides, is the culprit in the more than half a million deaths from
heart attack each year in the US alone. This translates to one person
dying from a cardiovascular illness every 60 seconds. And this does
not even include the mortality from cancer.
The culprit
Cholesterol is a sterol, a complex alcohol constituent of animal fats
and oils. If abnormally high in the blood stream, this substance forms
plaques, which adhere to the inner wall of arteries causing hardening
of the arteries and stenoses (blockages), many leading to heart attacks,
strokes, or poor leg circulation.
Cholesterol, in normal levels, is essential to health. The good cholesterol
is called High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), and the bad cholesterol is called
the Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL). For better health, a person should have
Total Cholesterol no higher than 150, HDL above 60, LDL below 100, and
Triglyceride level below 150. To be accurate and significant, the cholesterol
study should include these four, in a blood test called Lipid Profile.
Sources of cholesterol
While our liver produces (endogenous) cholesterol, the main source of
(exogenous) cholesterol in our body and the blood is from the food we eat.
Some of the food types that are high in cholesterol include egg yolk, pork,
duck, chicken skin, lamb, beef (and other red meats), butter, lard, and
other non-skim dairy products.
Omega-3 fatty acids
The good fats come from fish and are called fish oil or Omega-3 fatty acids.
These substances are a natural blood thinner that prevents blood clot
formation and minimizes hardening of the arteries. Thus, eating fish daily
reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke, even among those who are
diabetics and hypertensives (those with high blood pressure), provided
these conditions are treated and well-controlled.
The cholesterol factor
to treatment, have fewer complications from their illness, and have a better
prognosis if their total cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglycerides are normal,
compared to those whose lipid profile is out of whack.
Diet and longevity
The proponents of the vegetarian diet argue that studies have shown that
the longest-lived animals had low-calorie vegetarian diet, and that rats fed
high protein, high fat diet had the shortest life span. The studies of Dr. Paul
Dudley on the Hunzas of Pakistan, who have amazing longevity, showed
that they subsist on spartan and vegetarian diet of nuts, grains, fruits,
vegetables, and a little goat milk. Fresh and/or dried apricots are their
staple food. The Hunzas' lifespan is 140 years. While the inference is
clearly there, more extensive controlled clinical studies on human subjects
are needed to find out with certainty if vegetarian diet, although already
proven to be healthy, really improves longevity.
Vegetables and fruits
Vegetables and fruits have phytochemicals that are good for our body.
Twenty-three epidemiological studies have shown that diet rich in grains
and vegetables reduces the risk of colon cancer by 40 percent, and breast
cancer by 25 percent. Some of the hundreds of phytochemicals in fruits
and vegetables are: lycophene, ellagic acid, lutein, flavanoids, saponins,
monoterpenes, phthalides, phenols, ajoene, cassaicin, coumestrol,
genistein, sulforaphane, zeanthin. Our mothers were right in cajoling us to
eat vegetables and fruits while we were growing up. Too bad, most of us
didn't listen. But since we are now wiser and know better, let's educate
our own children and persuade them to eat more vegetables and fruits --
and less animal meat -- for better health. The incidence of cancers, heart
and kidney diseases, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity among
vegetarians is much lower than among meat-eaters.
Types of vegetarians
Vegetarians come in three forms: (1) Lacto-ovo vegetarians, whose diet
consists of vegetables, dairy products and eggs, no meat or flesh of any
kind (pork, beef, lamb, etc., poultry, fish and seafood); (2) Lacto-vegetarians
who do not eat eggs, but eat vegetables, fruits and milk; and, (3) Vegans
or pure vegetarians, who do not eat any food or food products of animal origin,
including milk and eggs, and subsist on vegetables, grains, nuts and fruits
only. Most vegans also do not buy or use animal products, such as those
made of leather, fur, feather, ivory, etc., all of which involves the killing of animals.
Imported from England
The Reverend William Metcalfe of England, together with his friend, Sylvester
Graham, a young Presbyterian minister and 40 other English church members,
brought the vegetarian way of life to the United States in 1817. For thousands of
years, being a vegetarian was a part of socio-cultural-religious practice around
the globe, most notably in the Far East. Many people around the world today
choose to be vegetarians for health reasons.
Vegetarian Who's Who
If you are a vegetarian, you're in good company. Some of the famous vegetarians
include Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, Buddha, Plutarch, John
Milton, Sir Isaac Newton, Mahatma Gandhi, The Dalai Lama, Benjamin Franklin,
Shakespeare, Vincent Van Gogh, Leo Tolstoy, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Voltaire,
Albert Schweitzer, George Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill,
Jean Jacques Rousseau, Rabindranath Tagore, Mark Twain, Robert Browning,
Linda and Paul McCartney, John Denver, Richard Gere, Kim Basinger, Steven
Spielberg, Cameron Diaz, Josh Hartnett…etc.
Man: A natural herbivore?
Was man supposed to be a plant-eater instead of a meat-eater? Yes,
according to several investigations and books on the subject. A. D. Andrews,
author of "Fit Food For Men," made an anatomical and structural comparison
between herbivores (plant-eating animals) and carnivores (meat-eating animals),
and came to the conclusion that man's teeth, salivary glands, quality of saliva,
long intestinal tract, absence of claws, are all similar to those of herbivores,
very much unlike those of carnivores. Thus, he argues that man is a natural
herbivore, and must eat what herbivores eat: vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains,
and not meat or flesh, in order to stay healthy. Staying away from what
herbivores should eat, and eating a lot of red meat, is unhealthy and is the
cause of most, if not all, of man's ailments, is also a well-respected
argument in the scientific community.
Strength, vigor and vitality
The belief that vegetarians are weak and sickly is a myth. Elephants, bulls,
cows, carabaos, and some dinosaurs (plateosaurus, brachiosaurus, etc.)
are a few of the strongest animals known to man -- all herbivores. Various
studies comparing athletes who are carnivores and herbivores revealed
astonishing findings: Vegetarian athletes fared 2 to 3 times better, with
greater endurance and better recovery time, compared to their meat-eating
counterparts in similar sport activities.
Vegetables with protein
Vegetarians get their protein from soybeans, lentils, kidney beans, lima and
pinto beans, black beans, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, peanuts, almonds,
cashew, sunflower seeds, and other nuts, broccoli and other vegetables,
wheat, grains, brown rice, potato, and eggs and dairy products. These
sources easily meet the daily requirement of between 60-80 grams of protein,
even for vegans. So, animal meat is not really essential for health and life.
posted by Unknown @ 3:57 PM
<< Home