Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Title page
Contents
Introduction 5
Bibliography 35
Further Information 37
Introduction
Roughly, about 6% of the world’s population is vegetarian, a trend that is growing. Yet study
after study shows that vegetarians are less healthy than their non-vegetarians peers. Why is
this so? Surely a diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables should make you healthier, not less
healthy, so what’s going on?
This book answers these questions. In the light of extraordinary new research it is becoming
apparent that most vegetarians are in fact less healthy than their non-vegetarian peers. By
“peers” we mean people of a similar socio-economic and cultural background. Any valid
comparison between vegetarians and non-vegetarians must compare apples with apples. For
example, any study that compared an affluent health-conscious vegetarian from California
with an impoverished meat eater from the slums of Calcutta is not likely to be meaningful.
The research that is now coming to light is clearly showing that compared to their non-
vegetarians peers, vegetarians are more at risk of cancer, depression, and other ailments as
explained in this book. But what’s the cause? The answer will surprise you – it has nothing
to do with meat and fish consumption and it has nothing to do with leading a so called
healthy life style. Several studies have compared health-conscious vegetarians with health-
conscious non-vegetarians from the same socio-economic cohort. In other words, scientists
have compared apples with apples so as to validate the results and they have come up with
some surprising conclusions.
The term “vegetarian” as used in this book is a person who includes some animal produce in
the diet (e.g. cheese, eggs, milk, etc.) but not meat or fish. A “non-vegetarian” is taken to
mean a person who includes some animal produce, meat and fish in the diet.
This book is not “anti” or “pro” any particular life-style and does not sit in judgment over
what people should eat. The sole purpose of this book is to set out the facts and answer the
question: why are vegetarians less healthy than other people?
Part One of the book explodes the myth that vegetarians are healthier than their non-
vegetarian peers. The evidence for this is taken from peer-reviewed studies published in
mainstream medical journals.
Part Two explains the vegetarian paradox. How is it that many studies show the vegetarian
diet to be super healthy yet most vegetarians are seen to be less healthy than their non-
vegetarian peers?
Part Three explains why the vegetarian diet is fatally flawed and how to resolve this paradox
without resorting to a non-vegetarian diet.
This is a book for anybody interested in protecting their good health. Whether or not you are
vegetarian, you are urged to read this book for the sake of your health and the health of those
close to you.
• Another study found a clear association with Alzheimer’s Disease when both vitamins
(B12 and folate) were taken into account, especially among the cognitively intact
subjects. 33
The first manifestation of vitamin B-12 deficiency is usually mental disturbances. These
range from abnormal mood swings, mental slowness and memory problems, through
hallucinations and depression to severe psychosis. Physical symptoms include: rapid
heartbeat, cardiac pain, facial swellings, jaundice, weakness and fatigue.
Vitamin B12 is one of the major vitamin deficiencies that vegetarians suffer from. Indeed,
the typical vegetarian diet is more susceptible to vitamin B12 deficiency than just about any
other kind of diet – even more susceptible than a vegan diet!
Estrogen dominance is at the root of much ill-health and obesity and it causes a host of
metabolic disturbances. The list of illnesses caused by estrogen dominance is almost endless.
These include all the illnesses associated with being overweight, ranging from cancer and
diabetes to heart disease and stroke.
Of the other positive correlations, animal source calcium had an R value of .62 and p=.0026.
This would support the contention that dairy hormones are a risk for human breast cancer (8).
Insulin-like growth factor (ISGF-1), present in both cow milk and human milk is known to
stimulate the growth of human breast cancer cells (9, 10).
The vegetarian diet has been shown to lower the level of estradiol (11) (an estrogen) and raise
sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels (12). Some forms of breast cancer are estrogen-
receptor (ER) sensitive and the phytoestrogens from plant foods (13, 14), particularly soy
products, are thought to block ERs in a manner similar to tamoxifen. Lower post-treatment
ER-rich breast cancer survival rates in women who reported higher dietary fat intake have
been found.(15)
Although the most recent pooled-analysis of fat intake as a risk factor for breast cancer
produced negative results (16), a case-control study (17) conducted in Italy on 2,569 incident
cases of breast cancer and 2,588 controls found an odds ratio (OR) of 1.22 for saturated fat,
and 0.89 for unsaturated fat.
Intestinal cancer also correlates with animal food consumption (R=.83, p<.001) (18).
Suggested explanations here are that meat increases the rate of carcinogenic bile acid
formation (19), lack of fiber has an adverse effect on colonic bacteria (20), and additionally
lengthens the intestinal transit time so that both dietary carcinogens in meat (21), and
endogenous ones (the bile acids), are in contact with the intestinal mucosa for a longer
period.
C. Lung Cancer.
This latter finding is consistent with the hypothesis that consumption of milk lactose may be
a dietary risk factor for ovarian cancer in women with a an inherited deficiency of the enzyme
galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase. (29). Additionally, insulin-like growth factor-I
(IGF-I) present in both cow and human milk, is elevated in the cystic fluid of ovarian cancer
(30). A study from Canada (31) implicated saturated fat and egg cholesterol consumption as
risk factors for ovarian cancer, with reduced risk from vegetable fiber consumption.
Surprisingly, multiple regression analysis of prostate cancer incidence (32) versus the same
dietary and social variables showed the highest correlation with animal source calcium intake
(R=.74, p<.01) (33), which in general means dairy products. Animal source Calories came in
second and plant protein had the highest negative correlation coefficient (R= -.49, p=.0052).
This finding is consistent with a cohort study of 20,316 men of various ethnicities
interviewed between 1975 and 1980 in Hawaii (34) that found beef and milk consumption to
increase risk for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer, once again, is a sex hormone dependent
cancer (35). A more recent study again identified animal source fat as a risk factor for
prostate cancer, particularly in blacks (36).
The World Cancer Research Fund (37) recommends a "predominantly plant-based diet" and
lists fruits and vegetables as [convincing, probable, or possible] risk reducers for cancer of
the bladder, breast, cervix, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, larynx, liver, lung, mouth
and pharynx, ovary, pancreas, prostate, rectum, stomach, and thyroid. This organization
recommends five or more portions of vegetables and fruit daily, and "if eaten at all, red meat
to provide no more than 10% of total energy" (Calories).
There are biochemical studies that suggest how plant foods protect against cancer. Since
DNA damage is crucial to cancer, its cause and prevention should be reviewed. Important in
current thinking is the effect of lipid peroxidation in the generation of free radicals, small
molecular fragments of fat with incorporated oxygen. Lipid peroxidation is a branching chain
reaction with devastating side effects due to the ability of the oxidized fat fragments to
covalently bond with DNA, damaging its structure and function.
There is a large category of antioxidants, many of them man-made such as the food
preservatives BHA and BHT. Naturally occurring antioxidants include vitamins C, E, the
carotenoids (lycopene-[tomatoes], luteins and beta-carotene [leafy greens]) ellagic acid (4-
carbon ring metabolic artifacts found in berries) (38), and saponins ( plant sterols attached to
a short chain of sugars) (39). All of these substances help to quench the free radical chain
reaction.
The Vegetarian Paradox 28 © 2009 DeliveredOnline.com
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Not all of these antioxidants are listed in the USDA database, but of the ones that are, I sorted
by nutrient/Calorie ratio to find the highest plant source and the highest animal source for -
carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E. Included were 232 foods including beans, dairy, eggs,
fish, fruit, grains, meat, nuts, poultry, and vegetables. Sorting by nutrient/weight ratio
produces roughly similar results.
Clearly animal source food is no anti-oxidant match for plant foods. It's likely that by the
time animal source food reaches the table the animal's tissues have already utilized most of
the anti-oxidants that were synthesized by the plants the animal ate. A diet high in plant food,
particularly fruits and vegetables, will be high in these anti-oxidants, thus protective against
cancer. A diet high in animal food will be low in these anti-oxidants, since the food itself is
low and its presence in the diet displaces the fruits and vegetables that might otherwise be
present.
It should be noted that of 20 flours, breads, grains, and grain products included in the 232
foods, all were well below 100% of the RDA/Calorie for these three antioxidants with the
exception of wheat germ oil (vitamin E). This may bear slightly on a recent study showing no
reduction in colon cancer by high fiber intake (40). Admittedly grains are high in fiber, but
they are not high in cancer-protective anti-oxidants. The respondents with high fiber intake
may have been consuming large amounts of cereals and grains as they had been advised to,
but the cancer-preventive agents are mostly in fruits and vegetables. The same grain products
added in 100 gram increments and averaged, also proved to have less than 100% of the
RDA/Calorie for calcium, folate, and riboflavin. Ninety three vegetables treated in the same
manner were well over 100% RDA/Cal for 18 common nutrients except for vitamin B12 and
had 800% of the RDA/Cal for -carotene, 1250% for vitamin C, and 300% for Vitamin E.
Fiber, plentiful in grains, is not a nutrient since it is not absorbed. It acts, in the words of one
medical editor, as "a sort of colonic broom" and while this may be advantageous, a repeat of
the study, this time using fruits and vegetables, rather than fiber, as dietary intake markers
might produce more favorable results.
Steinmetz and Potter (41) report that the cancer protective substances in fruits and vegetables
include, in addition to antioxidants, the following: allium compounds (diallyl sulfide, allyl
methyl trisulfide), coumarins, dietary fiber, dithiolthiones, flavonoids (quercetin,
kaempferol), folic acid, indole-3-carbinol, inositol hexaphosphate, genistein, biochanin A,
isothiocyanates, sulphorophane, d-limonene, phytosterols, protease inhibitors, and selenium.
The means by which these substances protect against cancer cell initiation include effects on
cell differentiation, increased activity of enzymes that detoxify carcinogens, blocked
formation of nitrosamines, altered estrogen metabolism, altered colonic milieu (including
bacterial flora, bile acid composition, pH, fecal bulk), preserved integrity of intracellular
matrixes, effects on DNA methylation, maintenance of normal DNA repair, increased
apoptosis (programmed cell death) of cancer cells, and decreased cell proliferation.
Cancer cell metastasis may be blocked by a plant-based diet. German investigators have
shown that vegetarian men have roughly twice the natural killer cell activity as age-matched
omnivorous controls (42).
A recent study from Britain (43) concluded that: "Vegetables and fruit are almost invariably
protective for the major cancers. The evidence is best for a protective effect of vegetables in
the large bowel and for fruits and vegetables in stomach cancer.... High consumption of meat,
especially red meat and processed meat, is linked with higher risk of bowel, breast, prostate,
and pancreatic cancer. There is some evidence of an association with lung cancer, and of an
Bibliography
1. Appleby, Paul, Do Vegetarians Live Longer? Talk given by Paul Appleby, Secretary
of Oxford Vegetarians, to members of Oxford Green Party Students at the Friends
Meeting House, Oxford, on Friday 1 March 2002, and at an Oxford Vegetarians
speaker meeting at the same venue on Wednesday 20 March 2002.
2. Barr, S.I, et al, Relative weight, weight loss efforts and nutrient intakes among health-
conscious vegetarian, past vegetarian and nonvegetarian women ages 18 to 50. J Am
Coll Nutr. 2000 Nov-Dec;19(6):781-8.
3. Rosell, M., et al, Height, age at menarche, body weight and body mass index in life-
long vegetarians, Public Health Nutrition, 2005 Oct;8(7):870-875.
4. Eilber, U, Steindorf, K, 2005, Lifestyle determinants and mortality in German
vegetarians and health-conscious persons: results of a 21-year follow-up. Epidemiol
Biomarkers Prev 14:963-68.
5. Appleby PN, Key TJ, Thorogood M, Burr ML, Mann J. Mortality in British
vegetarians. Public Health Nutr. 2002 Feb;5(1):29-36.
6. Key, Timothy J., et al, Cancer incidence in vegetarians: results from the European
Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition , Am J Clin Nutr 89: 1620S-
1626S, 2009.
7. Bissoli L, et al, Effect of Vegetarian Diet on Homocysteine Levels, Ann Nutr Metab
2002;46:73-79.
8. Krajcovicová-Kudlácková M,, Homocysteine levels in vegetarians versus omnivores,
1: Ann Nutr Metab. 2000;44(3):135-8.
9. Bissoli, L., et al, Effect of Vegetarian Diet on Homocysteine Levels, Annals of
Nutrition & Metabolism 2002;46:73-79.
10. Dr S Prabhakar, head of PGI's neurology department, Chandigarh, India, said “studies
indicate that a vegetarian diet makes people vulnerable to brain strokes.” Source:
Times of India, 16 March 2005.
11. Shetty PS (2002) Nutrition transition in India. Public Health, Nutrition 5, 175–182.
12. Jebb, S.A., et al, (2004) Prevalence of overweight and obesity among young people in
Great Britain. Public, Health Nutrition 7, 461–465.
13. Key TJ, Fraser GE, et al. (1999b) Mortality in vegetarians and nonvegetarians:
detailed findings from a collaborative analysis of 5 prospective studies. American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70, Suppl. 516S–524S.
14. Washburn, BS, Jiang JC, Cummings, SL, Dixon K, Gietzen, DW. Anorectic
responses to dietary amino acid imbalance: effects of vagotomy and tropisetron.
American Journal of Physiology 266 (6 Pt. 2): R1922-1927, 1994.
15. Jiang, JC, Gietzen, DW. Anorectic Response to Amino Acid Imbalance: A Selective
Serotonin3 Effect? Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 47(1): 59- 63, 1994.
16. Terry-Nathan, VR, Gietzen DW, Rogers, QR. Serotonin3 antagonists block aversion
to saccharin in an amino acid-imbalanced diet. American Journal of Physiology 268
(5 Pt.2): R1203-1208, 1995.
Further Information
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Here is some information taken from the website:
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If you’ve ever tried to lose weight you will know that the most common advice is to eat less
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Two critical foods you must never eat if you want to be slim and healthy. These two
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A special kind of super-food that greatly promotes weight loss and good health.
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Why the body fat around your midriff is virtually impossible to shift whatever you do.
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Why some people are naturally slim whatever they eat! The Foolproof Diet reveals
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Foolproof Diet you will stay slim effortlessly.
An extraordinary new discovery that reveals a direct link between diet and dementia.
The latest research is showing that diet is the biggest cause of dementia (apart from the
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Why most types of exercise promoted by health gurus and diet books have got it
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