Outline: Many people wonder whether they should try a vegetarian diet. Are you thinking of joining the 12 million people in the United States and countless millions around the world who are vegetarian? If so, learning about the diet and lifestyle are important so that you can enjoy the best health possible and avoid any pitfalls of not having a balanced diet. In the past, vegetarians were often thought of as strange or eccentric but now, many people are finding that this diet is not only being promoted by certain religious groups but is becoming a way to improve health. What is a vegetarian? What different types of vegetarians are there?vegetarian (n) (1). Someone who eats no meat and often no animal products of any kind. There are several sub-classifications according to Perspectives in Nutrition by Wardlaw:(2) Fruitarian - a person who primarily eats fruits, nuts, honey, and vegetable oils There are also other definitions from other sources, including Dorland's Medical Dictionary (4) which lists vegetarians as those who eat exclusively a diet of vegetable origin, and other dictionaries that have slightly different classifications. There are other loose classifications that list semi-vegetarians or partial vegetarians that include people who eat little or no red meat. It is therefore important to clarify which group you are talking about. It is also important to understand that not all vegetarian diets are necessarily healthful if the diet is full of sugar and fats or lacking in necessary ingredients to keep a person healthy. Why do people become vegetarians?People become vegetarian or are raised as vegetarians for a variety of reasons. Some persons are against the killing of animals from an ethical standpoint. Many of these persons believe that animals are just as important in the world as people, and that we should not use them for food, or use products from them such as their fur, or skin for leather, which require the killing of the animals. Some people believe that it is a waste of resources to use land to grow grain or other crops that are fed to animals. They believe that we could feed many more people in the world by using the land to grow crops to feed people nutritious food. Some groups believe in vegetarianism for purely religious reasons. Some groups believe vegetarianism is the healthiest lifestyle. Some people believe that a vegetarian or plant based diet supplies them with a higher amount of carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables to help protect them against many diseases including cancers and heart disease. Many people are vegetarian for a combination of these reasons. Seventh-day Adventists promote a vegetarian diet because they believe it to be the most healthful lifestyle, one that is recommended in the Bible as the original diet for humans, and one that will be eventually given again to man in heaven and in an earth made new. They affirm and encourage an increasingly plant based diet and careful planning that avoids extremes and is nutritionally balanced. Are there real advantages to becoming a vegetarian? There are a number of real advantages to becoming vegetarian:Lower death rates for some chronic diseases The most important health risks are related to a lack of certain vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin B12. This is why it is very important to learn everything you can about a vegetarian diet and how to make it adequate. Some people think that the main risk is a lack of protein, but this is rarely the case if a person eats a well balanced diet of grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. For strict vegetarians, there must be care in finding sources for vitamin B12 from supplements or other sources. Click here for an article on the ABCs of Nutrition Are vegetarian diets safe for children? Vegetarian diets are safe for babies, children, and growing teenagers if the diet is carefully planned. It is easiest if dairy products are included, but for those who desire a complete vegetarian or vegan menu, it is important that supplements of vitamin B12 are used. Mothers who are strict vegetarian or who have poor diets may even have low vitamin B12 in breast milk, and their babies may be deficient in this vitamin. Using a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes is the best way to have a healthy vegetarian diet for both adults and children. Important points to keep in mind Find as much good information as possible. Children's Nutrition - Dangers to Avoid Children need a wide variety of nutrients and enough calories for proper growth and development, and if their diet is extreme, they may be at risk. This includes restricting diets to only raw foods or only herbs and fruits, for example. Another serious risk is children or teenagers who suddenly decide to become the only vegetarian in their family, especially if the parents do not understand how to help them to plan a well-balanced diet. Resources are available to help you plan a well-balanced and safe vegetarian diet for babies, children and teens. Many hospitals and health plans have dieticians that can also give you advice. Click here for more information about children and vegetarian diets. Research:Over the past several decades, published research in vegetarianism has jumped from a few case reports, and less than 10 articles per year to more than 100,000 currently indexed articles by the largest national medical databases. The research has also become more sophisticated, and you can look up many articles by specific topics. You can look up the information under vegetarian, vegetarian diets, or vegetarianism. Several journals publish many quality scientific research articles about the adequacy of vegetarian diets or about the prevention of certain diseases or conditions using a dietary approach. For more information, click these links to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition; or The Journal of Nutrition. For a more easy-to-read style, click these links to the Vegetarian Nutrition and Health Letter, edited by a Loma Linda University dietetics professor or for the health journal Vibrant Life, published by the Seventh-day Adventist church. Research regarding Adventists and vegetarianism; the Adventist Health Study: Less Ischemic Heart Disease in Vegetarians 25,000 adult White Adventists studied in 1960 and followed for 21 years found that diabetes as an underlying or contributing cause of death was approximately 1/2 the risk as all US Whites. Within the group, the associations were stronger for males than for females. Vegetarians in the group had a substantial lower risk than did the non-vegetarians. The associations were not apparently confounded by over or under-weight or by other dietary factors or by physical activity. American Journal of Public Health. 1985,May; 75 (5):507-12 Vegetarians Have Less Mortality for all Diseases An evaluation of animal product consumption and evidence of dementia in two cohort subsets showed that in the matched cohort group of 272 persons matched for age, sex and zip code among California Seventh-day Adventists those who ate meat including poultry and fish were more than twice as likely to develop dementia as their vegetarian counterparts (Relative risk 2.18, and when past meat consumption was taken into account this risk rose to 2.99). In a second unmatched group of 2,984 persons residing in the Loma Linda area, there was no significant difference. There was no obvious explanation for this difference among the two subsets, although the power of the second group to detect a difference was unexpectedly limited. There was a trend in both groups to show a delay in the development of dementia in the vegetarian as compared to the heavy meat eaters. Neuroepidemiology. 1993; 12 (1):28-36 Less Pancreatic Cancer with Frequent Fruit/Vegetable Consumption Less Prostate Cancer in Vegetarians Click here for more information on The Adventist Health Study. [Last revised: 3/3/02] |
