Dr. William Castelli, M.D. writes that when we visit the golden arches, meaning MacDonaldÆs, we are on our way to visiting the pearly gates. A number of studies have shown a lower age-adjusted death rate among vegetarians. A UK study of over 6000 vegetarians found that they had a much lower standardized mortality rate than the general population, including lower death rates due to cancer and especially ischaemic heart disease. A 21-year study of Seventh Day Adventists found that there was a lower age adjusted death rate among this group than among the general population. According to Heidi Hoff (2004), six proven benefits of a vegetarian diet are:
Twenty percent lower death rate from coronary heart disease among women
Thirty-five percent reduction in LDL (or "bad") cholesterol among vegans and 14 per cent among lacto-ovo-vegetariains
Thirty-three percent to fifty perccent fewer cases of hypertension
Eighty-eight percent lower risk of colorectal cancer
Significantly reduced risk of diabetes
A fifty percent reduced likelihood of gallstones (Hoff, 2004, 58).
In another sign of changing times, the historically ambivalent American Dietetic Association has endorsed vegetarian diets in the ADA journal in June of 2003, citing evidence of protection from obesity, heart attack and stroke deaths, elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and prostate and colon cancers (McCord, 2003, 68). In another test, Researchers at the University of Toronto recently found that a vegetarian diet may be as effective as statin drugs at lowering cholesterol (Better Nutrition, 2003, 32).
One of the myths surrounding a vegetarian diet is that not eating meat deprives vegetarians of adequate amounts of protein as well as essential vitamins and minerals. This is simply untrue. Vegetarians can get more than enough protein and other essential nutrients by eating a balanced vegetarian diet of fruits, vegetables, grains, legume...