"A vegetarian diet that is well chosen can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, certain cancers (prostate, bowel) and reduce constipation and diverticulitis."

"Vegetarians have less heart disease and fewer problems with blood pressure, cholesterol and obesity.....So impressive are the potential health benefits of vegetarian diets, that some researchers feel that a vegetarian diet may be the best diet for treating coronary heart disease, angina and high blood fats."

"Other problems which are less common among vegetarians include: constipation, diabetes, gallstones, kidney stones and osteoporosis."

Plant foods should make up most of our diet

"The base of the [Healthy Eating] pyramid includes all plant foods: vegetables, fruits, nuts, dried peas, beans and lentils, breads and cereals (preferably wholegrain). These foods contain many different nutrients and should make up most of the food that we eat ~ they are called the eat most foods. Eating a variety of these foods each day should provide good amounts of energy from carbohydrate, as well as protein, vitamins and dietary fibre. In other words these foods are nutrient dense."

Vego foods help reduce the risk of disease

"Tomatoes can help reduce cancer including prostate cancer in men, and cardiovascular disease."

"There is substantial evidence that eating more pulses can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease."

"People eating nuts more than 5 times per week reduce their risk of heart disease by over 50%; those eating nuts 2-4 times per week decreased their risk by 27%."

Iron

"Iron deficiency is one of the biggest nutritional deficiencies in the world, although only slightly less common in industrialised countries than in the third world. It affects meat eaters and vegetarians alike in similar proportions. Although veggies tend to have lower iron stores (serum ferritin) than meat eaters there is no difference in their rates of iron deficiency anaemia. Two of the world’s most prestigious health organisations – the American Dietetic Association and the British Medical Association – support this view."

"Incidence of iron deficiency anaemia among vegetarians and vegans are similar to non-vegetarians therefore vegans and vegetarians are not at greater risk from this condition. Vegetarians and vegans have lower iron stores compared to non-vegetarians however their serum ferritin levels are usually within the normal healthy range."

Too much iron

"The evidence against haem iron is growing and it has been shown that high iron stores from red meat increase the risk of heart disease, particularly in older men and women. Another study has shown an increased risk of heart attacks among meat-eating males generally and came to the conclusion that there was a direct association between meat intake, high haem iron stores and heart disease. Yet more research has shown that high iron stores and a high dietary iron intake are strongly linked to heart disease. Excessive iron stores can also affect the body’s ability to regulate insulin production, which is the first warning sign of diabetes."

More calcium

"Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods."

"Nutrition Australia encourages Australians to eat around 30 different foods each day. It is important to note that "30" is based on individual foods, not food categories as detailed in the Food Variety Checklist for a week. Ideally, 20 - 30 different types of foods should be eaten every day.... Variety also means the range of foods within each of these types, e.g. cereals can be wheat, oat, rye, rice, or barley. We encourage a variety of foods to be eaten because the nutritional effect can be very different both within each food type and between food types."

Nutrition Australia. "Food Variety Facts Sheet", available online at http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/Food_Facts/Fact_Sheets/food_variety_fs.asp (accessed 24/6/05)

For a discussion of Vitamin B12 and how it affects vegetarians, including a list of B12 fortified foods, please see Vitamin B12 - what every vego needs to know

For detailed references on B12, please see References for the web page - Vitamin B12....

Enough protein

"The World Health Organisation recommendation of (daily protein intake is) 29 grams for a woman and 37 grams for a man. The figures are for a woman eating 2,300 calories per day and a man eating 3,000 calories per day (the so-called "average" diets)."

"It is almost impossible to design a categorically adequate (2000 calorie) diet, utilising foods from all the 'Vegan Six' groups [whole grains and potatoes, legumes, green and yellow vegetables, nuts and seeds, fruits, vitamin and mineral foods], and not obtain at least 50 grams of high-quality, 'complete' protein."

Too much protein

"There is a voluminous amount of information showing a relationship between the consumption of concentrated protein foods and heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, gout, ulcers, and a host of other maladies, documented by T.C. Fry, Victoras Kulvinskas, Blanche Leonardo, Barbara Parham, John A. Scharffenberg, Orville Schell, and Herbert M. Shelton, among others."

"The average Australian diet contains meat and dairy products, and so it is often high in protein. According to government research, women are consuming over 70 grams and men over 100 grams of protein per day on average."

Just looking after number 1?

"Lifestyle diseases" are endemic

"Chronic diseases account for thousands of deaths in Australia each year. As well, thousands of Australian men and women of all ages are disabled by chronic diseases, leaving them unable to enjoy activities... to work or to participate in their community. Much of this illness could be prevented if we increased physical activity and ate more fruit and vegetables each day, for example."

Heart & cardiovascular disease

"Cardiovascular disease (heart, stroke and blood vessel disease) is the leading cause of death and disability in Australia, claiming the lives of 50,294 people in 2002, or 38% of all deaths. Around 3.67 million Australians are affected by cardiovascular disease. 1.10 million Australians are disabled long-term by cardiovascular disease."

Nutritional factors are risk factors for disease

"Poor nutrition and physical inactivity are important shared risk factors for chronic diseases including heart, stroke and blood vessel disease, diabetes, cancer and kidney disease."

"We know much of the burden of chronic disease could be prevented if improvements were made in the areas of nutrition and physical activity."

The cost of disease and the necessity of health prevention

"It is estimated that the current economic cost to the nation [Australia] of the principal diet-related conditions - coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer - is about $6 billion a year, so the potential economic benefit of an effective nutrition-based preventive strategy is enormous."

"Chronic disease demands enormous investment in treatment, as well as for the care and management of people over a long period. A greater investment in prevention initiatives in the area of physical inactivity and nutrition could reduce this cost."

"Total public money spent on health care in 2001/2002 was $45.5 billion, with cardiovascular disease and cancer combined costing one fifth of the total (more than $9 billion in one year)."

"Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption by one serve a day per person would result in direct health care savings of $180 million a year."

The experts advise us...

"The base of the [Healthy Eating] pyramid includes all plant foods: vegetables, fruits, nuts, dried peas, beans and lentils, breads and cereals (preferably wholegrain). These foods contain many different nutrients and should make up most of the food that we eat ~ they are called the eat most foods."

It is interesting to note that while the Australian Government's dietary guidelines emphasise (a) the importance of increasing our intake of plant foods, and the fact that these should form the major part of a healthy diet, and (b) the importance of cutting down on saturated fats, especially animal fats, the government retreats from outright endorsement of a vegetarian diet. (Could it have anything to do with the political and economic clout of the meat and dairy industries?)

After recommending a diet largely based around plant foods (vegetables, legumes, fruits, and cereals), the Dietary Guidelines for Adult Australians then go on to recommend that both meat and dairy products be included - included, however, strictly on the proviso that the meat should be "lean" and the dairy products should be "reduced-fat varieties" - which amounts to a recognition of the problematic links between animal-derived foods and diet-related disease.

Do your health a favour - go vegetarian!

"Vegetarians have the best diet. They have the lowest rates of coronary disease of any group in the country....Some people scoff at vegetarians, but they have a fraction of our heart attack rate and they have only 40 percent of our cancer rate. On the average they outlive other men by about six years now."

"It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases."

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