Study: Health gap between vegetarians and meat eaters
By David Newbury, Scotsman
Vegetarians are about a third less likely to suffer from heart disease, diabetes or a stroke than meat eaters, according to new medical research.
Those who shun meat and fish stand a better chance of not developing the high blood pressure and soaring levels of “bad” cholesterol that leads to heart and other problems, it said.
They have a 36 per cent lower rate of metabolic syndrome, the combination of symptoms that are a precursor to diabetes, heart attacks and strokes.
Even people who only give up red meat improve their diets enough to give them a slightly lower risk of developing these conditions, said the United States study.
To be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, a patient needs to suffer three out of five risk factors – high blood pressure, high HDL cholesterol, high glucose levels, high triglycerides (fat levels in the body) and having too big a waistband.
Vegetarians are not immune to this; 25 per cent of those studied by researchers from Loma Linda University, California had metabolic syndrome.
“The China Study” by Thomas Campbell is a compelling indictment of the American meat & dairy diet and the industry behind it. “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and its meat industry horrors makes one WANT to not eat meat.