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The Advantages of a Vegetarian Diet vs. a Meat Diet

Sep 1, 2011 | By Veronica James
The Advantages of a Vegetarian Diet vs. a Meat Diet
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Vegetarians used to be scoffed at for their cranky lifestyles, rabbit food and eccentric views on animal rights. But according to a study conducted by VegetarianTimes.com in 2008, more than 7 million Americans are now vegetarians, with nearly three times that number reducing their intake of meat, fish and dairy products. Nearly half of the people who took part in the study cited health as their main reason for their dietary change, and more than 40 percent were concerned with the environmental impact of animal farming.

Levels of Vegetarianism

Vegetarians do not eat any meat, fish or shellfish, although some vegetarians eat eggs and dairy products such as milk and cheese. The Vegetarian Society believes that those who include chicken or fish in their diet are not vegetarians – they eat a vegetarian-based diet that includes animal protein. Some vegetarians go on to become vegans, shunning not only meat and dairy, but also animal products such as leather and all foods made by animals, such as honey.

Vegetables Do Not Shorten Your Life

More than 83 million Americans suffer with some form of cardiovascular-related disease, such as heart disease, stroke or vascular dementia, according to the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Jr., a pioneer of plant-based diets, has demonstrated that even on a low-fat diet that includes lean meat and fish, cardiac patients continue to suffer cardiovascular-related illness. He cites more than 20 years of research that includes radiographic proof of the damage to coronary arteries caused by a diet that includes animal proteins, fats and oils, and the reversal of that damage in those who have adopted a plant-based diet.

Vegetarian Diets Reduce Risks of Illness

The American Dietetic Association believes that a vegetarian diet provides all the nutritional requirements necessary for health at all stages of life and is actually superior to a meat-based diet. In its 2009 report in the "Journal of the American Dietetic Association," the ADA confirmed that a balanced vegetarian diet supplies all the necessary nutrients and appears to help guard against many diseases and conditions that are prevalent among meat eaters, including cancers and diabetes.

Factory Farming is Bad for Your Health

Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming, warns that if you eat factory-farmed meat or fish, you are at risk of taking in antibiotics and hormones. Substandard animal proteins are plumped up with water, colorings and chemical flavorings to make them look and taste more palatable. Factory farms are responsible for pollution problems affecting air, water and soil, not only via chemical and toxin poisoning, but also via dispersal of antibiotics in untreated manure sprayed on farmland crops. Despite the attempted intervention by the American Medical Association in 2001 to restrict nontherapeutic antibiotic use in farm animals, the Food and Drug Administration says that more than 80 percent of antibiotics sold are for animal use.

Land and resources dwindling

“National Geographic” noted in 2005 that food production accounted for over half the planet's landmass and that the majority was used for animal farming. H. K. Gibbs, et al., writing in 2005 for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, noted that land development for the global production of animal feed, fuel and grain is likely to increase by another 50 percent by 2050, encroaching on human and wildlife habitation and limiting even further supplies of fresh water. These experts say that farming animals for human consumption is uneconomical and leaves millions of people starving for want of water and land to grow crops. It is inequitable, they say, for the majority of the globe's farmland to be commandeered to supply meat to a minority of the world's population.

References

Article reviewed by Amy Richards Last updated on: Sep 1, 2011

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