According to the 1997 American Dietetic Association (ADA) position paper on vegetarian diets (available, see page 15), vegetarian diets are associated with a reduced risk for obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, and kidney disease.1
Papers from the Third International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition were published in the September 1999 issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. These papers highlighted many of the benefits from basing one’s diet on fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds, and whole grains:
To produce the benefits mentioned here, vegetarian diets should be based on generous amounts of the foods listed above. Please see the Vegetarian Nutrition section on page 6 of this brochure for guidelines regarding vegetarian diets.
Many factors affect bone health – including exercise, adequate calcium and vitamin D intake, high sodium intake, and smoking. Some calcium-rich plant foods, like calcium-set tofu and calcium-fortified soymilk, are also rich in isoflavones (found only in soyfoods) which may help to make bones stronger.2 So, a serving of calcium-fortified soymilk – which contains just as much calcium as a glass of cow’s milk – is an excellent choice.
The CDC’s 1992 (most recent year available) statistics show that of the reported cases of foodborne illness traceable to a single food, 2767 were caused by animal foods while 92 were caused by plant foods.3
It is likely that some cancers are caused by the typical levels of dioxins and related chemicals found in the food supply.4 Researchers have determined that a total vegetarian diet minimizes dietary dioxin intake.4
Antibiotics are routinely put in animal feed to promote rapid growth. The National Research Council acknowledges that there is a link between the use of antibiotics in farmed animals, the development of bacterial resistance to these drugs, and human disease. At this time, the incidence of such human disease is low, but there is widespread concern that it could become a serious problem.5
1 J of ADA, 1997;97(No. 11):1317—21.
2 Gordon M. Wardlaw, PhD, RD, textbook Perspectives in Nutrition, 4th ed. (McGraw-Hill, 1999).
3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC Surveillance Summaries, MMWR 1996;45(No. SS-5):35.
4 Chemosphere, 1997;34(5—7):1437—47&1569—77.
5 The Use of Drugs in Food Animals: Benefits and Risks (National Academy Press, 1999).
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.
Albert Einstein
letter dated 1950, quoted in H. Eves’ Mathematical Circles Adieu, 1977
The human body has no more need for cows’ milk than it does for dogs’ milk, horses’ milk, or giraffes’ milk.
Michael Klaper, MD
author of Vegan Nutrition: Pure & Simple
[T]hose who claim to care about the well-being of human beings and the preservation of our environment should become vegetarians for that reason alone. They would thereby increase the amount of grain available to feed people everywhere, reduce pollution, save water and energy, and cease contributing to the clearing of forests; moreover, since a vegetarian diet is cheaper than one based on meat dishes, they would have more money available to devote to famine relief, population control, or whatever social or political cause they thought most urgent. …[W]hen non-vegetarians say that "human problems come first," I cannot help wondering what exactly it is that they are doing for human beings that compels them to continue to support the wasteful, ruthless exploitation of farm animals.
Peter Singer
Animal Liberation, 1990
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