The reasons for avoiding meat in your diet are quite straightforward... most have to do with better health, easy weight maintenance, lower occurance of disease, better nutrition, more energy and feeling better. Some of the lesser know reasons are even more surprising... and interesting, especially the amount of resources necessary to feed and care for animals. More reasons to consider a vegan diet.
- Antioxidants protect against more than 60 diseases. Found mostly in fruit and vegetables. They destroy 'free radicals'.
- A vegetarian diet can reduce cholesterol levels. (Cholesterol is linked to heart disease – fruit and vegetables contain none.) BMA
- Vegetarians and vegans have higher intakes of folic acid than omnivores. BMA
- A vegetarian diet meets all the nutritional needs of infants and adolescents. ADA/BMA
- Vegetarians are no more likely to suffer anaemia than meat eaters. ADA/BMA
- On irrigated land, 1lb of vegetables uses 25 gallons. 1lb of beef uses 5,214 gallons. University of California
- More than 90 per cent of all agricultural land in Britain is used to feed animals
- If Britain went vegetarian, less than half the farm land would be needed – vegan, less than a quarter! Reading University
- Vegetarians often live longer and suffer less from several chronic diseases. ADA
- Vegetarians have a much lower incidence of caesarean section. PCRM
- Vegetarians are less likely to suffer strokes caused by coronary artery disease. BMA
- Vegetarian diets have been successful in arresting and reversing severe coronary artery disease. ADA
- Vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, large bowel disorders, cancers and gallstones. BMA
- Vegetarian diets offer disease protection because of lower saturated fat, cholesterol and animal protein and higher folates, antioxidant vitamins and plant nutrients. ADA
- 95 per cent of all food poisoning comes from meat and animal products.
- Cancer rates among vegetarians are 25-50 per cent less than non-vegetarians. PCRM
- Vegetarians have half to three-quarters the risk of dying of heart disease compared to non-vegetarians. PCRM
- Nearly all 650 million UK chickens are fed antibiotics daily. 72 million die from disease.
- The world's 17 major fisheries are on the point of environmental collapse because of over-fishing.
- It takes about 10kg of good quality plant protein – such as wheat and soya – to produce 1kg of meat protein.
- 35 per cent of the world’s people can be fed on a meat-based diet. A plant diet could feed everyone – then plus some. Sir Crispin Tickell
The medical sources quoted are from some of the most prestigious in the world: BMA (British Medical Association); ADA (American Dietetic Association); WHO (World Health Organisation); PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine).
