HEALTH/HUNGER

Our population is in the throes of an epidemic of obesity and the attendant scourges of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases that each year cripple, then kill 1.5 million Americans. These conditions have been linked conclusively with consumption of meat and other animal products by dozens of reviews of hundreds of original medical studies involving tens of thousands of individual cases.

A diet containing meat and other animal products is laden with saturated fat, cholesterol, hormones, antibiotics, pathogens, and salt. Such a diet flouts the U.S. Dietary Guidelines and is particularly damaging to children who are still growing and whose early dietary habits become lifelong addictions.

Dietary Diseases

Vascular diseases

Vascular diseases, including heart diseases and stroke, are caused by blockage of the arteries that supply oxygenated blood to the body's vital organs. The blockages are caused by a build-up of fatty plaque along the artery walls. This condition is called atherosclerosis. Total blockage of an artery leading to the heart or the brain brings on a heart attack or stroke. Nearly 800,000 Americans die each year of vascular diseases.

Diets laden with saturated fat, cholesterol, and salt are the key factors in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Cholesterol is the key component of the fatty plaques. Saturated fats raise blood cholesterol level more than any other factor. Salt consumption promotes water retention and blood volume, leading to hyper-tension, which contributes to the incidence of heart disease and stroke, as well as to rupture of blood vessels.

All animal foods contain cholesterol, but no plant foods do. In fact, antioxidants and folic acid in plant foods protect arteries from plaque formation. Plant foods are also naturally low in saturated fats and salt, and the potassium in plant foods reduces hypertension. Additionally, fiber, which is found exclusively in plant products, has been shown to decrease blood cholesterol.

Cancer

Cancer is actually a variety of diseases that occur when the cells grow out of control, spread through the body, and interfere with the function of a vital organ. Cancers of the lung, breast, prostate, and the digestive tract have all been linked with a diet high in animal foods. Nearly 560,000 Americans die of cancer each year.

Consumption of animal fats raises blood testosterone and estrogen levels that promote prostate and breast cancers, respectively. Carcinogenic pesticides spread on animal feedcrops accumulate in animals' fatty tissues. In the digestive tract, animal fats interact with bile acids to release carcinogens. All animal fats heated to high temperatures, as in deep-fried foods, also form carcinogens. Nitrites in hot dogs and other 'cured' meat products are known carcinogens. Insulin Growth Factor (IGF) in dairy products promotes malignant cell growth.

Conversely, plant foods contain fiber, which helps prevent cancer of the digestive tract by speeding food transit before formation of the carcinogens and reduces the risk of breast cancer, perhaps by lowering estrogen level. Plants also contain antioxidants and flavones that impede formation of cancer cells.

Other Chronic Conditions

Animal fat in the bloodstream blocks insulin from playing its vital role. The cells of our body feed on glucose that is escorted by insulin. This causes adult-onset or Type II diabetes. The incidence of this disease has been growing among both adults and children because of their faulty diet. In some children, cow's milk generates antibodies that destroy the pancreatic cells that produce insulin, leading to Type I diabetes. Diabetes is a serious disease, which causes shortness of breath, vomiting, dehydration, and eventually contributes to heart and kidney diseases. Diabetes kills 75,000 Americans each year.

Kidney stones and other kidney diseases are typically associated with excessive consumption of meat, dairy, and other proteins that these organs convert into fat and waste products. Kidney diseases kill 44,000 Americans each year.

Dairy products are responsible for a number of serious digestive and allergic reactions. Nearly 50 million Americans, including 75% of African Americans and 90% of Asian Americans, suffer from severe cramps caused by lactose intolerance. Common allergic reactions include asthma, skin rashes, and ear infections.

Infectious Diseases

Pathogens that thrive in animal foods are among the primary causes of food poisoning. The biggest culprits are Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Campylobacter jejuni, and Listeria monocytogenes. These diseases cause several days of misery and occasionally deaths. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that 9 million cases occur annually, though most are not reported.

All meat and poultry products are required to carry warning labels because the USDA has been unable to vouch for their safety. In 2002, following repeated incidents of school food poisoning, the Department decided to irradiate meat destined for the school lunch program. Meat products also contain antibiotic residues, which build up resistance in pathogens, and render antibiotics less effective in treating infectious diseases.

Vegan Nutrition

Consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes (beans, peas, lentils) is crucial to good health. These foods supply adequate protein, fats, carbohydrates, fiber, and other essential nutrients, as well as antioxidants and a variety of beneficial phytonutrients, which reduce the risk of heart disease, certain types of cancer, diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis, and other chronic diseases. Moreover, plant-based foods are generally free of saturated fat, cholesterol, hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, or pathogens. Meat and other animal products lack complex carbohydrates, fiber, and most vitamins and minerals essential to good health.

Protein

Protein is the basic building material of cells, hormones, antibodies, and enzymes. It helps maintain the proper acid-base balance, immune protection, and transmission of nerve impulses.

Protein is found in many plant foods, particularly legumes, grains, seeds, nuts, and vegetables. Common U.S. legumes are soybeans (including tofu and soymilk), garbanzo beans, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, peas, and lentils. Common grains are rice, wheat, and corn. Legumes and grains are also good sources of complex carbohydrates and fiber.

The meat industry has raised some alarm by suggesting that protein from plant sources may not be as 'complete' as that from animal sources. Fortunately, essential amino acids that may be low or missing in grains are available in legumes or vegetables and vice versa. Our liver stores and redistributes the essential amino acids when they are needed. Meat eaters tend to consume an excessive amount of protein, which is stored as body fat, leaches calcium from our bones, and places an additional stress on the kidneys.

Fats

Monounsaturated fats, the healthiest fats, are found in olives, peanuts, almonds, avocados, and sunflower seeds, as well as the oils made from each of these foods and canola oil. These fats reduce blood levels of LDL ('bad' cholesterol) and increase levels of HDL (‘good’ cholesterol).

Polyunsaturated fats are found in corn, walnuts, and in soybean, safflower, sunflower, grapeseed, and flaxseed oils. They include the essential (can not be produced by our bodies) omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which lower the 'bad' cholesterol. Plant foods are a much better choice of fatty acids than fish, which also contain pesticides and heavy metals.

Saturated fats are found primarily in meat and other animal products. The body stores excess proteins, fats, and carbohydrates as saturated fats, and the liver uses these fats to manufacture cholesterol. Excessive dietary intake of saturated fats raises the blood cholesterol level.

Trans fats are polyunsaturated fats that have been converted from a liquid (such as corn oil) into a solid form (such as margarine or shortening). They are used in most processed foods. Trans fats elevate 'bad' cholesterol, lower 'good' cholesterol, and have been linked to an elevated cancer risk.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the main source of fuel (glucose) for the body's cells. Simple carbohydrates include fruit sugars or refined grain, beet, and cane sugars, contained in most processed foods and soft drinks. They are converted into usable glucose rapidly, producing spikes in the blood glucose level and requiring excessive release of insulin. This condition is a possible precursor to hypoglycemia and diabetes.

Complex carbohydrates, found only in vegetables, legumes, and grains, contain long chains of glucose, which are absorbed slowly, without producing the dangerous spikes in glucose level. The dietary fiber in complex carbohydrates cleans the digestive tract and ties up cholesterol-producing compounds, reducing blood cholesterol levels and therefore helping to reduce the risk of colon cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Vitamins and Minerals

Plant foods contain all the vitamins (except for B12, and occasionally D) and minerals essential for good health. For example, green leafy vegetables, such as collard greens, mustard greens, and kale, as well as calcium-fortified orange juice and soy milk provide ample calcium. Iron is particularly plentiful in legumes, green vegetables, and dried fruit. Zinc is available in legumes, corn, nuts, and seeds.

Diet and World Hunger

Worldwide, nearly a billion people suffer from chronic hunger. 24,000 people per day or 8.8 million per year die from hunger or related causes. Chronic hunger causes stunted growth and susceptibility to disease.

Global hunger is due largely to waste and inequitable distribution of food resources and to depletion of food production resources like soil and water. Only ten percent of hunger deaths are attributed to catastrophic events like drought, flood, or war.

Most of the waste takes place when food crops, like corn and soybeans, are fed to animals rather than people. Nearly half of the world's grains and soybeans are fed to animals, and a meat-based diet requires 10-20 times as much land as a plant-based diet. The extent of waste is such that even a ten percent drop in U.S. meat consumption would make sufficient food available to feed the world's starving millions.

Soil depletion occurs when lush forestland is clear-cut to create cattle pastures, which are eventually plowed under to grow feed crops. Water runoff from these croplands leaches vital minerals and organic matter from the soil into nearby rivers and lakes, turning fertile soil into barren desert. Animal agriculture's insatiable demand for feed crops presses into service lands that require irrigation, which accounts for more than 80 percent of all water available for use in the U.S. and leads to critical water shortages.