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Safeguarding
Children's Health – A Summary of the Main Report
For the
text of the full report, click here.
“Scientific data suggest positive relationships between
a vegetarian diet and reduced risk for several chronic degenerative
diseases and conditions, including obesity, coronary artery
disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and some types of
cancer... Vegetarians often have lower morbidity and mortality
rates from several chronic degenerative diseases than do non-vegetarians...
Vegetarian diets offer disease protection benefits because
of their lower saturated fat, cholesterol and animal protein
content and often higher concentration of folate, antioxidants
such as vitamins C and E, carotinoids and phytochemicals...
vegetarian diets have also been successful in arresting coronary
artery disease.” American Dietetic Association
Position Paper on Vegetarian Diets, 1997.
Animal
Products Promote Disease
Meat and dairy products are promoting disease. They are high
fat foods, a primary source of unhealthy (and inessential)
saturated fats and cholesterol, contain no fibre, no complex
(starchy) carbohydrate, none of the primary antioxidant (disease-busting)
vitamins – vitamin C, E, and beta-carotene (the antioxidant
form of vitamin A) – and no vitamin K.
Vegetarian
Diets Promote Health
Balanced vegetarian diets protect health. Fresh fruits, vegetables,
cereals, vegetable protein sources like soya, beans, lentils
– all provide fibre, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals and
protein the body needs without the harmful saturated fat and
cholesterol animal proteins provide. Every leading health
advisory body is saying the same thing – Western societies
need to get away from eating animal products and turn to plant
foods to ensure good health. No one element or 'magic bullet'
will ensure good health – it is the totality of vegetarian
diets that is the secret of vibrant health.
What
Are Children Eating?
Rubbish apparently. A Government survey published in June
2000 on the diet and nutrition of 4 to 18 year olds found
that roughly 80% of children are guzzling away on white bread,
savoury snacks, biscuits, chips and chocolate confectionery.
Roughly 60-75% had not eaten any citrus fruits or leafy green
vegetables in the week of the survey. Children are eating
a diet low in many of the vital health-promoting vitamins
and minerals needed to help combat disease and a diet high
in disease-promoting foods such as high fat, high salt and
high sugar convenience-type foods. Meat and dairy products
are still firmly placed at the centre of most meals.
The
Right Start In Life For Children
Diets based on animal products are quite simply leaving children
unprotected in the health stakes. Encouraging children to
adopt healthy eating practices from a very early age will
mean that they will grow up choosing foods that will promote
their good health not promote their ill health. Study after
study proves that not only are vegetarian diets perfectly
safe but have significant advantages over meat-based diets.
Recent research comparing omnivore and vegetarian children
found that vegetarian children had lower intakes of total
and saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium and higher intakes
of beneficial nutrients like potassium and vitamins beta-carotene,
C and E.
“A
vegetarian diet, if properly selected, can meet all of the
requirements of the growing child.” Professor Tom
Sanders, Professor of Nutrition & Dietetics, King's College,
London.
Vegetarians
Live Longer!
A landmark study in 1994 looking at the diets and health of
11,000 people – The Oxford Study – concluded that vegetarians
have a 20% lower premature death rate than meat-eaters. This
fact is now so well recognised that vegetarians can even get
lower life assurance premiums than can meat-eaters!
Demolishing
Myths
Vegetarian diets easily provide all the nutrients – eg the
protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals – that the body
needs.
Iron
– Vegetarians are no more at risk of iron-deficient anaemia
than meat-eaters – so says the British Medical Association
and the American Dietetic Association. Many everyday foods
contain iron eg beans, wholemeal bread and even cocoa beans!
Calcium
– Dairy products are not necessarily the best source of calcium.
100g tofu (soya bean curd) contains 510mg calcium; 1 slice
white bread 45mg; 100ml serving fortified soya milk 120-140mg.
This compares to a calcium content of 75mg for 100g of eggs
and 115-120mg of calcium for all types of cow's milk.
How Animal Products Affect Children
Allergies
An allergy to cow's milk protein (casein) is the most common
food allergy in childhood, affecting between four and 75 babies
in every 1000. The advice to parents now is that whole cow's
milk should not be given during the first year of a baby's
life.
Diabetes
Diabetes is a group of disorders all leading to rises in blood
glucose (sugar) levels due to the inaction of insulin – a
hormone that takes glucose out of the bloodstream and into
body cells. There is increasing evidence from a number of
studies to show that early exposure to cow's milk may be a
trigger for Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM) – the
early on-set form of diabetes. In fact 74-94% of the variation
in diabetes incidence across countries may be related to differences
in cow's milk consumption." Why? It seems that cow's
milk may destroy the cells in the pancreas that secrete insulin.
Food
Poisoning
Animal products are responsible for 95% of all cases of food
poisoning. A staggering 9.5 million people get food poisoning
annually, costing the NHS £750 million each year. Children
are particularly vulnerable. A complication of infection with
E.coli 0157 is now thought to be the biggest cause of acute
(short term) kidney failure in children. Farmed animals, in
particular cattle, are thought to be the reservoir of infection.
“A diet free of meat, fish, milk and eggs is by far the
safest and one that I highly recommend.” Emanuel Goldman,
Professor of Microbiology & Genetics.
Heart
Disease
Autopsy studies in young children reveal fatty streaks in
the arteries. This indicates that atherosclerosis (clogged
up arteries) is occurring – a first step in the lead up to
heart disease. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reaffirms
the importance of introducing a healthy, high-fibre, low-fat
diet early in a child's life, one of the major reasons being
that it is known that the atherosclerotic process leading
to heart disease starts in childhood. “The avoidance
of meat is likely to reduce the risk of coronary artery disease,
[heart disease] because meat is the major source of saturated
fat... High consumption of red meat has adverse health consequences:
thus vegetarian diets tend to impart health advantages.”
Dr WC Willett, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
Toxins
Highly poisonous chemicals have polluted all the world's oceans
and they have contaminated every single creature. Oily fish
like mackerel and salmon are most at risk as their fatty tissue
soaks up these poisons. Substances like dioxins can damage
the immune system so the problem is extremely serious. Meat
and dairy products can also be affected – once again because
the high fat content of these foods means they take up chemicals
in the environment easily. The European Commission guidelines
on safety limits for dioxins in foods means that half of all
British children under five years old could be exceeding safety
limits.
Weight
Problems
At least 10% of children in the UK are now classed as being
overweight. The 1991 Bogalusa Heart Study showed that even
mild obesity in childhood is related to higher levels of blood
pressure, insulin and cholesterol and that to some extent
these track into adulthood. Numerous studies show that vegetarians
are leaner than meat-eaters.
How
Animal Products Affect Adults
Little
people inevitably become big people. It is just as important
therefore to look at how animal products can affect adult
health.
Cancer
Over a third of cancer deaths – and possibly many more – may
be linked to diet. Vegetarians have a 40% reduction in cancer
mortality than meat eaters – independent of differences in
smoking, obesity and socioeconomic status. Why? Vegetarian
diets may be the best anti-cancer diets. Cooking animal proteins
(but not plant proteins) produces cancer-causing chemicals
called heterocyclic amines, low-fat vegetarian diets have
more 'natural killer' cells than high-fat diets which destroy
abnormal cells that may turn cancerous, fibre helps sweep
away toxins and antioxidant vitamins (C, E and beta-carotene)
– abundant in balanced vegetarian diets – help protect body
cells against damage.
Breast
Cancer – There are links with this type of cancer to red meat
and speculation that the growth hormone – Insulin-Like Growth
Factor-1 (IGF-1) – in cow's milk may encourage breast cells
to multiply.
Prostate
Cancer – This type of cancer is also linked to increased meat
and dairy consumption and IGF-1.
Colon
Cancer – Preliminary results from the EPIC study – a major
on-going study looking at the link between diet and cancer
– are showing that a high intake of red meat (particularly
processed meat) is associated with a significant increased
risk of colonic cancer. Frequent consumption of beef, veal,
pork and lamb is associated with a 20-40% increase in colorectal
cancer risk.
Cancer specialist Doctor Rosy Daniel states: “The best
move... is to become completely vegan and eliminate animal
products from the diet altogether.”
Diabetes
150 million people worldwide have middle-age onset diabetes
– 80% of sufferers are overweight. Vegetarians and vegans
are less at risk from diabetes than meat-eaters as a 21-year
study in America found. Over 25,000 adult Americans were studied
and the results showed that people on meat-free diets had
a 45% reduced risk of contracting diabetes compared to the
population as a whole. There is very clear evidence that high-fibre,
low-fat diets improve diabetic control. Even without exercise,
vegan diets can bring down blood sugar levels.
Gallstones
A British Medical Journal study found that non-vegetarians
have about a two fold increase in risk of developing gallstones
than vegetarians, even after controlling for potentially confounding
factors. The main risk factors appear to be low fibre intake,
saturated fat and cholesterol intake and obesity.
Heart
Disease
This is the number one killer in the UK. A number of key studies
have shown that vegetarians are at reduced risk of heart disease
– in fact a lower mortality from heart disease by some 25%!
Widespread adoption of a vegetarian diet could prevent approximately
40,000 deaths from this disease in the UK each year. Why?
Vegetarians are, as a group, leaner and have lower blood pressure
levels – both risk factors for heart disease. Plus new research
has shown that vegetarians have up to one and a half times
the levels of salicylic acid in their blood than meat eaters.
Salicylic acid – rich in fruits and vegetables – helps fight
the inflammation that causes most cardiovascular illness.
Vegetarians also have lower cholesterol levels since cholesterol
is only found in foods that come from animals. High cholesterol
levels are also a known risk factor for heart disease. Roughly
15% of dietary energy (calories) in the UK diet comes from
saturated fat. Experts recommend that this be reduced to just
11%. Saturated fat is also a risk factor for heart disease.
Vegetarian diets can also reverse heart disease. Dr. Dean
Ornish – assistant clinical professor of Medicine at the School
of Medicine, University of California – has demonstrated that
a near-vegan diet causes significant overall regression of
coronary atherosclerosis (clogged up arteries).
Hypertension
Hypertension (high blood pressure) has a number of possible
causes including stress, alcohol, obesity and poor diet. In
1997 one in 10 men and women aged 45 to 54 in England had
high blood pressure. It increases the tendency for blockages
to form in the arteries and is therefore a risk factor for
heart disease and stroke. Many people with high blood pressure
do not even realise they are hypertensive – it is often a
silent killer. Many studies have shown that not only do vegetarians
suffer much less from high blood pressure but that a meat-free
diet can also help lower blood pressure in people already
hypertensive. According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine this effect has nothing to do with changes in body
weight, salt or fat intake but entirely down to the vegetarian
diet.
Kidney
Disease
Animal protein tends to overwork the kidneys which in turn
can cause a gradual decline in their ability to carry out
their function in filtering waste from the body in the form
of urine. Animal protein is high in sulphur-containing amino
acids and these tend to leach calcium from the bones where
it is excreted in the urine and may form painful kidney stones.
Meat and eggs contain two to five times more of these sulphur
containing amino acids than are found in grains and beans.
Vegetarian diets would therefore be expected to show less
wear and tear on the kidneys than meat-based ones. A Harvard
study found that intake of animal protein was directly associated
with the risk of kidney stone formation. Researchers here
found that an increase in animal protein from less than 50g
per day to 77g per day was associated with a 33% increased
risk of kidney stones in men. Vegan diets can also be regarded
as a valid alternative to the standard conventional low-protein
diet (CLPD) that is the nutritional treatment for patients
with chronic kidney failure. According to the American Dietetic
Association: “A well-planned vegetarian diet may be useful
in the prevention and treatment of renal [kidney] disease.
Studies... suggest that some plant proteins may increase survival
rates and decrease proteinuria [proteins in the urine]...
and histological renal damage [kidney tissue damage] compared
with a non-vegetarian diet.”
Lactose
Intolerance
Lactose intolerance means the body can't break down or digest
lactose – the sugar found in cow's milk. Lactose is found
in no food other than in the milk secreted by female mammals
(including humans) when suckling their young. Lactose has
to be broken down in the small intestine by an enzyme called
lactase. No surprises then that it is only a suckling infant
that normally has this enzyme – adults wouldn't need it! Once
weaned, mammals no longer have the need to drink their mother's
milk and the need and ability to break down lactose disappears.
If humans carry on drinking milk past weaning – and from another
species to boot – we should not be surprised if our bodies
haven't the enzyme to digest it. This is exactly what happens
in the case of lactose intolerance. The absence of lactase
to digest the lactose from cow's milk means the undigested
lactose reaches the large intestine where bacteria act on
it. These bacteria create gas and the lactose itself causes
water to be drawn into the digestive tract. The result? Feelings
of bloating, stomach cramps and a lot of gas! The gradual
loss of lactase activity after weaning is actually the normal
process in all mammals – humans are no exception. Not surprising
then that current estimates put a figure of some four to five
million people in the UK being lactose intolerant. In the
US it affects as many as 25% of the adult population (50 million)
and a staggering 75% of the population worldwide are thought
to be lactose intolerant!
Osteoporosis
After the age of 50 osteoporosis will affect a staggering
one in three women and one in 12 men in the UK. Although bones
are made predominantly of calcium, drinking calcium-rich cow's
milk is no guarantee of good bone health – there are a myriad
of factors involved – genetic, hormonal, activity levels as
well as nutritional factors. The real cause of osteoporosis
in Western countries is not insufficient calcium intake, it's
excessive excretion of calcium from the body. In a study published
in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, subjects on
a vegetarian diet had less then half the calcium loss than
those on a typical meat-based diet. The Harvard Nurses' Health
Study followed over 77,000 women for 12 years. Those deriving
more calcium from cow's milk had slightly, but significantly,
more fractures than those who drank little or no cow's milk.
And elderly women with a high dietary ratio of animal to vegetable
protein intake have been found to have a greater risk of hip
fracture than those with a low ratio. Why? Acidic animal proteins
appear to cause calcium stored in the bone to be lost in the
urine – and bones become fragile.
Rheumatoid
Arthritis
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease whereby
the immune system of the body attacks its own tissues – here
its own cartilage and joint linings. Meat, dairy produce and
eggs can all be triggers for arthritis and can also encourage
hormone imbalances that may contribute to joint pain. The
authors of a recent paper in the British Journal of Nutrition
concluded that “it is hypothesised that meat and offal
may be a major factor contributing to the inflammation in
RA.” Vegetarian diets can also play a therapeutic role
in the management of RA. A recent systematic review of controlled
studies on vegetarian diets and RA supports the view that
a short period of fasting followed by a vegetarian diet can
cause clinically relevant long-term improvement in patients
with RA. Authors of the review concluded that vegetarian diets
might be useful in the treatment of RA.
Weight
Problems
Currently, over half of women and about two thirds of men
are overweight or obese. The
World Health Organisation states that obesity is linked to
heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, osteoarthritis, gallstones
and some cancers. They recognise that since it is very difficult
to encourage people to slim, prevention is the key. Vegetarians
are, as a group, slimmer than meat-eaters.
Conclusions
The China
Health Study is the largest and most comprehensive survey
of diet and mortality in the world. On-going analysis of the
diets and health status of 65 rural counties in China is revealing
a very clear picture of the sorts of foods humans should be
eating. The study is being organised and overseen by Professor
Colin Campbell – Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of
Nutritional Biochemistry, Cornell University and long time
senior science advisor to the World Cancer Research Fund.
Results are clearly showing that we are a vegetarian species
whose risk of disease is increased by eating meat and animal
products. And it's not simply good enough to put some elements
of a vegetarian diet into practice. As Professor Campbell
states: “The closer one approaches a total plant food
diet, the greater the health benefit... Animal foods, in general,
are not really helpful and we need to get away from eating
them.”
Vibrant
life-long health for children demands a way of eating that
provides all the necessary protective foods and rejects all
the dangerous harmful ones. Scientific evidence clearly shows
us this means plant-based not animal-based foods.
“The
burden of modern lifestyle diseases is enormous when the costs
of investigation, diagnosis, treatment and primary and secondary
prevention are included. Thus, dietary intervention with a
vegetarian diet seems to be a cheap, physiological and safe
approach for the prevention, and possibly management of modern
lifestyle diseases.” Dr M Segasothy, NT Clinical School
of Medicine of Flinders University, Australia.
Safeguarding Children's Health
A summary
of a major new report, Safeguarding Children's Health: Defeating
Disease Through Vegetarian/Vegan Diets, by the Vegetarian
and Vegan Foundation, unravelling the scientific evidence
that shows vegetarian diets are the only ones to ensure children's
health – now and in the future.
Laura
Scott (MSc Nutrition)
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