Veggie Health for KidsEvery nutrient a child needs and how to get it.A guide for parents showing why vegetarian/vegan diets are the healthiest option for children. World turned upside down! / What You Need and Where You Get It / How Animal Products Affect Children / How Animal Products Affect Adults / Conclusions How Animal Products Affect Adults Little people inevitably become big people so it’s important to look at how animal products can affect adult health. Children who learn healthy eating habits tend to eat healthily when they grow up so a plant-based diet has long-term importance for them – but also for you parents. Cancer
Translated, this research found that vegetarians get a 40 per cent less risk of dying from cancer and live longer than meat eaters. Cancer experts worldwide now believe that over a third of cancer deaths – and possibly many more – could be linked to diet. Leading cancer expert, Professor Sir Richard Doll, estimates that 20-60 per cent of cancers might be avoided through diet. Over a quarter of a million people are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK and a staggering one-in-four of the population in the UK will die from it. Cancer is second only to heart disease as the major killer in the Western world, despite the knowledge that vegetables, fruit and plant foods considerably reduce the risk. It’s also known that the process of cooking meat, particularly at high temperatures for long periods, produces cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens) called heterocyclic amines. It happens with all meats but the level in chicken is 15 times higher than in beef – which rather destroys the image of chicken as a healthy option. Heating plant proteins such as soya doesn’t produce these killer chemicals. Fats – and particularly animal fats – produce bile acids in the digestive system that appear to promote cancer of the colon. Diets rich in fibre can reduce bile acids and low-fat diets seem to produce more ‘natural killer’ cells than high-fat diets. They seek and destroy abnormal cells that may turn cancerous. Breast Cancer The Women’s Health study looked at 41,836 women over a long period of time and found that the risk of breast cancer rose when well-done to very-well-done meat was eaten. Cow’s milk also carries a possible risk of breast cancer and one particular ingredient is suspected. It’s a hormone called Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1). The same hormone occurs naturally in humans and stimulates growth in children but declines as a child ages. It’s known that the IGF-1 in cow’s milk encourages breast cancer cells to multiply. It’s also known that when pre-menopausal women have even small increases of IGF-1 in their blood, their risk of breast cancer increases seven times. One theory is that drinking cow’s milk after weaning may cause breast cells to keep on multiplying. Bowel Cancer Large numbers of people have given up red meat in favour of ‘healthier’ white meat – fish and poultry – and yet both red and white meat increase the risk of colon cancer. People who eat only white meat less than once a week have a 55 per cent higher risk than those who don’t eat any meat at all. When they eat it at least once a week, the risk increases three-fold. On the other hand, eating beans, peas or lentils at least twice a week drops the risk of colon cancer by 50 per cent. The risk of colon cancer seems to depend on the overall healthiness of your diet. Fruits, vegetables and fibre reduce your risk while following the official health advice, and swapping high-fat dairy products for low-fat ones, butter for margarine, red meat for poultry and refined grains for wholegrains, also reduces your risk – but only slightly. The evidence is beginning to stack up that there is a link between eating meat and processed meat products and colon cancer. This risk is described as ‘moderate’ but significant and it’s been shown that frequent consumption of beef, veal, pork and lamb can increase your chances of colon cancer by 20-40 per cent. Prostate Cancer The reason why dairy products are in the frame is again believed to be the hormone IGF-1 – the same as in breast cancer. It’s known that vegan men have less IGF-1 than meat eaters, which might reduce their risk of prostate cancer. Calcium from dairy products might also play a part because it can reduce concentrations of vitamin D, which is thought to provide protection. Men who eat two-and-a-half or more servings of dairy products a day increase their risk by almost a third compared with those who eat less than half a serving per day. Switching to low-fat milk won’t help much as skimmed milk was found in one study to be the food most closely linked with prostate cancer.
The Very Best Anti-Cancer Diet. How does a plant diet protect against cancer? Fibre helps to sweep toxins out of the body and the rich supply of protective antioxidants protect body cells against damage. Some foods, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower, almost certainly help to prevent cancer. That’s why we’re recommended to eat at least five portions of fruits and vegetables every day and to eat more starchy carbohydrates. One portion is equivalent to one medium-sized fruit like an apple, banana or orange, two smaller fruits such as kiwis or plums, a cupful of berry fruits, a large bowlful of green salad or two serving spoonfuls of most cooked vegetables and pulses like beans and lentils. Plant foods also contain protective ‘plant hormones’ (phytoestrogens) and soya products contain the most. There is a bit of confusion because whilst most research point to soya having cancer-preventing properties, some show the opposite. On balance, the evidence seems to be that soya foods are beneficial. Meat and dairy products contain no antioxidant vitamins, no fibre and no protective phytoestrogens. Is it really surprising, then, that all-veggie diets are the best anti-cancer diets around?
“
Vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, coronary heart disease,
high blood pressure, large bowel disorders and cancers and gall
stones. Cholesterol levels tend to be lower and vegetarian diets have
been noted
to lower blood cholesterol. The vegetarian diet is adequate for
the nutritional needs of infants.” Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Vegetarians are less at risk of heart disease and have 25 per cent less chance of dying from it. If everyone in the UK went vegetarian, about 30,000 lives a year would be saved – a veggie diet should be available on prescription! Recent research came to just this conclusion: “... 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.” Apart from having lower body weights, lower cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure levels, new research adds another clue as to why vegetarians get less heart disease. Salicylic acid in the blood of vegetarians is up to one-and-a-half times higher than in meat eaters – some had levels 12-times higher! Salicylic acid is the main ingredient in aspirin, prescribed to reduce the risk of heart attacks by fighting the inflammation that causes it. Salicylic acid, it seems, is also present in fruit and vegetables! The same research came up with evidence that salicylic acid may protect against bowel, breast and lung cancer as well as Alzheimer’s disease. Cholesterol and Saturated Fat People talk of ‘good’ cholesterol and ‘bad’ cholesterol and your body contains both main types. Bad cholesterol (low-density lipoproteins or LDL) is dumped on the artery walls, reduces blood flow and causes heart attacks and strokes. Good cholesterol (high-density lipoproteins or HDL) is carried to the liver so the body can get rid of it. Most of your cholesterol is made up of the baddies. Saturated fat encourages your body to produce too much and a high level carries the risk of heart attack. People who turn to lean red meat and white meat to reduce their cholesterol levels are going to be disappointed because it’s largely ineffective – about a five per cent reduction at best. Low-fat, vegetarian diets, devoid of all meat, can bring cholesterol down by up to 32 per cent. When lean meat was substituted for soya bean curd (tofu) again levels fell considerably. There is increasing evidence that vegans have an even greater advantage. Lifelong vegetarians have been shown to have cholesterol levels 24 per cent lower than average and lifelong vegans 57 per cent lower. Just as importantly, vegetarian and vegan diets can reverse the damage done by CHD, even in severe cases. “The Reversal Diet is a very low-fat vegetarian diet...This
is what the patients in our study consumed, whose coronary heart disease
began
to reverse. I am convinced that this is the world’s healthiest diet
for most adults, whether or not they have heart disease.” Diabetes The science again shows that vegetarians and vegans are considerably less at risk. Research with 25,000 adult Americans put it at about 45 per cent less. For those who already have diabetes, there’s strong evidence that high-fibre, low-fat diets improve the situation and even without exercise, vegan diets can bring down blood sugar levels. A low-fat, high-fibre diet helps insulin to work better because it allows sugar to pass into the bloodstream a little at a time rather than all at once. Dietitians now recommend that wholegrain pasta, rice, bread and other complex carbohydrates – along with pulses, beans and vegetables – form the main part of any diabetic diet. Diverticular Disease Gallstones Hypertension When 29 patients, who had suffered from high blood pressure for eight
years, were put on a vegan diet for a year, so successful was it that almost
all medication was withdrawn or drastically reduced.
“
A well-planned vegetarian diet may be useful in the prevention
and treatment of renal [kidney] disease..." For those with kidney disease, plant proteins may increase survival rates and reduce kidney damage. According to Dr Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), animal protein is the worst enemy of people with a tendency toward kidney stones, or any kidney disease for that matter. Animal protein tends to overwork the kidneys, making them less efficient at filtering waste from the body in the urine. Animal protein is high in sulphur which can leach calcium from the bones and form painful kidney stones. Meat and eggs contain up to five times more of these sulphur compounds than grains and beans. So, vegetarian diets tend to produce less wear and tear on the kidneys. A Harvard University study found that animal protein was directly linked to the risk of kidney stones and just small increases in meat consumption pushed that risk up. People with kidney problems are usually put on a low-protein diet yet it’s been shown that a vegan diet is extremely effective and has the added advantage of being a healthier alternative. Lactose Intolerance Undigested lactose reaches the large intestine where bacteria act on it, creating gas and drawing water into the digestive tract. The result – bloating, stomach cramps and a lot of gas! Up to five million people in the UK are lactose intolerant; in the US it affects about 50 million people and a staggering 75 per cent of the world’s population is lactose intolerant! This shows just how unnatural cow’s milk really is for adults and why it plays a part in a host of diseases, including irritable bowel syndrome. Obesity Osteoporosis Bone density increases until the mid mid-thirties and is dependent on genetics, hormones and nutrition. Keeping active with weight-bearing activities such walking and skipping is important. But the main cause of osteoporosis in Western countries is not lack of calcium – it is loss of calcium. Vegetarians have less than half the calcium losses than meat-eaters. Animal protein produces acid in the body whilst most fruit, vegetables and pulses form alkalines. Acids are neutralised by using calcium from the bones, which is then excreted in urine. Elderly people who eat a lot of animal protein but little vegetable protein have a greater risk of hip fractures. Cutting down on meat and dairy – or cutting it out entirely – reduces the amount of calcium you need and there are plenty of plant foods that can provide it. (See calcium section). Rheumatoid Arthritis When RA sufferers were put on a vegetarian diet, they showed a significant reduction in pain, stiffness and swollen joints after just four weeks. Researchers have come to the conclusion that vegetarian diets might be useful in the treatment of RA and that meat and offal may be a major factor contributing to the inflammation in RA. Strokes Children’s Eating Habits |
by Laura Scott (MSc Nutrition), VVF Senior Nutritionist A guide by the Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation Copyright: Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation 2004. |
