Meat eaters: Twice As Likely To Die From Heart Disease; 60% More Likely To Die From Cancer
Meat eaters are twice as likely to die from heart disease, and 60% more likely to die of cancer than non meat eaters
A study that compares vegetarians to meat eaters (the Oxford Vegetarian Study), found that meat eaters are twice as likely to die from heart disease, have a 60 percent greater risk of dying from cancer, and a 30 percent higher risk of death from other causes.
In addition, the incidence of obesity, which is a major risk factor for many diseases, including gallbladder disease, hypertension and adult onset diabetes, is much lower in those following a vegetarian diet, as is the level of cholesterol.
As far back as 1961, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that a vegetarian diet could prevent 90-97% of heart diseases.
With bacon and other meats being found to be as bad for you as cigarettes, these results aren’t enrirely a surprise.
A US federal study conducted by the National Cancer Institute, and featured in Archives of Internal Medicine, compared people with a high meat intake to people with a low one. It showed that people with diets high in meat are at significantly higher risk of dying early.
Women who ate large amounts of red meat had a 20 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease than women who ate less.
Men had a 22 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease, compared to those who ate the least red meat, which was just 5 ounces per week, or 25g per day – approximately a small rasher of bacon.
The study also found that high white meat consumption also posed a major risk.
The researchers noted that meat contains several cancer-causing chemicals, as well as the unhealthiest forms of fat.
The findings support a previous study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, which showed that eating meat boosts risk of prostate cancer by 40%.
Since then, parents have learned that their children had a 60% increased risk of developing leukemia if they consumed meat products, such as ham, sausages and hamburgers.
The China Study, the most comprehensive study of all time, also found that the cancer rate was highest in nations with high meat consumption, and lowest in the nations of low or no meat consumption.
Researcher Rollo Russell writes in his Notes on the Causation of Cancer that thirty-five nations he studied that ate little or no flesh, none had a high rate of cancer. This is in contrast to nations who ate a lot of meat typically having a high rate of cancer.
The US government now recommends a plant based diet.
For more information about cutting out animal products, see this page.
Also watch the eye opening documentary Forks Over Knives on this site.
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