How Diet Impacts Health
Beyond Meatless, the Health Effects of Vegan Diets: Findings from the Adventist Cohorts
Researchers found that, among participants (who all abstained from alcohol and tobacco use), a vegetarian diet was associated with a lower BMI, less risk of dying from various chronic diseases, and lower odds of developing said diseases/health complications including hypertension, type-2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, coronary heart disease, colon cancer, prostate cancer, cancer of the gastrointestinal tract. Results also indicated additional health benefits for lacto-ovo vegetarians and vegans, with vegans benefiting most. However, vegans experienced 73% higher risk for urinary tract cancer and were more likely to be deficient in vitamin B, protein, and calcium.
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Le, L. T., & Sabate, J. (2014). Beyond Meatless, the Health Effects of Vegan Diets: Findings from the Adventist Cohorts. Nutrients, 6(6), 2131–2147.
Comparison of Nutritional Quality of the Vegan, Vegetarian, Semi-Vegetarian, Pesco-Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diet
After comparing results of both the United States Department of Agriculture's Healthy Eating Index and the Mediterranean Diet Score, researchers found the vegan diet to be the most healthy and the omnivorous diet to be the least healthy. While "absolute carbohydrate and sugar intakes were of the same magnitude across all diets," around 29 percent of omnivores were overweight or obese compared to about 9 percent of vegans, vegetarians, and pesco-vegetarians. The study also concluded that that "the vegan diet had the lowest total energy intake, better fat intake profile, lowest protein and highest dietary fiber intake."
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Clarys, P., Deliens, T., Huybrechts, I., Deriemaeker, P., Vanaelst, B., De Keyzer, W., … Mullie, P. (2014). Comparison of Nutritional Quality of the Vegan, Vegetarian, Semi-Vegetarian, Pesco-Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diet. Nutrients, 6(3), 1318–1332.
Resolving the Health Care Crisis: The Power of a Plant-Based Diet
In this presentation, called a TEDxTalk, Dr. Campbell explains why he believes learning about nutrition would and should convince Americans to switch to a plant-based diet. Campbell explains that a plant-based diet has the ability to not just prevent diseases but cure some as well, especially those like heart disease that are killing Americans at high rates. For example, the doctor walks viewers through research that found associations between 1) high protein consumption and rapid cancer growth and 2) low protein consumption and significant reductions in cancer growth (even remission). These associations were consistent whether someone was genetically prone to developing cancer or not. Consequently, Dr. Campbell emphasizes the need for food to replace prescription drugs as the preferred method of care in the medical field. He claims it would save countless lives as well as thousands of dollars.
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Campbel, T. C. (2012). Resolving the Health Care Crisis. Presented at the TEDx Talks. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CN7PF10RKo