New Research shows a vegetarian diet will reduce diseases
While many people like to debate whether or not eating animals it healthy or not, there is research that continues to come out on the topic. A study that was published in the August 2022 issue of the journal Microbial Physiology, took a look at whether or not eating a vegetarian diet will help to reduce diseases. They conclude that "Homo sapiens could avoid a significant fraction of the diseases that plague us by shifting to a more vegetarian diet."
The research that the team conducted in this study was to see if the disease agents that are present in raising animals and eating them can go on to cause diseases in humans. They cite that there are over 250 types of known causative agents that are transmitted to humans by raising animals, preparing meat, eggs and dairy, and then eating these products. Here are a few of the important points that they mention in the study:
- "...virtually none of these agents are obtained by eating plant-derived products unless the plants are grown and prepared with contaminated water."
- Many large population studies have revealed that vegetarians live longer than omnivores and with far fewer debilitating diseases. According to a Loma Linda University study, vegetarians live seven years longer, and vegans 15 years longer than meat eaters.
- According to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the cost of food-borne illnesses in the United States alone, in terms of patient suffering, reduced productivity and medical bills, is over 60 billion dollars annually.
- "...foodborne illnesses are largely preventable, and the simplest approach to reduce their occurrences is to greatly reduce the consumption of meat, dairy, fish and poultry."
The study findings go on to lay out the details about global warming and how eating a vegetarian or vegan diet can help with that issue as well. They also go in-depth to look at the issue of food poisoning. The whole study is worth reading over and is linked in the journal title above.
This research sheds light on an important issue that many of us tended to know already. When we raise and slaughter animals it leads to pathogens and diseases that could likely otherwise be avoided. They mention in the article how anyone who wants to switch to a vegetarian diet could do so, as there are veg options pretty much anywhere today.
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