Vegetarian Diets Get Green Light Experts say well-planned meals a healthy alternative A well-planned vegetarian diet can be a healthy alternative to meat-based diets for people of all ages. That blessing comes in a joint statement from the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and Dietitians of Canada, which appears in the June issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The statement cites numerous health benefits of a vegetarian diet such as lower intakes of saturated fat and cholesterol and higher intakes of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E. An estimated 4 percent of Canadian adults and 3 percent of American adults follow vegetarian diets and interest in them is on the rise, the statement says. Many restaurants and caterers offer vegetarian meals, and there's been a substantial increase in the sales of vegetarian foods in recent years. "Vegetarians have been reported to have healthier body weight than non-vegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from heart disease, lower blood cholesterol levels and lower rates of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and prostate and colon cancer," ADA spokeswoman Cynthia Sass says in a news release. Planning a vegetarian diet doesn't need to be complicated, but it should be nutrient-dense. The key to ensuring the body receives all its nutritional needs is to eat a wide variety of foods, Sass says. The best way to do that is to get advice from a nutrition expert. (HealthScoutNews)6/03 LINK to Vegetarian Resource Group, recipes, information, etc. Ann Nutr Metab, 11/03 Blood Pressure & Dietary Modification Works Nutrients that may help lower blood pressure Insulin Sensitivity and Vegetarianism Impaired insulin sensitivity sets people up for a whole host of life-threatening problems, including obesity, hypertension, atherosclerosis, diabetes. It is also thought to be at the heart of so-called syndrome X (now called metabolic syndrome) affecting 50 million Americans.[10] A new study in China compared the insulin sensitivity of vegetarians and meateaters, and even though the vegetarians were on average years older than the meateaters, the vegetarians were significantly more insulin sensitive. Yet another clue to explain why vegetarians have so much less cardiac mortality. And the longer the research subjects were vegetarian, the better their values became. The researchers summarize: "In conclusion, the vegetarian diets had significant beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity of subjects in a low-risk population. The degree of beneficial effects appeared to be correlated with years on a vegetarian diet."[11] Source: www.veganmd.org (Dr. Greger's Monthly Email Newsletter) [10] JAMA 287(2002):356. [11] European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 58(2004)312. Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.