Studies Confirm Power of a Plant Based Diet

'Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food' 

(Hippocrates - Father of Medicine)

 1) One very large international study has found that people eating a plant based diet live an average of 8 years longer than those eating a diet with a lot of animal products (Link 1)(Link 2).

2) "Combined data from the EPIC-Oxford cohort and the Oxford Vegetarian Study (including 31,470 meat-eaters, 8,516 fish-eaters, 18,096 vegetarians and 2,228 vegans) found that, compared with meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans had around 50 per cent lower  mortality from pancreatic cancer (Appleby et al., 2016). When they excluded those who changed diet group during the study (possibly reflecting the onset of illness), compared with regular meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans had around 50-60 per cent lower mortality" (Link).

3) T. Colin Campbell is an American biochemist who specializes in the effects of nutrition on long-term health. He is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, and the author of over 300 research papers. Campbell wrote the ground-breaking book called "The China Study," and he recommends a plant based diet that focuses mainly on whole foods (cooked and raw). Campbell says, "It’s not because we have data to show that 100 percent plant-based eating is better than 95 percent. But if someone has been diagnosed with cancer or heart disease, it’s smart to go ahead and do the whole thing. If I start saying you can have a little of this, a little of that, it allows them to deviate off course. Our taste preferences change. We tend to choose the foods we become accustomed to, and in part because we become addicted to them, dietary fat in particular" (Link).

Referencing the above study by T.Colin Campbell, former U.S. President Bill Clinton decided to eat a plant based diet after being confronted with heart disease (link). 

4) At 1:15 in the following video, Deborah Kotz from US News and World Report says that the Adventist church has one of the healthiest diets, and therefore one of the longest life expectancies. "It's pretty accepted now in the medical community - with all of the scientific research that's been looking at Adventists - that they live longer than their peers." On their website, the Adventist church recommends "A generous use of whole grains, vegetables and fruits; and a moderate use of low fat dairy products (or nutritional equivalent alternatives), legumes, and nuts; a very limited use of foods high in saturated fat, cholesterol, sugar, and salt; abstinence from tobacco, alcohol, and coffee, tea, and other caffeinated beverages."

5) "A few years ago, scientists identified five groups of long-lived elderly people (aged 70 and older) – Japanese in Japan, Swedes in Sweden, Anglo-Celtic people in Australia, and Greeks in both Greece and Australia – and observed them for the next seven years, tracking their health status and food choices among nine different categories: vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, cereals, dairy products, meat, fish, and monounsaturated fats. A total of 785 elderly people were followed.

The researchers found that legumes were the most important dietary predictor of survival among the elderly, “regardless of their ethnicity,” they wrote. For every 20-gram increase in daily legume intake (20 grams is about three-quarters of an ounce), 'there is a 7 to 8% reduction in mortality hazard ratio.'" (Link)

6) According to the US National Cancer Institute, "People whose diets are rich in plant foods such as fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of getting cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, stomach, lung, and there is some suggested evidence for a lower risk of cancers of the colon, pancreas, and prostate. They are also less likely to get diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension. A diet high in fruits and vegetables helps to reduce calorie intake and may help to control weight. To help prevent these cancers and other chronic diseases, experts recommend 4 to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, depending on energy needs. This includes 2 to 5 servings of fruits and 2 to 8 servings of vegetables, with special emphasis on dark-green and orange vegetables and legumes" (Link).

7) "An interesting new study...found that avoiding meat, fish and poultry leads to more frequent reports of positive mood. The researchers, from Benedictine University in Illinois and Arizona State University, noted that in general, vegetarians report better mood than omnivores (those whose diets include meat, fish and poultry)" (Link).

8) The following is from Dr. Oz's website: "Red meat is still linked to an increased risk of heart disease, but it’s not just from the fat. New research points to a substance found in red meat called L-carnitine. This new research suggests that L-carnitine, either from red meat or taken in supplement form, poses a threat to your heart" (link).

9)  This is from NBCnews.com: "A startling study shows men who have the highest levels of these compounds [from fish oil] – the kinds found in fish but not in vegetable sources -- have a higher risk of prostate cancer. Men with the very highest levels had a 71 percent higher risk of high-grade prostate cancer – the kind most likely to spread and kill, they report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute" (Link).

10) Another in-depth 500-participant survey of those eating a raw food diet included people who followed an 80 to 90% raw foods diet for 2 years. Those reporting “a lot” of stress in life after transitioning to live foods dropped from 56% to 20%. 81% felt they had developed emotionally “quite a bit” or “tremendously”. Also of great significance was the reduction in the number of respondents reporting chronic fatigue (from 16% to 3.6%), candida (from 21% to 5%), depression (from 27% to 7%), anxiety (from 22% to 8%), weak immune system (from 17% to 0.2%), hypoglycemia (from 15% to 2.6%), fibromyalgia (from 5.6% to 1.5%), osteoarthritis (from 4.8% to 2.8%), and cancer (from 2.7% to 0.4%) (link). 

11) "One study of 141 American long-term (mean time 28 months) adherents to a raw foods diet found self-reported improvements in health and quality of life after adoption of the diet" (link)

12) In one study taken at the Department of Physiology, University of Kuopio, Finland, "quality of sleep and general health improved" for those following a vegan raw foods diet (Link).

13) One study confirmed that "Uncooked food can be seen as a useful adjunct to drugs in the treatment of allergic, rheumatic and infectious diseases" (link).

14) "A large, cross-sectional study conducted by investigators at the University of Melbourne in Australia shows that...the Western diet was associated with a 50% increased likelihood of depression. 'Simply put, if you habitually eat a healthy diet that includes fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and high-quality lean meat, then you may cut your risk of depression and anxiety,' principal investigator Felice Jacka, PhD, told Medscape Psychiatry." (link)

15) A BBC News article reports that "Those who ate the most whole foods had a 26% lower risk of future depression than those who at the least whole foods. By contrast people with a diet high in processed food had a 58% higher risk of depression than those who ate very few processed foods."(link)

16) "A new study from England found that depressive feelings were more common among those who ate more processed foods, and less common in those with a diet consisting of 'whole foods' (i.e. fruits, vegetables, minimally processed grains)." (link)

17) "It can be concluded that vegan diet had beneficial effects on fibromyalgia symptoms at least in the short run" (link).

18) According to another BBC News article, 9 volunteers who ate a raw vegan diet enjoyed "good energy levels and mood", lower cholesterol and lower blood pressures (link).

19) According to a recent BBC News article, "People who follow a raw food vegetarian diet are light in weight but healthy, according to US researchers" (link).

20) "According to Dr. Greger (nutritionfacts.org), prescription drugs are actually the 6th leading cause of death! (Most could be avoided on a nutrient-dense raw vegan diet.)." (link)