Hello:

I thought you all might find the following passage from the book
"Fasting and Eating for Health" (ISBN: 031218719X /
http://tinyurl.com/wx6zx ) by Joel Fuhrman, M.D., interesting. It
involves studies of Seventh-Day Adventists, a group that is often
studied because they are disproportionately vegetarian (when compared
with the general American population). (Incidentally, I'm not a
Seventh-Day Adventist myself -- my life's philosophy is much closer to
Buddhism - Vedanta - Quakerism, etc.) This passage starts on page 74:

===== Begin quoted passage =====

Many mortality studies have been done on the Seventh-Day Adventists
..... They are prohibited from using tobacco, alcohol, and pork, and are
discouraged from consuming meats, fish, eggs, and caffeine-containing
beverages. Because the latter items are only discouraged and not
prohibited, there is a wide range of consumption of these items. ....
If we look at multiple scientific investigations done on this group, we
find the following:

1. As a whole, male Adventists live an average of 8.9 years longer than
the rest of (nonsmoking) America, and Adventist women 7.5 years longer
(this includes both vegetarian and nonvegetarian Adventists).
Vegetarian Adventists live the longest in proportion to the time they
had been on a vegetarian diet. [note 22] If we extrapolate the results
to include those on a vegetarian diet for more than half of their
lives, more than 13 years [!!!!] are added to the life span, compared
to the nonsmoking American.

2. Egg and meat consumption is strongly associated with all causes of
mortality. Dairy product and milk consumption is associated with
prostate cancer. The earlier in life that Adventists became
vegetarians, the lower their risk of coronary heart disease. [note 23]
These findings are consistent with the findings of numerous
epidemiologic investigations, including those done on dairy products
and their relation to prostate cancer. [note 24]

3. All-cause mortality shows a significant negative association with
green salad consumption, meaning the more leafy green vegetables
consumed in the diet, the longer the life span. [note 25] This confirms
the importance of raw, natural plant foods, the loss of important
factors with cooking, and the protective effect of all the
health-giving nutrients they contain.

The conclusion one must make is that animal food consumption is more of
a risk factor for an early death than even cigarette smoking. [!!!!]
Of course, I am strongly against smoking, but a smoking, lifetime
vegetarian probably has a better chance to reach 75 years of age than a
nonsmoking, lifetime meat eater....

===== End quoted passage =====

Notes from the passage quoted:

[note 22]: Ruckner C, Hoffman J. "The Seventh-Day Adventist Diet." New
York: Random House, 1991.

[note 23]: Snowdon DA. Animal product consumption and mortality because
of all causes combined, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and
cancer in Seventh-Day Adventists. American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition 1988; 48: 739-48.

[note 24]: Rotkin ID. Studies in the epidemiology of prostate cancer:
Expanded sampling. Cancer Treatment Reports 1977;61:173-80.

[note 25]: Kahn, HA, Phillips RL, Snowdon DA, Choi W. Association
between reported diet and all causes of mortality: twenty-one-year
followup on 27,530 adult Seventh-Day Adventists. American Journal of
Epidemiology 1984:119:775-87.

=====

[Back to me]: Of course, these conclusions are only as sound as the
underlying studies that suggest them. Many studies have supported the
correlation of vegetarianism and longer life expectancy, but
correlation can easily masquerade as CAUSATION, and this is one of the
trickiest fallacies to avoid, even for experienced scientists (and
philosophers -- who really should know better!)

Correlation or causation, I plan to remain in the vegetarian camp as
more studies roll in (primarily for ethical reasons, but also for
health).

Cheers!

(By the way, please feel free to share this message with friends or
acquaintances who might find it interesting.)

--
Brett
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