Introduction
These chronic diseases include obesity, heart disease (the number 1 killer in the US), cancer (the number 2 killer in the US), stroke, diabetes, hemorrhoids, and perhaps more. the high content of fiber in the diet is one of the reasons for this. Also there is no cholesterol in the vegan diet.
Hypertension
"Have a banana." Rob Hicks, MD
This quote is from the book "Control Your Blood Pressure" by Dr. Hicks. One of the reasons for this advice is that bananas are high in potassium and low in sodium. Another reason is that they are high in fiber with few calories because they have almost no fat. They are mostly water, like other fruits.
"Garlic and fish oil, for example, may both help lower blood pressure." Hicks
He recommends potassium-rich foods including bananas, peaches, green peppers, spinach, peas, watercress, papaya, and apricots.
Stress
Protein has been a sacred cow in nutrition for a long time. Many British experiments on rats have been largely ignored in the US. It seems that stress causes an increase in certain amino acids in the brain (1).
Alzheimer's Disease
"Blood levels of homocysteine may be increased in Alzheimer disease (AD) and hyperhomocysteinemia may contribute to disease pathophysiology by vascular and direct neurotoxic mechanisms. Even in the absence of vitamin deficiency, homocysteine levels can be reduced by administration of high-dose supplements of folic acid and vitamins B(6) and B(12)." (4)
Make Good Nutrition Your Ambition
“It is the position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.”
ADA June 2003
This quote is from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (5). The article is available free full text on the Internet. The issue is Volume 103, Issue 6, Pages 748-765 (June 2003).
An interesting source on this subject is the Compassion Over Killing website. It is at www.cok.net. Although it is a nonprofit organization, cok.org was already taken by Christ Our King.
Refs. 6, 7, and 8 are academic articles supporting the vegetarian diet.
Psychiatry
I have been severely criticized for advocating a modified vegan diet for mental health. However, there have been terrible problems with drug treatments (9). Ref. 9 is from The Lancet, which is a prestigious medical journal from England. The issue is February 21, 2009 - pages 621 - 622 - Vol 373.
"Antipsychotics are, at times, cruel drugs. Some cause shaking, salivation, restlessness, infertility, stiff ness, agitation, and frail bones; others cause obesity, somnolence, and increase the risk of heart attack, diabetes, and stroke. Antidepressants also have side-effects, although theirs are typically less dramatic: sickness, sexual dysfunction, a feeling of being numbed, or losing one's personality, and acutely increased risk of suicide." Athar Yawar
The Lancet, London NW1 7BY, UK (Ref. 9)
Ref. 10 & 11 claim that the drugs don't work, as does Ref. 9.
Conclusions
The vegetarian diet and the vegan diet both fight against chronic diseases, particularly heart disease. The vegan diet is better at this because it has no cholesterol and it has more fruits and vegetables, which have polyphenols. For more information on nutrition, consult Ref. 12. For more information on mental diseases, which are also physical, consult Ref. 13. Both 12 and 13 are available free full text at Associated Content.
I have submitted this to the ethics group for two reasons. One reason is that the drug companies have fudged their work. Their science is to maximize corporate profits. Another reason is that animal rights groups such as PETA and COK have claimed that there is serious abuse of farm animals on factory farms. They both support the vegan diet.
I have submitted the article to political groups because I support the political activism of PETA and COK. Neither of the two major political parties has endorsed animal rights so far as far as I know. I have never heard a peep about this from Rush Limbaugh's show.
References
1. Effects of food deprivation and immobilization on tryptophan and other amino acids in rat brain. Knott PJ, Joseph MH, Curzon G. J Neurochem. 1973 Jan;20(1):249-51.
2. Free tryptophan in plasma and brain tryptophan metabolism. Knott PJ, Curzon G. Nature. 1972 Oct 20;239(5373):452-3.
3. Effects of immobilization and food deprivation on rat brain tryptophan metabolism. Curzon G, Joseph MH, Knott PJ. J Neurochem. 1972 Aug;19(8):1967-74.
4. High-dose B vitamin supplementation and cognitive decline in Alzheimer disease: a randomized controlled trial. Aisen PS, Schneider LS, Sano M, Diaz-Arrastia R, van Dyck CH, Weiner MF, Bottiglieri T, Jin S, Stokes KT, Thomas RG, Thal LJ; Alzheimer Disease Cooperative Study. JAMA. 2008 Oct 15;300(15):1774-83.
5. http://www.adajournal.org/article/PIIS0002822303002943/fulltext
6. Sabate J, Ratzin-Turner RA, Brown JE. Vegetarian diets: descriptions and trends. In: Sabate J editors. Vegetarian Nutrition. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; 2001;p. 3–17.
7. Lea E, Worsley A. The cognitive contexts of beliefs about the healthiness of meat. Public Health Nutr. 2002;5:37–45.
8. Fraser GE. Associations between diet and cancer, ischemic heart disease, and all-cause mortality in non-Hispanic white California Seventh-day Adventists. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;70:532S–538S.
10. The Myth of the Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment by Joanna Moncrieff (Palgrave Macmillan) 2008. 296 pages. ISBN 0-230-57431-9.
11. Side Effects: a Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial by Alison Bass (Algonquin Books) 2008. 260 pages. ISBN 1-565-12553-3.
12. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2332174/giants_of_science_dr_sauls_work.html
13.
www.associatedcontent.com/article/2313589/neuroimaging_in_basic_brain_disorder.html
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Comments: 19
I have had chronic depression since age 9. Unfortunately, I eat a nearly vegan diet, relying mostly on oatmeal and beans for my staples (I live in backabeyond and sad to say, the best selection of groceries I have access to is at the Dollar Store. No lie.) - but my depression continues. Of course, there are a million factors not taken into account in my anecdotal evidence, but if there were something I could clearly do differently, I'd like to know.
I doubt depression responds to diet. (Other than in the sense that if I manage to eat something before 5 pm, I tend to be less depressed, and that sort of thing.)
I can see how glucose metabolism could be involved in depression. I eat a vegan diet because of its other benefits. Still get depressed, though. Despite that, it isn't that I don't think depression might respond to diet. It is, as you say, that individuals differ so widely that making even general recommendations may be impossible.
I'm always interested in learning more about it though.
Exercise works, of course, but it only has an immediate effect. It won't make me see in color the next morning.