12 Really Great Health Reasons To Go Vegan

As most vegans will tell you, a diet without animal products can be good for your health. Of the more than 12 million vegetarians in the United States, it is estimated that nearly 50% made the choice for health reasons. Consider these facts:

1. A vegan diet has been shown to reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, adult-onset diabetes, and osteoporosis.
2. The Journal of the American Medical Association has reported that a vegetarian diet can prevent 97% of coronary obstructions.
3. Osteoporosis is a disease of protein excess. The protein in milk actually inhibits the body's ability to absorb the calcium from milk. Many plant-based sources of calcium are easily assimilated into the body.
4. Dairy consumption has been linked to heart disease, cancer (especially breast cancer), allergies, sinus trouble, migraines, and psoriasis.
5. Dairy food can create excess mucus in the body, which can host cold and virus germs in the respiratory tract.
6. Vegans and vegetarians tend to be slimmer than meat eaters.
7. Studies show that a plant based diet can increase your life expectancy by 7 to 15 years.
8. The feed given to livestock is sprayed with pesticides. More than 90% of the toxic chemical residues found in foods consumed by Americans come from animal products.
9. More than 60 million pounds of antibiotics per year are fed to livestock. These are passed on to people in meat and dairy products. This result in a diminished effectiveness of antibiotics used to treat human illness.
10. Meat also contains bovine growth hormone, which can cause early sexual maturity in children. Statistics show that 100 years ago, American girls reached puberty at the average age of 17; today girls as young as 8 are beginning puberty.
11. A vegan diet can reduce the risk of food poisoning. According to the Centers for Disease Control, campylobacter infects up to 90% of all chicken. In addition, each year up to 20,000 Americans become ill from the E.coli found in meat.
12. Cornell University's long-term study of diet and health, called the China Project, showed that 80-90% of all cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other forms of degenerative illness can be prevented by adopting a plant-based diet.

Source: Vegan Planet, Robin Robertson