The Health Advantages of the Vegan Diet

There are many health advantages to be gained from following a vegan diet. Studies have shown that when compared with omnivores:

1. Vegans tend, on average, to be slimmer and are less likely to suffer from obesity and obesity-related illnesses.
   
2. Vegans are less likely to suffer from: osteoporosis, gallstones, diverticular disease, arteriosclerosis, non-insulin dependent diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke and certain cancers e.g. colon cancer.
   
3. Pregnant vegan women have a reduced risk of developing toxemia in pregnancy.
   
4. Vegan children are less likely to develop allergies.
   
5. Vegans usually have lower blood pressure and lower blood cholesterol levels.
   
6. The breast milk of vegan mothers contains smaller amounts of contaminants such as pesticides, antibiotics and hormones. These chemicals are a potential hazard to the newborn baby whose brain and endocrine glands are still developing after it is born.

As well as preventing the development of certain diseases, the vegan diet has also been used to successfully treat many established diseases, too. In fact, some patients' conditions improve so much, when they are on a vegan diet that they are able to reduce the dose of their medication, or in some fortunate cases even stop taking it completely! Vegan nutrition has been shown to be particularly useful for treating conditions such as: arthritis, eczema, angina, asthma, PMT and it has also been used to lower blood pressure/blood cholesterol levels or to reduce the blood sugar levels in diabetic patients. When used in conjunction with exercise and other techniques, such as stress management, a vegan diet can reopen blocked arteries and can thus reduce the need for heart surgery. And many overweight people find that they no longer suffer from weight problems when they change to a vegan diet. A recent study in Sweden showed that when slimmers were placed on a vegan diet, although they actually consumed more calories than people in a control group following a non-vegan diet, the vegans lost an average of 9% of their body weight.