Tag Archives: alcohol

Marked for better health

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Several studies have now shown that vegetarians, and especially vegans, have better biomarkers than meat eaters. OK, great, but what the heck is a biomarker?

A biomarker is a chemical substance found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of either disease or health. The good news is that vegetarians and vegans have more of the biomarkers that indicate good health and less of the ones that indicate a disease process.

Studies have shown that vegans and vegetarians have lower levels of biomarkers that indicate inflammation, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease and other diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis than meat eaters. This puts them at a lower risk of getting these diseases.

Even more impressive is a recent study that showed that vegetarians appear to have a healthier biomarker profile than meat-eaters for adults of any age and weight, and is also unaffected by smoking and alcohol consumption. Now this does not mean vegetarians can go out and start smoking and abusing alcohol, but it does show the power of a plant- based diet and that the greater positive health impact of a vegetarian diet can even outweigh the negative effect of smoking and alcohol consumption.

Gall Stones – reducing your risk

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This disease can really hurt. When severe it can double you over and send you to the emergency room. We’re talking about the pain from gall stones. Well over 25 million Americans have gall stones, 700,000 surgeries are performed every year to remove them, and the price tag for all of this is well over $6 billion dollars a year.

Now for the good news. By following a vegetarian diet, you can cut your risk of getting gall stones by half. It gets even better. If you avoid saturated fat, such as that found in dairy, and skip alcoholic beverages, you can cut your risk even more. Interestingly, adding an ounce or two of tree nuts per day takes it down by another 30%.

Now some people have a different kind of gall stones which just cause occasional grumbles and pains. However, these too can emerge as major pains at any time. So it’s good to know that a vegetarian diet also cuts the risk of this type of pesky stones developing by 50%.

With 1 million new cases every year, this problem is not going away any time soon. But you can help protect yourself by following a plant-based diet, the miracle drug of the 21st century.

See professional level information on Cholelithiasis