Metabolic syndrome is a combination of medical conditions that increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. It is a very common and dangerous medical problem.
The study focused on key factors that contribute to metabolic syndrome, known to put people at greater risk for chronic diseases in the future. These key factors were blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, body fat, body mass, and waist size. Vegetarians had healthier stats in all of these factors except for cholesterol levels. However, the report does not indicate whether the vegetarians studied were lacto-vegetarian or not. This could be an important distinction since a vegan diet free of animal fats from dairy can significantly reduce cholesterol in the blood.
The lead researcher in the study, Nico Rizzo of Loma Linda University, reported to Reuters that he did not anticipate the results of the study to indicate such significant differences due to diet in the 700 subjects. The vegetarians in the group tended to be on average three years older than the others, and it since age is such a significant risk factor, it was also quite interesting, said Rizzo, that this older group was actually in better shaped compared to the others.
Image Credits:
Fresh Vegetables. Photo by Kelli Best-Oliver
Metabolic syndrome chart via Health Focus
Anyone interested in easy, reliable, time and taste tested, nutritionist approved (and developed), 1300 vegetarian recipes should take a look at “American Wholefoods Cuisine.” Includes cooking techniques, suggested menus, baking, nutrition and much more. In print for more than thirty years it is considered the “vegetarian Joy of Cooking” by both gourmet and health writers.
Have you ever thought about why we are so fat? Do you think it is our sedentary consumer driven lifestyle that piles on the pounds? Or, is it more fundamental—something genetic perhaps? Either way, the unsolved medical mystery of obesity has been handed over to what I define as false promises—also know as “diet disasters”!