Vegetarians and Cardiopathy

Whatever the reasons for consuming a more vegetarian diet, there's no denying the clear health benefits that the diet derives from avoiding red meat.

People who are vegetarians have lower levels of blood fats, cholesterol and triglycerides on average relative to meat eaters of similar age and social class. High blood fat levels are related to an increased risk of heart disease.

Lacto-ovo vegetarians, those who consume eggs and dairy products containing saturated cholesterol-raising fats and cholesterol, have higher levels of cholesterol than do vegans, as those who abstain from all animal foods are named. Yet cholesterol levels even among lacto-ovo vegetarians are usually lower than among meat eaters.

Researchers also found that older men eating meat six days a week or more are twice as likely to die from heart disease than those abstaining from meat. According to the report, meat-eaters among middle-aged men were four times more likely to experience a fatal heart attack.

As for women, who are partially covered by their hormones and typically develop heart disease later in life than men do, only among older vegetarians the risk of fatal heart failure has been found to be lower.

In a 1982 survey of more than 10,000 vegetarians and meat eaters, British researchers found that the greater the chance of having a heart attack, the more meat eaten. Eliminating meat from the diet would likely minimize the heart-damaging fat and cholesterol intake, but substituting large quantities of high-fat dairy products and cholesterol-rich eggs will counteract the benefit.

Consumption of such foods as hard cheese, cream cheese , ice cream and eggs should be moderate in order to reap the heart-saving advantages of vegetarianism. And the introduction of more vegetables , fruits and raw foods would certainly increase the advantages of abstaining from meat eating.