Vegan Lifestyle Decreases Health Risks

The stereotypical image of vegans as hemp-wearing hippies protesting at animal rights’ rallies has come a long way since the movement first became realized in the 1940s and heightened with the counter culture movement of the 1960s. Today, nearly 2.8 percent or approximately 8.5 million of the U.S. adult population currently subscribe to a vegetarian lifestyle, according to a 2006 poll conducted by the Vegetarian Journal.

Understanding the significance of a vegan lifestyle means more than the simple act of cutting out meat and dairy products from the daily diet. Vegan living is an opportunity for individuals to reinvent themselves particularly in their philosophies and politics as well as on the plate.

A vegan diet, also known as veganism, consists of vegetables, fruits and legumes while excluding fish, dairy products including butter, eggs, fowl, honey, animal gelatin and other food products deriving from animal origin, according to the American Vegan Society (AVS).

Recent studies are finding more health significance with consumption of a vegan diet with benefits ranging from decreasing the risk of cancer to lowering obesity levels. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently  “authorized several health claims on food labels relating low-fat diets high in some plant-derived foods with a possibly reduced risk of cancer.” Additionally, a study from the Tufts University Medical School and the New England Medical Center Hospital, found that a vegetarian/vegan diet could reduce the risk of lung cancer, constipation, alcoholism, hypertension, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, breast cancer, colonic cancer, osteoporosis and dental erosion.

In addition to adopting a healthy diet, which potentially prevents a number of diseases, vegans also avoid wearing clothing made from animal products as well as avoiding animal-derived cosmetics, household goods, soaps and toiletries. The philosophy of many vegans is a cruelty-free lifestyle for animals and this philosophy extends itself to politics as well. For example, the state of California is expected to halt the use of caged-living for large animals by 2015 due to a recent amendment passed within the state by constituents.

Vegans not only live healthier than most, but their lifestyle is also increasingly attributed to reducing the number of environmental toxins released into water sources and the ozone. According to Huffington Post columnist, Katie Molinaro, “a vegetarian saves about 3,700 gallons of water a day compared to a meat-eater.” Additionally, a vegan diet helps reduce the increasing number of greenhouse gases. Molinaro explains that “the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases, which is more than transportation.”

Veganism is not just a growing trend in the United States, but it is a reinvention of a healthier lifestyle with more humane philosophies and political outlooks. As generations age, so do stereotypical ideas, and the younger generations are quickly grasping ahold of veganism with much enthusiasm. Both the FDA and USA Today are reporting more people are experimenting with vegetarian diets, especially younger generations. According to a USA Today news article from October 2007, “many nutrition experts say they’ve seen changes in the food landscape over the past five to 10 years that suggest a growing popularity of vegetarianism among young people.”