Vegetarian Congress research presentations

Concurrent Short Oral Presentations

# 24

Trends in Published Vegetarian Research - Joan Sabaté

We documented publication trends of vegetarian nutrition articles in the biomedical literature between 1966 and 1995, using the Medline bibliographic data base. The publication rate of vegetarian articles increased steadily during the three decades, from an average annual rate of less than 10 in the late 1960's to more than 70 in the early 1990's. A fluctuating but steady increase of published vegetarian nutrition articles has also been observed in nutrition journals indexed by Medline during this period, from <5/year to 35/year. After adjusting for the total number of articles published annually in nutrition journals or indexed in Medline, it was observed that the vegetarian literature experienced a dramatic growth during the 1970's, reaching an oscillating plateau during the 1980's. In the early 1990's, the proportion of vegetarian nutrition articles was approximately 8/1,000 published articles in the nutrition literature and about 20/100,000 indexed articles by Medline. Over the years, the nature and study design of published vegetarian research has changed. While case histories and case series were almost exclusively published in medical journals (19% of the total), nutrition journals published a higher proportion of group comparison, cross-sectional studies, and clinical trials.

# 25

Growth, Development and Physical Fitness of Flemish Vegetarians - Marcel Hebbelinck

Only a few studies have focused on the physical growth, pubertal development, and the physical fitness of vegetarian children, adolescents and young adults. Therefore, this study was designed to assess average daily dietary intakes of food energy in vegetarian children (n=48) (Group 1: 6-10 y-old girls and 6-12 y-old boys), adolescents (Group 2: 10-16 y-old girls and 12-18 y-old boys), and young adults (Group 3: >16-33 y-old girls and >18-30 y-old boys). The study also included determination of body height and weight, triceps, suprailiac and calf skinfolds, puberty ratings, and physical fitness variables. Food energy intake was lower in all three groups, particularly in the 15 y-old boys and girls (respectively 66% and 51% of the recommended uptake) and also in Group 3 both in the male (68%) and female subjects (75%). Body height and weight did not differ significantly from the reference data except for Group 2 (12-18 y-old boys) who had significantly (P<0.05) lower body height and weight. Triceps and suprailiac skinfolds were significantly (P<0.05) lower in all age groups, while calf skinfold was only significantly (P<0.05) lower in the 10-16 y-old females. The vegetarian subjects were not different in physical fitness from the reference population, except for the group of 12-18 y-old boys who scored significantly (P<0.05) lower in hand dynamometry, 30 sec. sit-up test, and both the girls and boys of Group 2 scored significantly lower in the standing broad jump. In the step test there was no difference between the vegetarian groups and a reference population. Puberty ratings scaled on Dutch percentile graphs showed that all vegetarian subjects, except for 1 girl, were within the normal developmental limits (P3-P97) of their respective age group. It may be concluded that within the limits of this study, the vegetarian subjects have lower body weight and skinfold thickness at adolescence and they score lower in the strength related tests when compared to reference norms. The growth and maturity status of the vegetarian population were within the normal range of the reference general population.

# 26

Complex Systems Model of Dietary Choice - Carl Phillips

The first step toward vegetarian diets and vegetarian nutrition is consumer dietary choice. Researchers from many clinical and social sciences are interested in dietary choice, but have not combined their research into a comprehensive model to explain consumer actions. No model has offered a good explanation for the "paradox of dietary change." Many people successfully change their diet significantly (often toward health-improving, plant-based diets) and are happy with the change and yet dietary change is often perceived by the public and health professionals as difficult and unlikely to succeed.

Using the emerging science of complex systems analysis, I have developed a model that describes dietary decisions for individuals and predicts outcomes for society as a whole. The predictions suggest methods for helping society shift toward plant-based diets.

Complex systems offers an intuitive method for studying evidence about dietary choice from many fields, including public health, clinical sciences, economics, sociology, marketing, and genetics, and for combining individual choice with social interaction. Previous models have looked at only a few influences, and have had to focus on either individuals or social aggregates without being able to effectively combine them. My model suggests an explanation for the paradox and methods for intervention. In particular, it suggests how and why major changes might be easier than incremental ones. These results have important implications for how clinical nutritionists and public health policy makers can best encourage the consumption of healthy vegetarian diets.

# 27

Vegetarian Way of Life - India Marching Ahead - N. C. Ganguli

Vegetarianism in India dates back 3000 years. Vegetarian ethos was propounded by Vedic Indians as early as 1000 BC. Vegetarian eating exists for as long as a hundred generations.

Two major factors are involved in Vegetarianism in India: (a) ethical or religious beliefs; and (b) income considerations. Vegetarian food habits are also geographically oriented. Living in cities influences the nature of food intake. Rural Indian food is every part of the country is essentially vegetarian. Food items like cereals, pulses, wheat, rice, roots and tuber crops are noticeable components of such diets.

Due to the prevalence of dietary fibre in Indian vegetarian menu, incidence of diseases of lower colon and constipation are less prevalent. Fermented cereals and milk (curd) are common ingredients in vegetarian diets and provide probiotic protection through easy digestibility. Consumption of fresh sprouting seeds like mungbean and green gram are a well established sources of Vitamins C and the B-group, and an age-old practice which should find modern nutritional vindication. In the Aryan ethos, two kinds of foods like Kachha food and Pacca foods serve as the basis for sound nutritional practice. India also has a long tradition of using unsaturated vegetable oils in daily cooking. Ghee (heat clarified butter) is a ubiquitous supplement in Indian food. The raw preparation of plant foods made up of ground green bio-ingredients is a long-cherished distinct Vedic practice and known as "cooking without fire."

Vegetarianism can be the ideal choice. The reasons include the nutritional advantages and good sources of protein. It also offers a competitive advantage for land use. It is encouraging to note that starting from Tolstoy, Einstein, Shakespeare, Newton and continuing to Mahatma Gandhi (India), all were vegetarians. To preserve health and environment, the people of the world should prefer a vegetarian diet.

# 28

Health Care Savings Attributable to Vegetarian Dietary Practices - Andrew Nicholson

This study estimates the potential Medicare and total health care savings that would be expected if all Americans were vegetarians. The prevalence of major illness among omnivores and vegetarians is compared in studies which have controlled for other lifestyle factors, and the corresponding attributable health care savings are calculated in 1994 dollars. When it is assumed that health care savings from vegetarian diets are equal to the difference in health care costs of omnivores and vegetarians, the annual Medicare savings potentially attributable to vegetarian dietary practices are $9.8-10.1 billion for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, gallstones, kidney stones, and appendicitis. The total annual health care savings attributable to vegetarian dietary practices are estimated at $31.5-67.5 billion for hypertension, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, gallstones, obesity, and foodborne illness. Health care savings potentially attributable to vegetarian dietary practices are quantifiable and substantial.

# 29

Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated with Vegetarian Diets - Jens Kjeldsen-Kragh

The idea that dietary factors may influence rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been a part of the folklore of the disease, but scientific support for this view has been sparse.

In a controlled single blind trial, we tested the effect of fasting for 7-10 days followed initially by an individually adjusted gluten-free vegan diet for 3.5 months and subsequently by an individually adjusted lactovegetarian diet for 9 months. For all clinical variables and for most of the laboratory variables, the 27 patients who were randomized to fasting and vegetarian diet improved significantly compared with the 26 patients in the control group, who followed their usual omnivorous diet throughout the study period. One year after the patients had completed the trial, they were re-examined, and the improvements compared with trial entry were significantly more pronounced in the vegetarians who previously benefited from the diet (diet responders) compared with diet non-responders and omnivores.

The beneficial effect could not be explained by patients' psychological characteristics, by antibody activity against food antigens, or changes in the levels of prostaglandin and leukotriene precursors. However, the fecal flora differed significantly between samples collected at time points where there was a substantial clinical improvement and time points with no or only minor improvement.

In summary, the results show that a proportion of patients with RA can benefit from a fasting period followed by a vegetarian diet. Thus, dietary treatment may be considered a valuable adjuvant to the ordinary therapeutic armamentarium in RA.

# 30

Vegetarians in American: A Survey - Marianne Harkness

- Unavailable at Press Time -

# 31

Dietary Soy Protein Reduces 3-Methyldopa in Parkinson Patient - Richard Hubbard

Parkinson (PD) patients are instructed to restrict daytime dietary protein to minimize amino acid absorption competition with DOPA blood barrier absorption. This instruction is given because animal protein with high branched chain amino acid levels (BCAA), competes for DOPA absorption sites on the blood brain barrier. We propose substitution of plant protein with its lower BCAA content for animal protein to minimize this competition. Two liquid test meals, with equal carbohydrate and fat content, but 40 gm of either casein from milk (CTM) or soy protein (STM) are given between 8 and 10 a.m. on two different days nine weeks apart. Eight PD patients participated who are between 66-80 years and had been on Sinemet for 5 or more years and had experienced varying "on-off" symptoms. We have previously described the insulin, glucose and glucagon assays (Atherosclerosis 1989; 76:55-61), and likewise the DOPA and 3MD assays (FASEB J 1996:10:#3 a-486 #2803).

Patients were given their usual Sinemet dose (between 100 to 250 mg/dose) 15 minutes before one or other of the two test meals were consumed. Plasma DOPA values were consistently, though not sigificantly, higher from 15 to 120 minutes after CTM. Leucine, insulin and glucagon

levels were all significantly higher after CTM in comparison to STM from 15 to 90 minutes after the start of the test meals. 3-Methyldopa (3MD), a direct absorption competitor of DOPA, gave higher mean levels (p<0.02) after the CTM versus STM. Plasma DOPA increases after CTM, although not statistically significant, may be the direct result of the significant increases in 3MD.

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