Fruitarian | Fruitarian Diet

It is easy to understand that being a vegetarian has many health benefits.  However, few people know that being a vegetarian also reduces the risk of having certain types of cancers.

A vegetarian diet reduces the cancer cause

Because a diet consisting of vegetables, fruits and legumes have low levels of saturated fats, high in fiber content, and in cancer-fighting phytochemicals, a vegetarian can lower his or her risk of having cancer.

Studies that show lower cancer cause in vegetarians

There are studies made in Germany and England in which it was found that vegetarians have 40 percent lower cancer risk that meat eaters of the same age and lifestyle.  In a study made by the Seventh-day Adventist church in the United States, their members, who are mostly lacto-ovo vegetarians, have low cancer risk.  In a study in China, in which most people depend on plants, rates of breast cancer are lower than in meat consuming countries.  It is also interesting to find out that Japanese women, who have diets similar to the Western women, have eight times the risk of getting breast cancer than the vegetarian women.  The consumption of meat, including dairy products, may be associated with cancers of the breast, colon, ovaries and prostate.

Meat consumption increases cancer risk

In a Harvard study, women who consume meat regularly have three times the risk of having colon cancer.  The consumption of a high fat diet can increase the production of estrogen.  An abnormally high level of this hormone can increase the risk of having breast cancer.  The rate of premenopausal women who have breast cancer is one-third higher in the meat eating group that in vegetarians.

Cancer risk in the reproductive organs

In another study, the development of ovarian cancer is linked with the consumption of dairy products.  The process of metabolism of lactose (milk sugar) in the body can damage the ovaries.  Men who consume meat daily have three times the risk of getting prostate cancer than that of non-meat consumers.  The regular consumption of milk can double this risk while lack of vegetables in the diet can multiply the risk by four times.

Aside from avoiding the cancer causes that are present in meat, vegetarian also benefit from the high levels of fiber, vitamins and antioxidants present in a plant diet.

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