An Analysis of the Vegetarian Diet in the Nineties Essay

The vegetarian diet is becoming increasingly popular all the time. Is thevegetarian or meat diet better? A decade ago and earlier, the impression wasthat a vegetarian diet was lacking in the nutrients found in meat products.Today though, through research and nutritional science, it has been proven thatall the nutrients found in meat can also be found in the correct vegetariandiet. Some may argue that by only consuming meat that is low in fat, meat andvegetarian diets have identical benefits. This is true only if one eats onlyvery low fat meat. The lack of meat is not necessarily the main benefit of tothe vegetarian. Vegetarians tend to eat more fruits, vegetables and grains thatthe meat eater. They also tend not to use tobacco and excessive alcohol. Inaddition, vegetarians tend to get more exercise. The term vegetarian can bemisleading. This diet can take on many different variations. A fruitarian eatsonly fruits, seeds and nuts while the vegan eats these and vegetables, grainsand legumes. A lacto vegetarian consumes the same as a vegan as well as dairyproducts. A lacto-ovo vegetarian follows after the lacto vegetarian but alsoincludes eggs while the ovo vegetarian excludes dairy products. Finally, thepartial vegetarian eats anything except red meat, or at least strictly limitsit. Because the term vegetarian is used to cover all facets and variations, itis difficult to identify health benefits resulting from the vegetarian dietincluding all of the above. Most meat eaters do not realize that there are somany variations to the vegetarian diet, which makes accurate studies even moredifficult. As a whole though, vegetarians tend to have less body fat thannonvegetarians. This is most likely due to the low fat and high carbohydratecontent of their diet. Vegetarians usually have lower blood pressure than meateaters because of lifestyle and diet. Other factors probably include exerciseand resistance to smoking and alcohol intake. Coronary artery disease isdirectly related to saturated fat intake. In studies testing cholesterol levels,vegetarians beat out all others including those that...