By Allan Kornberg, MD
A groundbreaking new study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine made national headlines yesterday as mainstream media outlets like CNN reported on its findings and gave Americans plenty of food for thought. Following more than 85,000 female and roughly 44,500 male subjects without heart disease, cancer or diabetes over a span of 20 to 26 years, the study explored the correlation between low-carbohydrate diets based on either animal or plant-based proteins and mortality rates, ultimately revealing the positives of vegetarian alternatives.
According to the study, subjects who consumed low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets centered on meat and other animal products had a 14 percent increased risk of dying from heart disease and a 28 percent risk of dying of cancer, while those whose diets emphasized plant-based proteins and fats had a 23 percent lower risk of succumbing to heart disease, as well as a 20 percent lower mortality rate overall. While no study is perfect, and all are subject to certain limitations, these numbers speak volumes about the potential of healthy plant-based foods to improve our quality of life.
As a physician who has long been aware of the good plant foods can do, the results of this study come as no shock. Nonetheless, it is always encouraging for me, and doubtless many of you, to see such awareness grow and result in an ever-expanding body of research that compels us to reflect on the foods we consume and consider choices that not only more positively impact our own lives, but also the world at large. After all, we truly are what we eat and the time has never been riper to embrace the power of plants – not only to benefit our health, but billions of suffering farm animals and our ailing planet too.