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CONTENTSI. Seven Latest Updates in Veg Nutrition
1. Vegan Diets Deficient in Three Nutrients?Well, Meateaters are Deficient in Seven!
2. Take Some Greens for Your Blues?
3. Green Tea and Breast Cancer
4. Breakfast of (Slim) Champions
5. Animal Fat and Breast Cancer
6. Milk, Greens and Ovarian Cancer Survival
7. Animal Products and Stroke RiskII. DVD update
III. Personal Update
IV. Best Kitty Litter in the World
V. MAILBAG:
"What Groups Do You Donate All Your Money To?"
I. SEVEN LATEST UPDATES IN VEG NUTRITION
1. Vegan Diets Deficient in Three Nutrients?The latest data on the dietary intakes of vegans was just published last month.[1] The diets of about 100 vegans were recorded for a week and were found deficient in calcium, iodine and vitamin B12. Using the same standards, though, the standard American diet are deficient in 7 nutrients! The diet of your average American is not only also deficient in calcium and iodine, it's deficient in vitamin C, vitamin E, fiber, folate, and magnesium as well.[2]
Not only does the American public have over twice as many nutritional deficiencies in their diets, vegans were shown to have higher intakes of 16 out of the 19 nutrients studied, includeing calcium. The vegans were getting more than enough protein on average and three times more vitamin C, three times more vitamin E, three times more fiber. Vegans got twice the folate, twice the magnesium, twice the copper, twice the manganese.
And of course the vegans had twice the fruit and vegetable intake and half the saturated fat intake, meeting the new 2003 World Health Organization guidelines for fat intake and weight control.[3] Almost 2/3 of Americans are overweight.[4] In contrast, only 11% of the vegans were overweight. Almost one in three Americans are obese.[4] Zero of the 98 vegans in this study were obese.
So when a meateater asks you "Where you get your B12?" You can counter with "Where do you get your vitamin C, vitamin E, fiber, folate, and magnesium? And while you're at it, you can ask them how they keep their sodium, saturated fat, total fat and cholesterol intake under control (not to mention their weight).[5]
2. Take Some Greens for Your Blues?Tufts researchers just discovered a link between major clinical depression and depressed levels of the B vitamin folate in the blood.[6] We don't know yet if it's cause and effect, but it's perhaps yet another reason to eat your greens!
3. Breakfast of (Slim) ChampionsOn my new cooking show DVD, I explain how eating a healthy breakfast can help shed pounds. The evidence certainly seemed to point that way, but we weren't sure if it was just the diet or some other factor--maybe breakfast eaters exercised more or something and that's why they were slimmer?
Last month a study was published which, for the first time, controlled for other lifestyle factors such as exercise, smoking , poverty, etc. And lo and behold, those who ate a healthy breakfast indeed were significantly slimmer than those who skipped breakfast. Of course, this was only for those eating plant-based breakfasts. Those who ate meat, eggs or dairy for breakfast were the heaviest--even heavier than those who skipped breakfast. Those who ate cooked cereals like oatmeal were the slimmest.[7]
4. Green Tea and Breast CancerIn my new anti-cancer talk (Stopping Cancer Before It Starts: Cancer Proofing Your Body with Plant Superfoods), I encourage everyone to drink green tea every day. Up until now, studies on Western populations have failed to show a protective role of tea consumption in preventing breast cancer. But we tend to drink mostly black tea.
Finally, just this last month, a study on green tea consumption and breast cancer (in Los Angeles County) was published, which suggested that women may be able to cut their risk of developing breast cancer in half by just drinking about a third of a cup of green tea every day![8]
Just try not to drink tea regularly with meals. Green tea (and black) can interfere with the absorption of the iron found in plant foods, so vegetarians and vegans should try to only drink tea between meals.
5. Animal Fat and Breast CancerThe evidence supporting a link between total fat intake and breast cancer risk has been lacking, but maybe that's because researchers didn't take into account the difference between animal fats and vegetable fats.
In a recent landmark study of nearly a hundred thousand women, Harvard researchers separated out the animal fat and found that premenopausal women who consumed the most animal fat had a significantly greater chance of developing breast cancer. Those that ate the most red meat and high-fat dairy seemed to have over a 75% greater risk!
Researchers admitted that couldn't tell if it was the animal fat itself or perhaps the carcinogens in cooked meat or the hormones in dairy. There was no relationship between the consumption of vegetable fats and breast cancer found.[9]
6. Milk, Greens and Ovarian Cancer SurvivalOvarian cancer is a major cause of cancer mortality in women. A study just released this last month, though, showed that there were two things that could significantly improved the survival of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, vegetables, especially cruciferous vegetables (kale, collards, broccoli, cabbage, etc) and vitamin E in foods (nuts, seeds, beans, greens).
The one thing that seemed to worsen survival was dairy. Those that consumed lots of dairy seems to carry about a 30% excess risk of early death--and the problem seemed to come from the milk sugar, lactose, and not the milk fat, so even nonfat dairy seemed to worsen the survival of those with ovarian cancer.
7. Animal Products and Stroke RiskThe only disappointing study I found this last month was a study which found that the consumption of certain animal products may protect against one subtype of stroke. The evidence is not yet compelling and has some inconsistencies, but researchers followed tens of thousands of people for 16 years and found that those that ate the most eggs, dairy, and fish had 20% less stroke mortality.
Now vegetarians and vegans do not seem have an increased risk of dying from stroke.[10] This seeming contradiction may be explained by our increased fruit and vegetable consumption. According to the best evidence we have,[11] for every daily serving of fruits and veggies we eat, we drop our stroke risk 4%. So we should all be eating at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies every day.
The most powerful fruits and veggies for stroke prevention seem to be citrus and (surprise surprise) cruciferous vegetables. Eat your greens! :)
II. DVD UPDATE
What people are saying about my new vegan cooking show DVD:"It is said that laughter is the best medicine. If so, Michael Greger's new DVD offers welcome relief to long-suffering seekers of nutritional wisdom. Based on cutting edge clinical research, this DVD is jam packed with practical recipes, cooking tips, and unpredictable belly laughs. Michael's contagious enthusiasm and zany humor make the how and why of cooking well and eating right into pure fun."
"Dr. Greger's new DVD is both informative and entertaining. Dr. Greger provides solid advice for achieving optimal health through proper nutrition, and he does so in his uniquely humorous and entertaining way. We highly recommend this DVD for meat eaters and vegetarians alike."
The next public screening will take place in Boston on September 21st.
Or you can order your own copy for $20. All money from the sales of all my books, CDs and DVDs go to vegan charities (of course).
III. PERSONAL UPDATE
During the months of October through December I'm going to be rewriting Dr. Michael Klaper's classic book, Vegan Nutrition: Pure and Simple. After that, I expect to launch another year-long speaking tour across the country with a whole slew of new talks. If anyone has any suggestions as to what topics the vegetarian community or the general public might be particularly interested in, let me know--some of my favorite talks actually started with just casual suggestions from friends.Another way people could help me is to donate frequent flier miles or award tickets. I have a list of 29 cities with groups that have invited me to speak, but don't have student groups in the area that can get their school to fly me out (and they're too far to justify the drive). So I feel bad but have to turn those talks down (and I hate turning talks down!). So any frequent flier miles would be appreciated. Or, if any of you know any activist pilots... Evidently, airline pilots can each put a few people on a list which allows them to go on 24 standby flights a year for free. If I could get a pilot to put me on a list like that it would revolutionize my ability to get out there and speak. Can't hurt to ask...
IV. BEST KITTY LITTER IN THE WORLDThe butts of my 6 out of 6 cats agree: the best kitty litter in the world just so happens to be the cheapest! Forget your pet or grocery store, head over to your nearest agriculture feedstore and pick up some 40 pound bags of wood pellet fuel (for about $4 each). The stuff's amazing--trust me. So tell everyone you know with cats and have them donate all the money that they save to... save animals! This same stuff is sold as "the world's best kitty litter" in pet stores marked up like 1000%.Now. rumor has it that there's an even better kitty litter(I'm skeptical) than wood pellet fuel called Woody Pet, which is used as professional horse bedding. It's a little more expensive ($5 for 30 pounds), but I hear it's even better than plain wood pellet fuel (it can be found at feed stores too). I just picked up 90 pounds and will have my kitties get back to you next month :)
Here's my list; I'd love to hear all of yours.
MY TOP PICKS FOR 2003:
Best Educational Tool:
"Peaceable Kingdom"
Best Outreach Tool:
"Why Vegan"
Best Educational Strategy:
Humane Education.
Best Outreach Strategy:
Open Rescue
Best Conference:
Liberation Now!
Best New Prospect:
Grassroots Animal Rights Conference organizing
[1] Results from the German Vegan Study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 57(August 2003):947.
[2] USDA. Food and Nutrient Intakes by Individuals in the United States, by Region, 1994-96.
[3] World Health Organization Technical Report Series 916. Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. 2003.
[4] Centers for Disease Control.
[5] Then you can finally answer their question and proudly say B12 fortified foods or B12 supplements :) Of course the fact that we're seriously deficient in B12 should not be taken lightly. Evidence suggests that our low B12 intakes make be shaving literally years off of the lives of vegetarians and vegans, so make sure you get your B12!--I recommend "Vitamin B12: Are You Getting It?"
[6] Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter. August 2003. 21(6):2
[7] Journal of The American College of Nutrition 22(August 2003):296.
[8] Green Tea and the Risk of Breast Cancer in Asian Americans. International Journal of Cancer 106(August 2003):574.
[9] Journal of the National Cancer Institute 95(2003):1079.
[10] Public Health Nutrition 5(2002):29 and American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70(1999):516s.
[11] Journal of the American Medical Association 282(1999):1283.
Until next month,
love,
Michael
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