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Why plantbased

Plantbased diet is a practical side of veganism, welll the healthy side of it. I'll focus only on the food side here. Plantbased kitchen differs from vegan one by focusing on mostly unproccesed plant foods rather than simply avoiding animal ones. This way of eating has loads of health benefits . 

One

Focusing on eating unprocessed plant foods, automatically increases intake of fibre. Element of the diet which is one of the most important in proper functioning of the organism. Fibre determines proper quality and quantity of bacterias colonizing intestines, which are responsible for example for:  
proper immunity, synthesis of B witamins and witamin K, absorption of nutrients, digestion of food... 
When microflora is disturbed many diseases have higher risk of developing such as: infammatory bowel disease, IBS, allergies, overweight or acne. 

Proper intake of fibre lowers risk of many diseases, for example:

* large intestine cancer

infammatory bowel diseases

* breast cancer

* stroke

* overweight{1,2,3}

What's most important you can find fibre only in unproccesed plant foods, without them healthy guts or its microbiome is impossible.

Two

Food is a source of enegry and nutrients. Unfortunately following western diet patters, ther's usually excess of the first and shortage of the latter. Eating mainly unprocessed plant foods we intake enought of nutrients, and due to low energy density of these foods no need to worry about calories. 

Trzy

Due to lower energy density of plant producs, even with bigger volume of meals, there's much lower chance of developimng obesity. In one of the biggest studies, including vegans and vegetarians, only people following vegan diet had BMI in normal range it is 23,1; while vegetarians and meat eaters had BMI respectively 25,5 i 29,6. Both above 24,9, which is the highest BMI value reflecting normal weight. {4} In experimental study people who were put on unprocesed plantbased idet and told to eat to their heart-content still lost weight. It's just very unlikely to eat to many beans ans oranges. 

People following vegan or vegetarian diet have lower risk of multiple diseases {4}:

Four

*Some kinds of cancers 

Especially bowel cancer, thanks to bigger amount of fiber in plantbased diets, but also digestive track cancers like stomach. Also cancers whose development is corelated with hormonal imbalance like prostate and breast cancer. 

Five

*Metabolic syndrome

Six 

Diabetes

People eating plantbased diets have lower risk of suffering from type II diabetes. In several studies it has been showed that following a plantbased diets is an efficient way of menaging diebetes. Plantbased diets are recommended for diebetes patients by several associations: American diabetes Association, Canadian Diabetes Association American Association of Endocrinologists .

Seven

*Heart diseases

Diet based on mostly unprocessed plantbased foods is the only diet that has been proven to stop and reverse heart disease. First study conducted by showed total . 

Eight

*Hypertension

Following an unprocessed plantbased diet can prevent or treat hypertension. Higher intake of fiber or less salt is one of the reasons for that.

Nine

*Lower risk of death from all causes. Vegans live on average few years longer. Who wouldn't want that?{5}

 

Ten:

Vegan diet contributes to lower inflammation in the body. One way is through decreasing level of C-reactive protein in the blood, which is mostly used inflammation marker. Inflammation is one of the processes in the body that's involved in formation of many diseases, including: heart disease, diebetes, acne, cancer, obesity, deprosion, dementia, astha, Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. A tool to measure pro-inflammatory or anti-inflamatory character of the diet is Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII).Vegan diets comparing to standard  diet, vegetarian and pescovegetarian had the best DII score. Proinflammatory DII has been associated with multiple diseases like heart disease, prostate cancer, bowel cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer or liver cancer, metabolic syndrome or astma symptoms,  {6}

Eleven

Vegan diet, partly through anti-inflammatory effects, is an effective way of lowering
Rheumatoid Arthritis symptoms
. {7}

 

Twelve

Among people following vegan diet lower levels of IGF-1 occurs. IGF-1 is a substance that for instance plays a role in deveopment of acne and hormonal cancers like prostate or breast. {8}

Thirteen

Lower intake of advanced glication end products- AGEs.

Egzogenous AGEs are mainly found in meat and animal products, and dishes that are prepared in high temperatures and for a long time, such as baked meats and fishes. AGEs contribute to progression of inflammation, oxidative stress, aging, developent of atherosclerosis and diabetes complications. {9}

Fourteen

In intestines of people following plantbased diets there's much lower production of TMAO, substance which is linked to development of diabetes and atherosclerosis {10}

Fifteen

By limiting fish and meat intake, and aniamal products in general, we're also lowering intake of many pollutants. Most of them are mainly found in animal products, in much more concentrated amounts then in plants. They are:

*Heavy metals for example: Cadmium, lead, arsenic, mercury

*Persistent organic pollutants: PCB, OCP, DDT, HCH                                                       

{11,12}

 

...

1.Higgins JA1, Brown IL., Resistant starch: a promising dietary agent for the prevention/treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and bowel cancer.  Curr Opin Gastroenterol. 2013; 29: 190-194

2.Dong JY i wsp., Dietary fiber intake and risk of breast cancer: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.Am J Clin Nutr. 2011; 94: 900-5.

3.Threapleton DE i wsp., Dietary fiber intake and risk of first stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Stroke. 2013;44: 1360-8

4.Tai Le L, Sabaté J, Beyond Meatless, the Health Effects of Vegan Diets: Findings from the Adventist Cohorts, Nutrients, 2014; 6: 2131–2147

5.Orlich MJ, Singh PN, Sabaté J, Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Mortality in Adventist Health Study 2, JAMA Intern Med. 2013; 173: 1230–1238

6.Sutliffe JT i wsp., C-reactive protein response to a vegan lifestyle intervention. Complement Ther Med. 2015; 23: 32-7.

7.McDougall J i wsp., Effects of a very low-fat, vegan diet in subjects with rheumatoid arthritis, J Altern Complement Med, 2002; 8: 71-75

8.Allen NE i wsp., The associations of diet with serum insulin-like growth factor I and its main binding proteins in 292 women meat-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2002; 11: 1441-8

9.Mark F. McCarty, The low-AGE content of low-fat vegan diets could benefit diabetics – though concurrent taurine supplementation may be needed to minimize endogenous AGE production, Medical Hypotheses, 2005; 64: 394–398

10.Koeth RA i wsp., Intestinal microbiota metabolism of L-carnitine, a nutrient in red meat, promotes atherosclerosis.Nat Med. 2013; 19: 576-85

11.Rodriguez-Hernandez A i wsp., Consumption of organic meat does not diminish the carcinogenic potential associated with the intake of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), Environ Sci Pollut Res, 2015, doi: 10,1007/7/s11356-015-4477-8

12.Yi YJ i wsp., Heavy metal (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Zn) concentrations in seven fish species in relation to fish size and location along the Yangtze River. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2012 Nov;19(9):3989-96.

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