Reasons
to be Vegan
1. Vegan diets offer
disease protection because of lower cholesterol and animal protein and higher
folates, antioxidant vitamins and plant nutrients.
2. Vegans are less likely
to suffer strokes caused by coronary artery disease.
3. 95% of all food poisoning
comes from meat and animal products.
4. Vegans have half
to three-quarters of the risk of dying of heart disease compared to meat eaters.
5. Vegans often live
longer and suffer less from several chronic diseases.
6. Vegans have excellent
health. Protein is not a limiting factor.
7. Zinc levels are normal
in vegans.
8. New research suggests
that dementia may be linked to a BSE-like 'prion' found in some meat.
9. Vegans have lower
rates of obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, large bowel disorders,
cancers and gallstones.
10. Vegan diets have
been successful in arresting and reversing coronary heart disease.
11. A vegan diet can
reduce cholesterol levels (cholesterol is linked to heart disease - fruit and
vegetables contain none).
12. Vegans are no more
likely to suffer anaemia than meat eaters.
13. Antioxidants protect
against more than 60 diseases. Found mostly in fruit and vegetables.
14. Vegans have higher
intakes of folic acid than omnivores.
15. Diabetes is much
less likely to be a cause of death in vegans.
16. Hypertension (high
blood pressure) in vegans is one third to one half that of meat eaters.
17. The amount of veg
protein fed to the US beef herd would feed almost the entire populations of
India and China - two billion people.
18. A vegan diet meets
all the nutritional needs of infants and adolescents.
19. 35% of the world's
people can be fed on a meat-based diet. A plant diet could feed everyone.
20. Animal faeces are
a major cause of acid rain - in Holland and Belgium, the main cause.
21. Deserts spread every
year - by an area the size of England and Scotland. Livestock grazing is the
main cause.
22. Rain forests are
still being felled to graze hamburger cattle. Going vegan saves one acre of
forest every year.
23. The world's 17 major
fisheries are on the point of collapse because of over-fishing.
24. On irrigated land,
1lb of beef uses 5,214 gallons.
25. Disease, dirt and
crowding, antibiotics and chemical growth enhancers - that's the five-month
life of most pigs.
26. 24% of dairy cows
are pregnant when slaughtered - many nearing full term.
27. Calves are taken
from their mothers a day or two after birth. Males are usually killed.
28. Amount of grain
needed to end extreme hunger - 40 million tonnes. Amount of grain fed to animals
in the West - 540 million tonnes.
29. Most ducks are factory
farmed in crowded sheds. They never see daylight or swim in water.
30. The majority of
calves, lambs and pigs are conscious when their throats are cut.
31. Nearly all 650 million
UK chickens are fed antibiotics daily. 72 million die from disease.
32. 90% of the UK's
animal feed protein concentrates comes from poor countries - often those where
children die from starvation.
33. If Britain went
vegan, less than quarter the farm land would be needed.
34. More than 90% of
all agricultural land in Britain is used to feed animals.
35. Every year in Britain,
one billion gallons of pesticides are used - 200 chemicals. 50 suspected of
causing cancer.
36. Farmed animals rank
second in causing global warming. Reason - methane from prolific farting and
belching.
37. Up to one fifth
of chickens may be fully conscious when they enter the scalding tank to loosen
their feathers.
38. Four-fifths of broiler
chickens (killed for meat) have broken bones and deformed feet, legs and other
bone deformities.
39. 20% of lambs die
from cold, disease and starvation.
40. 80% of all eggs
come from battery hens - kept five to a cage no bigger than a microwave oven.
41. More than 90% of
all agricultural land in Britain is used to feed animals.
42. Broiler sheds may
contain up to 50,000 birds - each one allowed a space the size of a telephone
directory.
43. 50% of all piglets
have their teeth crushed and tails cut off without anaesthetics.
44. 25% of turkeys are
in chronic pain because of swollen joints - 70% of big birds.
For further information
on a vegan diet, contact The Vegan Society