Introduction
This Piece will show just a few of the health benefits that a vegan lifestyle can bring to individuals and society. Notice that the benefits are felt not just at an individual level, but in several ways they also extend to the health of the communities that we live in.
However, the claim that a vegan diet is good for health needs to be qualified before going further. The first caveat is that our lifestyle and health in the past, and environment or genetics now, may affect the degree to which a vegan diet will benefit us. So, a vegan diet will not guarantee improved health, but it should increase the likelihood of good health.
Secondly, just as it is possible to eat junk food as a non-vegan, the same is true for vegans; it is not enough to follow a vegan diet, but the diet must also be balanced and nutritious.
Individual Health
Large scale epidemiological studies have demonstrated that a vegan diet is good for the heart and for reducing incidence of diabetes and cancer. This section looks at these findings in more detail
1. Heart Disease and Diabetes
The science is clear. A recent study reported that replacing meat and dairy with whole grains, beans, nuts and olive oil may significantly reduce cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes [1-1].
It is thought that meats may raise the risk of heart disease because they contain saturated fatty acids, which can increase low-density lipoprotein, or “bad” cholesterol, which is known to put people at greater risk of heart problems.
Another study published in 2022 has found that consumption of red meat, processed meat and poultry meat such as chicken and turkey, either alone or together, at least three times a week was linked to a greater risk of nine different illnesses including heart disease, diabetes and pneumonia’ [1-2]. This report was based on analysis of the health records of over 400 thousand UK adults.
But as well as reducing the risk of these illnesses a vegan diet is positively healthy. Just 30g of fibre each day supports gut health. Nuts, Fruit and vegetables are great sources of fibre and essential vitamins and minerals.
It should also be remembered that health is not the whole story. For example, although one of the studies below reports that “there was no clear evidence that replacing poultry or fish with nuts or legumes reduced cardiovascular disease” [1-1], there are still many other reasons to avoid poultry and fish, for example because of their impact on the environment.
2. Cancer
Many studies have found that eating a plant-based diet rich in vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes can reduce the risk of cancer. Here are a few recent examples.
A summary of scientific studies from 2017 found that “a vegetarian diet is associated with a 25 percent relative risk reduction for coronary heart disease … with a vegan diet conferring a 15 percent relative risk reduction for cancer” [2-1]
In 2022 a study of 80,000 men reported that the risk of bowel cancer was reduced by more than a fifth [2-2]
Also in 2022, a survey of 500,000 UK citizens reported that “Compared with regular meat-eaters, we found the risk of developing any type of cancer was 2% lower for low meat-eaters, 10% lower in pescatarians and 14% lower in vegetarians” [2-3]
While it can be counterproductive to push for total abstinence, the scientific evidence suggests “it would be misleading” for health authorities to set any safe dose for processed meat “other than zero” [2-4]
Clearly not all meats are the same. Processed meats are the most unhealthy, followed by red meats. But the numbers are another strand in the argument that a meat free diet is a healthier diet.
Community Health
There are several ways in which taking up a vegan diet will improve the health of those around you. It could be said that a vegan diet has global consequences.
3. Antibiotics
Not only is meat an extremely inefficient way of producing food, but it increases the incidence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. This is because an estimated two thirds of all antibiotics are given to animals mainly to stimulate growth for food production, not to cure disease [3-1]
Antibiotic Resistance is the ability of bacteria and fungi to defeat these drugs. Currently humanity is losing the race between resistance and the development of next-generation antibiotics [3-2].
Any antibiotic use, in people, animals, or crops, can lead to resistance, therefore it is important to use antibiotics only when necessary.
It is now commonly agreed that we must reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics in animals, such as growth promotion [3-3]
As a result, from January 2022, The European Union has banned the practice of giving the drugs to healthy farm animals [3-4].
Do we really want to lose the ability to safely perform routine hospital operations ? It seems to me that the threat to human health is so great now that a better way to reduce the unnecessary use of antibiotics is by moving away from meat and dairy completely.
4. Pandemics
Covid-19 originated in animals (zoonotic). Once it had mutated to a deadly and transmissible variant in humans it spread quickly with devastating consequences.
In “Preventing the next pandemic – Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission” the authors point out that COVID-19 is one of the worst zoonotic diseases, but it is not the first. Ebola, SARS, MERS, HIV, Lyme disease, Rift Valley fever and Lassa fever preceded it. Sixty per cent of known infectious diseases and 75 per cent of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic. [4-1]
The 1918 flu pandemic killed around 40 million people may have originated from pigs [4-2]
Several agricultural practices are increasing the risk of pandemics. Deforestation and land clearance for extensive animal farming and the concentration and confinement of animals by intensive animal farming are leading to increased human contact with infected animals and a breeding ground for viruses and bacteria. [4-3]
Clearly, one of the most effective ways of reducing the spread of diseases like these and the risk of another pandemic is to end the incentive for these farming practices by moving from meat to plant based diets.
5. Mental Health
Slaughterhouse workers (SHWs) are involved in the deaths of more than 70 billion animals each year worldwide
A paper on the Psychological Impact of Slaughterhouse Employment, published in 2021, found that slaughterhouse workers have a higher prevalence rate of mental health issues, in particular depression and anxiety [5-1],[5-2].
It seems obvious that facilitating or observing the cutting, skinning, and boiling of conscious or unconscious animals can cause psychological distress on the workers. For example, there is a growing body of evidence that SHWs exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The resulting substance abuse, anxiety, nightmares, and depression are debilitating.
Few of us could cope with or chose these jobs. Why do we delegate them to others? This is yet another reason to avoid the products of the meat industry, and to support other healthier forms of employment instead.
6. Health – NHS
Diet-related diseases are at an all time high, significantly increasing the demands on an overstretched NHS. Dr Shireen Kassam, a haematologist at King’s College Hospital in London has estimated that the NHS could save £30 Billion per year, if the UK went vegan. These savings could be used to resource many other areas of the NHS [6-1]
7. Tax
Do we want our taxes to pay for essential services such as the NHS, social care and public transport or to promote ill health and environmental destruction?
If meat was required to pay its way then a 20% tax on unprocessed meat and a 110% tax on processed meat would be required to cover the healthcare costs incurred by meat consumption. [7-1]. Instead we currently have a system that subsidises unhealthy diets and leaves the taxpayer to foot the bill for the resulting health care.
Meat and dairy gobble up farming subsidies worldwide; it’s bad for our health and the planet [7-2]
The bias is striking: In the UK, grazing animal farmers rely on subsidies for over 90% of their profits, while only 10% of the annual profits for fruit farmers comes from subsidy payments [7-3]
In the case of the U.S. according to recent studies, the government spends up to $38 billion each year to subsidise the meat and dairy industries, with less than one percent of that sum allocated to aiding the production of fruits and vegetables [7-4].
A taxation system supporting plant-based diets would save billions for tax payers and is clearly better for the health of citizens and society
Conclusions
This Piece has highlighted many ways in which a plant-based diet is good for health. The risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer can be significantly reduced. The benefits flow out to society by reducing the opportunities for antibiotic resistance and animal-originated pandemics. It challenges the hidden and brutal impact of the meat industry on the mental health of its workers. It frees up billions of pounds to be used for investment in the genuine health and wellbeing of the country.
References
Heart and Diabetes
[1-1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/16/plant-based-swaps-may-cut-diabetes-and-heart-disease-risk-major-review-finds
[1-2] https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/mar/02/eating-meat-raises-risk-of-heart-disease-diabetes-and-pneumonia
Cancer
[2-1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-meatless-diet-is-better-for-you-and-the-planet/, 14/7/2023
[2-2] https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/nov/29/plant-based-diet-reduce-bowel-cancer-risk-in-men-research
[2-3] https://theconversation.com/vegetarian-pescatarian-or-low-meat-diets-may-reduce-cancer-risk-new-research-177787 , 24/2/22
[2-4] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/01/bacon-cancer-processed-meats-nitrates-nitrites-sausages
Antibiotics
[3-1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/28/uk-risks-falling-behind-on-reducing-farm-antibiotics-after-eu-ban
[3-2] Emergent crisis of antibiotic resistance: A silent pandemic threat to 21st century, Jan 2023
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0882401022005368
[3-3] https://theconversation.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-antibiotics-what-would-a-post-antibiotic-world-look-like-213450
[3-4] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/antibiotics-farm-animals-covid-pandemic-b1974937.html
Pandemic
[4-1] https://www.unep.org/resources/report/preventing-future-zoonotic-disease-outbreaks-protecting-environment-animals-and
[4-2] https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1263-1918-spanish-influenza-pandemic-down-to-pig-flu-rna/
[4-3] The infectious disease trap of animal agriculture, Nov 2022
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add6681
Mental Health
[5-1]The Psychological Impact of Slaughterhouse Employment: A Systematic Literature Review, July 2021
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15248380211030243
[5-2] Abattoir workers are the forgotten frontline victims at the heart of this crisis – and now they’re spreading coronavirus, July 2020
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-slaughterhouse-abattoir-spread-infection-ptsd-mental-health-a9593511.html
NHS
[6-1] https://plantbasednews.org/news/economics/nhs-save-money-vegan-doctor/
Tax
[7-1] https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/blog/meat-and-dairy-gobble-up-farming-subsidies/
[7-2] This is Vegan Propaganda, Ed Winters, pg 257
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Ed-Winters/This-Is-Vegan-Propaganda–And-Other-Lies-the-Meat-Industry-Tells-You/27206959
[7-3] UK farmers prepare for overhaul to farm subsidies after Brexit, October 2018
https://www.ft.com/content/db2a28e2-c175-11e8-95b1-d36dfef1b89a
[7-4] https://www.surgeactivism.org/animalagsubsidiesexplained
