Vegetarianism Research Paper

950 Words4 Pages

Vegetarianism
Vegetarian diet is acquiring of food that is free of meat, fish and other animal-produced food. This diet consists of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, seeds, and nuts. (Vegetarian Diet, par. 1) Vegetarian diet lessens the possible suffering from coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, type II diabetes and some cancers; is helpful for healthy weight loss; protects you from certain food-borne diseases such as bird flu, mad cow and intestinal parasites; however, it causes a health risk such as iron deficiency, vitamin B12 deficiency and protein deficiency.
Vegetarian diet is one of the most popular diet when it comes to a healthy lifestyle. According to the results of Vegetarian Result Group’s poll in Vegetarian Statistics (2013), the estimated number of Americans who are vegetarian is 7.3 Million. The percentage of female vegetarians are 59%, while the percentage of male vegetarians is 41% in the United States. The percentage of ages 8 to 34 that are vegetarians is 3%, while the percentage of ages 35 to 54 is 40.7% and the percentage of ages 55 and above is …show more content…

Since vegetarians eat less fatty food and eat proportionally more polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat, they tend to lose more weight than those in traditional diet plan. According to the study conducted by Dr. Barnard and his research team on women who were severely overweight, showed that the vegan diet helped them burn 16% of calories in the after-meal period than those who were in traditional diet. (Dr. Neal Barnard Discusses Weight Loss Using Vegan Diet, par. 8) However, if a person is long enough on a vegetarian diet he or she could suffer from malnutrition. Since vegetarian diet is a restricted diet, it can lead to a lack of important nutrients such as Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids and iodine. Lacking these nutrients can result in rickets and other serious illness for the children. (Pullen,