HT 1b: Heart Disease
Heart Disease
The inability of the human body to deal with excessive animal fats in the diet is another indication of the unnaturalness of meat eating. Carnivorous animals can metabolize almost unlimited amounts of cholesterol and fats without any adverse effects. In experiments with dogs, up to one half pound of butterfat was added to their daily diet over a period of two years, producing absolutely no change in their setum cholesterol level.
On the other hand, the vegetarian species have a very limited ability to deal with any level of cholesterol or satutated fats beyond the amount required by the body. When over a period of many years an excess is consumed, fatty deposits (plaque) accumulate on the inner walls of the arteries, producing a condition known as arteriosclerosis, hardening of the arteries. Because the plaque deposits constrict the flow of blood to the heart, the potential for heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots is tremendously increased.
As early as 1961, the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that ninety to ninety-seven percent of heart disease, the cause of more than one half of the deaths in the United States, could be prevented by a vegetarian diet.(Diet and Stress in Vascular Disease," Journal of the American Medical Association, June 3, 1961, p. 806.) The findings are supported by an American Heart Association report that states, "In well documented population studies using standard methods of diet and coronary disease assessment... evidence suggests that a high-saturated-fat diet is an essential factor for a high incidence of coronary heart disease."(Diet and Coronary Heart Disease," a statement developed by the Committee on Nutrition and authorized for release by the Central Committee for Medical and Community Programs of the American Heart Association, 1973.) The National Academy of Sciences also reported recently that the high serum cholesterol level found in most Americans is a major factor in the coronary hearts disease "epidemic" in the United States.("Diet and Coronary Heart Disease, " Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 222, no. 13, (Dec. 25, 1972), p. 1647.)
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