Plant-based diet helps prevent more than 60 percent of chronic disease deaths

Plant-based diet helps prevent more than 60 percent of chronic disease deaths


(NaturalNews) Chronic illnesses including cardiovascular disease,
cancer, diabetes, and obesity account for nearly 65 percent of all
deaths annually, according to the World Health Organization. Over
the course of modern human history, forward thinking scientists have
known that a diet largely consisting of plants, fruits, nuts and seeds
promote optimal health, and when coupled with a healthy lifestyle, can
prevent, and in many cases treat a wide variety of chronic diseases that
kill millions every year.

Prior studies over the past two
decades have provided solid evidence to show that taking the majority of
calories from plant-based foods dramatically lowers the incidence of
disease. Diets high in hydrogenated fats and sugars, low in fiber, high
in refined and processed grains and low in plant foods are increasingly
being consumed by children and adults in western cultures. This dramatic
shift toward consumption of fast and convenience foods over the past
half century is a direct and indisputable cause of chronic illness.

Adding to the insurmountable evidence is a research body published in the magazine, Food Technology
that explains how recent discoveries in nutritional genomics explain
how plant-based diets are effective at warding off disease. Senior
editor, Toni Tarver explains how people living in societies that eat
healthy, plant-based diets rarely fall victim to heart disease,
diabetes, cancer and dementia, the leading causes of death for the vast
majority of aging adults.

Processed and refined foods promote disease while a plant-based diet supports health

The
author provides evidence to explain how bioactive compounds in plant
foods play a role in controlling genetic and other biological factors
that lead to chronic disease.
Inflammation is increasingly found to be the root cause of most chronic
diseases, and antioxidants from natural foods eaten raw or minimally
cooked counter free radicals that fan the flames of inflammation and
damage cellular form and function while altering DNA integrity as well.

Plant compounds help control a gene linked to cardiovascular disease
and plaque buildup in arteries and change genetic expression while
altering the function of critical cellular components responsible for
forming and sustaining tumors. Dr. William Li, President and Medical
Director of the Angiogenesis Foundation in Cambridge, MA concludes "Prevention
is always better than a cure... foods that may help prevent cancer and
other chronic diseases include artichokes, black pepper, cinnamon,
garlic, lentils, olives, pumpkin, rosemary, thyme, watercress, and
more."

There should be no doubt that natural compounds found in a plant-based diet
provide optimal protection against specific chronic illnesses. For
example, some studies have concluded that lycopene from tomatoes appears
to lower the risk of prostate, lung, and bladder cancers while other
studies have shown that foods rich in anthocyanins, such as blueberries
and strawberries, significantly reduce death from cardiovascular
disease. A natural diet
of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and no more than 10 percent of
calories from organic meats are the key to prevent chronic disease and
early mortality.

Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/037749_plant-based_diet_chronic_disease_prevention.html