FW: 'Vegetarian' diet - masks eating disorders?

[Guest guest]

>

> Chandna, Alka

> Monday, December 10, 2001 2:41 PM

> 'Suzanne.Rostler'

> 'Vegetarian' diet - masks eating disorders?

>

> Dear Ms. Rostler,

>

> Greetings from the San Francisco Bay Area! I hope this email

> finds you in excellent health and spirits. I'm writing to

> thank you for your interesting article on the recently

> published study reporting an alleged link between vegetarian

> teenagers and eating disorders

> (http://dailynews./h/nm/20011210/hl/vegetarians_1.html).

>

> As a lifelong vegetarian, and a vegan for the past 12 years,

> I have a hearty appetite for articles connected with health

> and the plant-based diet. In particular, I have gobbled up

> the epidemiological studies coming out of China, with

> Cornell's T. Colin Campbell as principal researcher; the

> research undertaken by the Physicians' Committee for

> Responsible Medicine; the works of Dr. John McDougall and Dr.

> Dean Ornish; the statement by Dr. Benjamin Spock, prior to

> his death, that children should be raised as vegans; and so on.

>

> Although my decision in 1989 to embrace a plant-based diet

> came in the wake of a visit to a slaughterhouse (undertaken

> as a student journalist), through the passing years, health

> concerns have begun to occupy a front-burner position in my

> thinking. Hence, the interest in vegetarian diets and health.

>

> I was rather perplexed, Ms. Rostler, to read in your article

> that, " more than half of the vegetarians [in the study]

> reported eating chicken, about 42% ate fish, more than

> three-quarters ate eggs and nearly 80% consumed dairy

> products. " The Collins College Dictionary defines

> " vegetarian " as " a person who does not eat meat or fish. "

> So, the researchers' claims on the health/psychology of

> vegetarian teens are, in fact, claims on the

> health/psychology of people who are *not* vegetarian. With

> at least 50% of the subjects being improperly classified,

> what self-respecting statistician could find the slightest

> iota of relevance in the reported data? It surprises me that

> this fundamental flaw in the manner in which the researchers

> chose to characterize their research findings was not

> challenged in your article. After all, a researcher cannot

> claim to submit a study on Canadian women (for example),

> after conducting research and collecting data from 100

> Canadians all claiming to be female, when 50 of them are

> actually men who happen to identify in some way with women (!!!).

>

> It is wildly inaccurate (to say nothing of irresponsible) for

> the researchers to have claimed that " vegetarian diets may

> mask eating disorders " when what they meant is that " diets

> excluding red meat may mask eating disorders. " There is a

> world of difference between these two statements. Contrary

> to popular myth, chicken is *not* a health food, having just

> as much cholesterol, ounce-per-ounce, as red meat, having too

> much protein, and containing zero fiber. Fish, likewise, is

> a cholesterol bomb, and thanks to bio-accumulation of toxins,

> contains whopping quantities of mercury, lead, and other

> carcinogenic compounds. Fish also contains too much protein

> (most Americans consume 200% of the RDA of protein), and zero

> fiber. Ditto for dairy products and eggs (lots more damning

> info on all of these items, of course, but I am trying to

> keep this brief, believe it or not!).

>

> As you credibly note in your article, Ms. Rostler, the health

> benefits of a totally plant-based diet are well-documented.

> While illnesses due to heart disease, stroke, and cancer have

> reached epidemic proportions within the adult segment of the

> American population, particularly disturbing is the fact that

> American children are also suffering as a result of the

> Standard American Diet (SAD). Studies have shown signs of

> atherosclerosis in children as young as 1 year of age, and by

> age 10, almost all American children consuming the SAD show

> some sign of early atherosclerosis.

>

> According to the China-Cornell-Oxford Health Project

(http://www.nutrition.cornell.edu/ChinaProject/chinaproject.html), of the

many lifestyle factors that determine health, food choices comprise the

single most powerful action that a person can take to improve his/her health

profile. The diet recommended by the project is a fully vegan, plant-based

diet. It seems that in this time, when food marketing boards and the vested

interests of powerful lobbies dictate the food choices and food information

of the many, poorly designed and inappropriately reported research, along

with uncritical journalism, can only confuse an already confused public.

Given what is at stake, this is a real shame.

 

Sincerely,

Alka Chandna, Ph.D.

Food and Social Justice Project

San Francisco, CA

home: 415 337 0663

work: 650 849 4330