That's something I worry about because I live in the frigid north. Taking D doesn't solve the deficiency as well as a daily half hour of sun. But when it's below zero I don't expose ANY part of my anatomy to the weather. A warm spell this week (high of 20 degrees) allowed me to run outside in shorts all week. It may just be in my mind, but I feel better because of it. I even got a tan on my knees. :-)

As Regina mentions, vegetarians DO develop heart disease, at almost the same rate as meat eaters, despite a usually much higher socioeconomic status, better overall lifestyle (avoidance of smoking, avoidance of refined foods, regular exercice, etc.)

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/conte...62d737b2d352066


So it seems that even cardiologists can use the web to spout out half-truths.

If you want to look at vegetarians and longevity or heart disease... you should look at SDA. Why? Because there are likely to be fewer variables involved that would otherwise increase mortality in your 'average' vegetarian.

Heres a good paper http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/70/3/532S

I believe I read in an article on SDA that the ones who STRICTLY adhere to a vegetarian diet live on average to 88 years. Far longer than the average person in the US. Although they did state that the decrease in longevity for non-vegetarians cannot be down to beef consumption alone.

No, *don't* look at the SDAs, for whom vegetarianism is only one of the numerous "health reforms." SDAs are also strongly urged not to smoke, to abstain from alcohol and caffeine, not to go to movies or read non-religious books, and to observe the sabbath in a very quiet manner. In short, vegetarian diet is just one facet of a radically different lifestyle from that of non-SDAs.

Both my grandparents were SDAs for 40 or so years. My grandmother was a vegetarian; my grandfather never adopted that way of eating, but did follow all the other rules. He died at 85, of emphysema originally caused by mustard gas in WWI trenches. My grandmother died at 93. Neither one had a heart attack or cancer.

As Ubizmo said, SDAs can not be considered a good group to compare to the general population, as they have numerous lifestyle differences (besides vegetarianism) that sets them apart from the average citizen.

A better idea would be to compare them to another religious group with a similar lifestyle, but that does not abstain from meat.

LOL. My Irish Canadian grandfather lived to 90. He ate meat daily, smoked like a chimney and consumed an inch of refined sugar and cream on his big bowl of cream of wheat every day. He was always skinny and worked hard physically all of his life. Another factor was that his food would have been largely organic as he was a farmer of the old school.

So one of the problems with the whole business is that the research tends to smooth out individual differences, looks at averages and trends. I would say that one common denominator for most people who live a long time is physical exercise. But even that won't always apply. There will still be the odd person who is sedentary, does everything 'wrong' and still lives a long time. And vice versa.

I forgot to mention that last night I looked at a long string of articles from around the world looking at 'trends' that relate to mortality. I was amused. They were able to find significant correlations between all sorts of weird variables and mortality. For example, what religious affiliation you had. We are focussing here on just a couple, really. They also found that there were 'outbreaks' of mortality from a particular disease like stroke or MI that seem to come and go in a particular country for no discernable reason.

What about stuff like what position you were in your family of origin..like first child, youngest etc. Anyone ever look at that variable? I'd bet there would be a 'risk' factor! LOL

I wonder if this could be not so much to Vit.D defficiency per se, but rather exposure to day/sun light. I feel much better when the day is longer and my mood is a bit down in November/December. It is always picks up as soon as day is getting longer. I am thinking to buy a good UVA/B lamp instead of taking mega doses of Vit. D3, that does nothing but makes me body sore and achy.
JMO

NFE! A new acronym!

We had a SDA congregation shop at our store and almost all of them were diabetics. They consumed a lot of fruit.

There are two things working here. One is vitamin D and it's effect on health and one is light's effect on mood. You can get both from the sun and they are interrelated but not the same. While winter sun does make you feel better and can give you a tan it is not strong enough, except nearer the equator, to generate vitamin D.

They have done studies that vitamin D works better on mood than sun lamps but come January/February I need both. Without the light, I still experience effects of SAD.

And now back to the original topic, lol!!!

Should you be a vegetarian for health reasons?

When asked this question, the Nobel-prize winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer replied: "Yes, for the health of the chicken! "

Bo

My mother has been on cholesterol-lowering drugs for several years. Guess what - she developed Parkinson's Disease about three years ago, about two years after starting the drugs. There are no other factors in our family history for it. Her quality of life has been diminished by this disease. And I'm mad about it. I hope she asks her doctor about the LDL-lowering drugs.

What *caused* the high blood pressure?



Some of the ideas you spout - scary!



So, in your world the endocrine system breaks first and that makes someone gain weight?~

Scatching head......Why'd the endocrine system "break" in the first place?



Correct



Wrong.~

Maybe try googling "medically obese normal weight" and/or "metabolically obese normal weight" and see what pops?

It is a misconception and over-simplification to think diabetes, specifically type 2, is simply caused accumulation of too much fat and if one can avoid overt outward indications of too much fat (overweight/obesity) than they're somehow protected from developing type 2.

Yes, those who are lean/slim are at a lower risk - a far lower percentage of those with normal weight BMI develop type 2 diabetes - but that is no guarantee they are immune from it....here's a clue Dina - look past the adiposity and read up on insulin receptors, OK?



Wow, sorta like the endcrine system being intricately involved as previously noted, 'eh?



May I ask your clinical experience with this Dr. Dina? Your data to support this notion that most of those diagnosed T2, who are lean/slim, are not T2 but T1 or MODY?



Ya think? Back to insulin receptors Dina.....and what's happening, or rather not happening, with them in the body.




Remaining normal weight is NOT a guarantee Dina......



You need to read more on the subject then.....longevity in the Caucus region is one piece of a very large puzzle to begin to understand human longevity - that includes a large variety of ethicities, cultural traditions and environments.

Extrapolating data from one area to extend to the whole human population doesn't work - never has, never will - since there is no harmony across regions and countries with diet, activity patterns or environement. Heck, the experience of an individual within the US is varied - some live in urban areas, others rural or suburban - so even though they share a common nationality, their day-to-day is totally different!



It was recently in the news - much to the dismay of a vegetarian research assistant, investigating longevity of centenarians, none were found to be vegetarian in those studied by researchers at Albert Einstein School of Medicine in NY.

"Centenarians — for obvious reasons — are being intensively studied for the clues they may offer about aging. If they're doing something right, Dr. Nir Barzilai, who studies centenarians at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, says he hasn't found their secret yet. So far, he's asked 400 of them all kinds of questions about the way they live their lives, and "I don't have anything to tell you," he says. They don't seem to live more healthful lives. Among the 400, he hasn't found a single vegetarian. This bugs his research coordinator, who is a vegetarian herself, he says. "She has almost made it her ambition now to find one.""



Here's a couple to get you started.....

Glucose tolerance and insulin action in healty centenarians

Preserved antilipolytic insulin action is associated with a less atherogenic plasma lipid profile in healthy centenarians



Snarky? Nah....you tried to set up a strawman, I don't do strawman arguements. Simple as that.

And you assertion that we can find 100 folds more studied linking cholesterol to heart disease is another one - so you continue to believe that if you'd like; my review of various studies leads to a different conclusion.



Well, they've been doing it for 35-years here, in Beaver County, PA.

"Its Healthy Heart Program, which conducts blood lipid panel tests in local seventh-grade pupils, has been in effect for more than 35 years."

Oh, and I didn't say statins are being "routinely" prescribed to healthy kids, now did I?

SDA has numerous confounding variables - alcohol consumption, smoking, drugs, social network, congregation for prayer/spirituality, caffeine consumption, etc.