DawnWatch: New York Times article on vegetarianism and blood pressure

It opens:
"Many large-scale epidemiological studies have found that vegetarians are less likely than meat eaters to have high blood pressure. But moving from that observation to proof of cause and effect can be difficult, because the findings may reflect an unknown third factor -- for example, a tendency of vegetarians to do other healthy things as well."

It then discusses various studies in which groups were matched for lifestyle factors, the only differences between them being diet. They still found lower blood pressure amongst vegetarians.

You can read the article on line at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/health/11regi.html?oref=login&pagewanted=all

It opens the door for letters from people living vegan/vegetarian and wonderfully well. And while it concentrates only on health, it gives us the opportunity to discuss other reasons for choosing a plant based diet, such as not wanting to contribute to the horror of factory farming. (You can find out more about that, and see photos of the way most animals raised for food live, at http://www.FactoryFarming.com)

The New York Times takes letters at: letters [at] nytimes.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.



(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)


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