How the Government Could Save Massive Amounts of Money

There are a number of ways the government could save a lot of money. The ways that I am proposing would also improve health and would fight global warming. One way would be to offer healthy alternatives to meat, eggs, and dairy products. These could be offered at VA hospitals, in children's school lunch programs, in programs for the elderly, in prisons, in the military, etc.

Another way, even more controversial, would be to recognize orthomolecular medicine, which is cheaper, safer, and more logical than drugs. This would save massive amounts of money on healthcare. However, the drug companies won't like this. It would save money for the insurance companies. It would save money for Medicare and Medicaid.

The Vegan Diet: Is It Healthy?

A lot of good information on this is at www.cok.net. This is the website of Compassion Against Killing, which is an animal rights group. Another very good source is Ref. 1.

"In a study of 4,000 men and women in England comparing the relationship between meat consumption and obesity among meat eaters, fish eaters, lacto-ovo-vegetarians, and vegans, mean BMI was highest in the meat eaters and lowest in the vegans. BMI was lowest in those lacto-ovo-vegetarians and vegans who had adhered to their diet for 5 years or longer." (1)

BMI is body mass index. In other words, meat eaters were fatter. The study was Ref. 2.

Refs. 3-5 detail lower risks of coronary disease in vegans. Ref. 6 shows how dietary fiber, which is high in the vegan diet and lacking in animal products, lowers cholesterol. There is no cholesterol in the vegan diet.

Cancer

Ref. 7 reports protection against cancer by substances in plant foods.

Hypertension

Refs. 8-10 report lower blood pressures in vegans and vegetarians.

Global Warming

"A recent report by Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, "Livestock and Climate Change," found that the production of meat, eggs, and dairy products accounts for at least 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year-more than half of the world's annual greenhouse-gas emissions." PETA (11)

"A 2006 U.N. report, Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, determined that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gasses than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined. The report called the meat industry "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." PETA (11)

Orthomolecular Medicine

Refs. 12 & 13 explain some facts on orthomolecular medicine. Ref. 13 explains problems with psychiatric drugs. Statins are also toxic to the liver. Statins can cause liver failure, and this has happened, unfortunately. There are ethical issues regarding psychiatric drugs. Often patients are not informed of the terrible side effects, including toxicity to the heart. On top of that, patients can and do commit suicide with these very expensive drugs.

Ethics in the Treatment of Farm Animals

There are very serious ethical issues in the treatment of farm animals on factory farms. These matters are discussed in great detail on the COK sites and the PETA sites. The main PETA site is www.PETA.org.

Conclusions

Chemical errors are known to cause psychiatric symtoms, and these chemical errors can often be alleviated by dietary manipulations (14). This is cheaper and safer and more logical than drugs which have no rational design. All too often drugs are invented by trial & error with no good rationale.

There is a similar situation in cardiovascular health. The cardiovascular surgeons would have a lot less work to do if people followed the vegan diet, which is cheaper and healthier than the omnivorous diet. The govenment could save massive amounts of money by feeding people in the military and in the VA hospitals and in the prisons healthier, cheaper foods. Since the government pays for the healthcare of these people, it could save money on healthcare also.

References

1. www.adajournal.org/article/PIIS0002822303002943/fulltext.

2. Key T, Davey G. Prevalence of obesity is low in people who do not eat meat (letter). Br Med J. 1996;313:816-817.

3. Key TJ, Fraser GE, Thorogood M, Appleby PN, Beral V, Reeves G, et al. Mortality in vegetarians and nonvegetarians: Detailed findings from a collaborative analysis of 5 prospective studies. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;70:516S-524S.

4. Phillips RL, Lemon FR, Beeson L, Kuzma JW. Coronary heart disease mortality among Seventh-Day Adventists with differing dietary habits: A preliminary report. Am J Clin Nutr. 1978;31:S191-S198.

5. Resnicow K, Barone J, Engle A, Miller S, Haley NJ, Fleming D, et al. Diet and serum lipids in vegan vegetarians: A model for risk reduction. J Am Diet Assoc. 1991;91:447-453.

6. Brown L, Rosner B, Willett WW, Sacks FM. Cholesterol-lowering effects of dietary fiber: A meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999;69:30-42.

7. Chan MM, Ho CT, Huang HI. Effects of three dietary phytochemicals from tea, rosemary, and turmeric on inflammation-induced nitrite production. Cancer Lett. 1995;96:23-29.

8. Hypertension Detection and Follow-up Program Cooperative Group . Five-year findings of the hypertension detection and follow-up program. I. Reduction in mortality of person with high blood pressure, including mild hypertension. J Am Med Assoc. 1979;242:2562-2571.

9. Ophir O, Peer G, Gilad J, Blum M, Aviram A. Low blood pressure in vegetarians: The possible roles of potassium. Am J Clin Nutr. 1983;37:755-762.

10. Melby CL, Hyner GC, Zoog B. Blood pressure in vegetarians and non-vegetarians: A cross-sectional analysis. Nutr Res. 1985;5:1077-1082.

11. blog.peta.org/archives/women_go_veg_ltrFINAL.pdf - 54K

12. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2425658/amino_acid_research.html

13. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2436896/medical_research_on_tryptophan.html

14. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2412558/inborn_errors_of_metabolism.html