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Message to regional editors from Sir Paul McCartney in support of National Vegetarian Week.
A letter from: Sir Paul McCartney, Patron of The Vegetarian Society. Dear Friends, June 26th to July 2nd is National Vegetarian Week, a time when a lot of people think about changing their diet for a few days for the sake of their health. However, if we really give more than a passing thought to what we are doing to our bodies we may well decide that every week should be a Vegetarian Week. There are many reasons for not eating animals and compassion for those animals is one reason that persuades thousands of people to change the way they eat. But whatever your conscience tells you, medical research now shows that we - and I especially mean the Junk Food Generation - really ought to Follow Our Heart in this crucial matter. Coronary heart disease kills more people in Britain than anything else. The problem is that, sadly, too many people aid and abet their own death themselves because of what they eat. Medical science shows that if they simply switched to a vegetarian diet they could live longer. That's a heck of an option - change the way you eat and you could add more enjoyable years to your life. I'm not making this up; this is not some fanciful theory to scoff at. No, these are scientific findings based on years of clinical research. No lesser authority than the British Medical Association has reported "Vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, large bowel disorders and cancers and gall stones. Cholesterol levels tend to be lower in vegetarians and a number of components of the vegetarian diet have been noted to lower blood cholesterol". In Germany, an 11-year study of 1,900 vegetarians published in The International Journal of Epidemiology "found that mortality from all causes was attributable to reduced heart disease in men and women". Here in Britain, another study - this time over 12 years - of 6115 vegetarians and 5,015 meat-eaters found that vegetarians tended to live longer. This study, published in The British Medical Journal, found that the risk of an early death from heart disease was 28% lower among the vegetarians. Yet another study of British eating, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, compared 6,000 British vegetarians with a control group of health conscious meat-eaters and concluded that the vegetarians had a 29% better chance of not dying from heart disease. I do understand many people's views on this subject - they know there's a heart risk from a meaty diet, but they think you need meat to give you your protein. But the good news is: no, you don't. That old belief that without meat you'll get no protein is a fallacy; eggs, cheese, nuts, beans and soya-based foods will give you more than enough of it. Most adults already know these facts, but my main worry is for the Junk Food Generation - the youngsters who could be eating themselves to death, regularly running the risk of clogging up their bodies on a diet of burgers. A recent survey by the Food Standards Agency into the national diet and nutrition of young people highlighted just how bad our kids' diets really are. If not for ourselves, for our kids' sake I urge you to consider making a change for National Vegetarian Week. To me, it makes a lot of sense but I know it's not easy because all sorts of arguments on every side put your head in a spin. But if you're confused, just Follow Your Heart. For more information about going or staying veggie or specific enquiries about the vegetarian diet, contact The Vegetarian Society, a registered charity, on 0161 925 2000 or at www.vegsoc.org or write to them at the address below. All the best,
Paul McCartney
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