Flexible diet

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Be able to accommodate a little meat in the diet may

be okay.

Aging Well -How to eat meat and still feel as healthy

as a vegetarian

By KELLY GREENE

October 21, 2006

The Wall Street Journal

You're sort of a vegetarian, but not quite. So what

does that make you? A flexitarian.

Although it's tough to pin down nutrition and culinary

experts on a precise definition, they agree that the

new term -- catchier than such labels as part-time or

semi-vegetarian, or health-conscious non-vegetarian --

means you get the bulk of your calories from

vegetables, fruits, whole grains, soy, beans and nuts.

Yet flexitarians, unlike full-time vegetarians, also

consume some fish, fowl and meat.

And some studies show that people who follow a

flexitarian diet also reap most of the same health

benefits as those who abstain from animal products

altogether -- and are healthier, thinner and may even

live longer than people who have a meat-heavy diet.

" It's pretty exciting. A couple extra black beans here

and there, and I'll live longer and be thinner, " says

Dawn Blatner, a registered dietitian at

Northwestern Memorial Hospital Wellness Institute in

Chicago and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic

Association, a group of nearly 65,000 food and

nutrition professionals based in Chicago.

No 'Massive Effect'

In an article published earlier this year, scientists

at Oxford University in England looked at reams of

data comparing the health of vegetarians with

" health-conscious non-vegetarians, " meaning

flexitarians, in affluent, Western countries.

Health-conscious non-vegetarians are defined as

regularly or occasionally eating meat or fish.

" The data we have show no clear differences " between

the two in total mortality, blood pressure, incidences

of stroke, or rates of colorectal, breast and prostate

cancers, says Key, the lead author of the

article and principal investigator at Oxford for the

European Prospective Investigation of Cancer and

Nutrition, which is studying links between diet,

cancer and other chronic diseases by following 520,000

people in 10 European countries.

Vegetarians -- particularly vegans -- still have a

slight edge when it comes to body-mass index and heart

disease, says Mr. Key. But overall, eating meat

occasionally " is not having a massive effect " on

people who try to eat healthfully.

Other research shows flexitarianism's effect on body

weight. In a 2003 study, researchers in Stockholm,

Sweden, and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture

Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts

University in Boston looked at 55,000 Swedish women

and found that even " semi-vegetarians, " who consume

some meat, have a lower risk of being overweight or

obese than their omnivorous counterparts.

The full-fledged meat eaters were " significantly

heavier " than any of three vegetarian groups in the

study. (In addition to semi-vegetarians, the

researchers analyzed the diets of lacto-vegetarians,

who eat no meat or eggs, and vegans, who eat no meat,

eggs or dairy products.)

The semi-vegetarians in the study ate 0.1 serving of

red meat a day, 0.02 serving of poultry and 0.34

serving of fish. In contrast, the omnivores had 1.1

servings of meat, 0.06 serving of poultry and 0.28

serving of fish.

Living Longer

Also in 2003, researchers at Loma University in

Loma , Calif., analyzed six previous studies,

along with new research, to pinpoint the relationship

between very low meat intake and mortality. The

studies included flexitarians, though they weren't

identified by that term.

The researchers concluded that very low meat intake

increased life expectancy by as much as 3.6 years for

longtime practitioners of a diet that's very low in

meat.

Among the studies analyzed:

An Oxford University study that looked at 6,000

vegetarians who never ate meat or fish and 5,000

non-vegetarians identified by the vegetarians as

friends and relatives who were " of similar lifestyle

and social class but who ate meat. "

A health-food shoppers study, also conducted in the

U.K., which culled 10,771 health-food store customers,

health-food magazine readers, subscribers to

Seventh-day Adventist Church publications, and members

of vegetarian societies. Two-thirds of the study

participants said they consumed meat or fish less than

once a week.

A study of 1,904 German vegetarians that included

" moderate " vegetarians with " low intake " of meat or

fish.

Two studies that looked at more than 60,000 members of

the Seventh-day Adventist Church in California who

were either classified as eating meat less than once a

week or once or more a week.

Parceling Out the Protein

The goal of a flexitarian is to make at least 80% of

meals vegetarian, says Ms. Blatner of the American

Dietetic Association. The Institute of Medicine,

meanwhile, says 10% to 35% of your calories should

come from protein. (The institute, based in

Washington, is part of the National Academies, an

independent research organization that advises the

federal government.)

So, Ms. Blatner says, " even the guidelines are

flexible. People who know they feel better when they

eat more protein can try more plant-based protein, and

more leafy vegetables. "

For those who are used to eating meat in just about

all of their 21 meals a week, the initial target is,

simply put, to scale it back, she adds. Perhaps it's

eliminating the sausage or bacon at breakfast, or

substituting a veggie burger for ground beef.

" It's this constant kind of evaluation and

improvement, " Ms. Blatner says. " Every day, every

year, you take a step back and ask, 'Am I eating more

plant food than animal food?' People want the health

benefits, but they don't really get into the whole

kind of vegetarian lifestyle. "

Making the Switch

So how many people are eating this way so far?

There's no firm head count. Vegetarian Resource Group,

a Baltimore nonprofit that researches vegetarianism,

finds consistently that about 7% of the population

eats no meat. The group also points to a 2005 survey

by Aramark Corp., a large food-service provider based

in Philadelphia, which found that 24% of 100,000

college students considered it important to find vegan

meals on campus. " Those kids aren't vegetarians, but

they like those items because they're healthier, " says

Stahler, the nonprofit's co-director.

Flexitarianism also appears to be attracting eaters on

the other end of the spectrum: people who embraced

vegetarianism in their youth.

Mollie Katzen, author of the best-selling " Moosewood

Cookbook, " which features vegetarian recipes, now eats

meat regularly. Her latest title, " Eat, Drink & Weigh

Less, " co-written with Harvard University nutritionist

Walter Willett, includes protein options ranging from

beef to buckwheat noodles with cashews.

" I have salmon probably twice a week, " she says. " I

love it. "

--Ms. Greene, a staff reporter in The Wall Street

Journal's Atlanta bureau, covers retirement issues

-- Al Pater, PhD; email: Alpater@...

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Thanks Al. I would agree 100%. And, Keyes, was the

author I Was talking about last week in the discussion

about the studies on Vegans and Vegetarians not being

healthier

Thanks

Jeff