Advantages Of Vegetarian Diet Biology Essay

Advantages Of Vegetarian Diet Biology Essay Vegetarian diet, in the last twenty years, has become a way of life for millions of people around the world. This paper, based on secondary research, describes history and discusses aspects of vegetarian diet. Particularly, three aspects are mentioned, including a brief history of vegetarianism, benefits and drawbacks of vegetarian diet. The findings of this research indicate that vegetarian diet has positive impacts to health, environment and animal life; however, it also brings negative effects such as nutritional deficiencies and changing in lifestyle. Overall, based on the findings, the paper draws conclusion that vegetarians should build a balanced diet to keep a healthy body. Introduction Albert Einstein was a vegetarian in the last years of his life, in the letter written to Hans Muehsam on March 30 1954, he wrote: â€Å"So I am living without fats, without meat, without fish, but am feeling quite well this way. It always seems to me that man was not born to be a carnivoreâ €  and vegetarian diet is believed that to be good for health. Vegetarianism, as stated in ‘Medical Dictionary Online’, â€Å"the voluntary abstinence from eating meat† and the term â€Å"vegetarian† is used to show diets that include essential plant foods and avoid animal foods. According to the Vegetarianism (Uttara, 2011), there are five main kinds of vegetarian diet: lacto-ovo vegetarian diet (includes eggs, honey, dairy products and plant foods), lacto vegetarian diet (includes honey, dairy products and plant foods), ovo vegetarian diet (includes eggs, honey and plant foods), vegan diet (includes only plant foods) and fruitarian diet (includes fruits, nuts and seeds). There are many kinds of vegetarian now that vegetarianism becomes more and more popular in over the world. A recent study (Thich 2007) found that from 1970, the number of vegetarians increases about 30%. The survey of The Vegetarian Times in the State of Illinois in the United States in 1992 among 12.4 million people, there were 8 million vegetarians. In Vietnam, W&S Company about research information online made a quick survey on 659 people in August, 2012, as a result, the popularity of vegetarians accounted for 59%. The reason why the number of vegetarians is increasing is that they believe vegetarian diet helps prevent them from diseases such as obesity, colon cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease and other diseases. However, vegetarian diets also bring us some of drawbacks. Thus, this paper updates a brief history of vegetarianism and discusses about some advantages and disadvantages of vegetarian diet. 2. Discussion of finding 2.1. A brief history of vegetarianism According to Wikipedia, based on the earliest documents, historical development of vegetarianism started at the 6th century BC in ancient India and ancient Greece. The diet was closely hooked up to the idea of unharmed animals and was encouraged by religious groups and philosophers in both insta nces. During the ancient time, vegetarian diet was sprawled along over India, South East Asia and other areas, the overwhelming majority of vegetarians were Hindu, Jain and Buddhist. Nordqvist (2004) stated that â€Å"The conversion to Christianity of the Roman Empire virtually eliminated all traces of vegetarianism from Europe†. To the  Renaissance, vegetarianism re-emerged and became more popular in the 19th and 20th centuries. Spencer pointed out that the Vegetarian Society was first set up in England in 1847 and German, Netherlands and other European countries followed equivalent societies. The establishment of the International Vegetarian Union in 1908 made the wide development of vegetarian in Europe. Many people have changed their lifestyle by selecting vegetarian diet because of the rise in health consciousness (Null, 1996). The number of vegetarians keeps rising although it is small in comparison to the citizens in the world.