Scientific Updates
By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
BLOOD CHOLESTEROL LEVELS ARE LOWER IN VEGETARIAN CHILDREN
A poster session at the Second International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition in
June of 1992 presented the results of a study of sixty-four 5- to 8-year-old
children in Boston who had been on vegetarian diets for an average of six years. The
vegetarian children were compared with non-vegetarian children of the same age
living in the same area. The vegetarian children had significantly lower blood
cholesterol levels. None were considered to be at risk for future heart disease
based on blood cholesterol levels. Twenty-two percent of the non-vegetarian children
had blood cholesterol levels which were associated with increased risk of developing
heart disease in later life. The vegetarian children's lower cholesterol levels were
believed to be a result of their diet, which was lower in fat and saturated fat and
higher in polyunsaturated fat and fiber than the non-vegetarian children's diets.
This study suggests that a vegetarian diet can provide levels of dietary fat and
fiber which are in accord with the recommendations of the National Cholesterol
Education Project and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
