Abstract
Everyone knows that fruit and vegetables are good for you, but a team of Scottish researchers has come up with an explanation for why vegetarians have a lower risk of heart disease and bowel cancer than their carnivorous neighbours. Pathologists led by John Peterson at the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary (Dumfries, Scotland) discovered that vegetarians had up to 12-times higher levels of salicylic acid circulating in their blood. Salicylate is the active anti-inflammatory ingredient in aspirin and has been shown to be effective against cardiovascular disease and cancer. The researchers compared blood samples from a population of vegetarian Buddhist monks in a monastery in southwest Scotland with samples from local non-vegetarians. The results, published in July in the Journal of Clinical Pathology, emphasize the need for a healthy diet including lots of fruit and veggies. JW
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