Vesanto Melina

Hello everyone. We are at the 6th International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition in California near Los Angeles. And it's a very exciting event with over 800 professionals and scientists interested in vegetarian nutrition. I'm going to be giving a presentation on raw vegan diets for health professionals, some of the key issues. So what we'll be looking at is, first of all, a few nutrients. Can we meet our recommended intakes for protein, for calcium, for iron, for vitamin B12 on raw vegan diets? And second, are there some health benefits in relation to chronic disease? For example, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, and other chronic conditions. So what is a raw vegan diet? People have different definitions, but the most generally agreed are that the diet is 75% or more raw plant foods by weight. And sometimes people are 100% raw in their diet, and sometimes most of their plate is raw foods. There are also a high raw diet, many people are interested in that level, and that is 50 to 75% raw foods. There's also fruitarian diets where people eat 75% of their diet as fruit. And these ones we'll be talking about a bit later, but sometimes people get into trouble without quite enough protein. And another interesting aspect of raw diets are the living food diets that came to us from Northern Europe. And Anne Wigmore started some sprouting and interest in that area. She was from Lithuania. And the Finns have done some extremely interesting research on raw diets. And these diets involve a lot of sprouted foods, grains, legumes, nuts, seeds. There's not so much fruit way up north. And these diets are quite high in protein, as we'll see, and very nutritious. So first of all, we wonder whether raw vegan diets meet recommended intakes for protein. And if we look at the ideals that are recommended, the Levels that we want are 0.8 grams per kilogram body weight of protein, 0.8 grams of protein, or at the recent New Zealand conference on protein, 0.83 grams. But when we're looking at vegan diets, we consider it should be about 0.9 grams. And some of the more recent findings are that for seniors, we should have about 1 gram of protein per kilogram body weight. A different way of looking at it in terms of the World Health Organization recommendations are that we have over 10% of our calories from protein. And here we find, for example, that the raw vegan intakes have quite a range, but often on the low side for some groups. If we look at some of the big studies that have been done, there have been studies in the United States, in Germany, and in Finland, particularly, with large and small groups, particularly small groups. But the American and German studies show that many times the vegan intakes are quite low. We will typically need about 50 to 70 grams of protein for an adult. And often they're on the low side, 37, 39 grams of protein, and certainly not above 50 on average. And we also find that they're less than the World Health Organization recommendation that 10% of our calories come from protein. And even the calories are low, so 10% of that low calorie diet isn't so good. We also find, in contrast, that the Finnish diets that were high in these sprouted grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, they're excellent, and they're right within the recommended range. In the German studies that were quite low, many people were on fruitarian diets, and the women, for example, one in four lost their menstrual period or had disturbances in it, indicating that the protein and iron levels were probably low, and zinc too in many cases. So the finished ones worked a lot better. If we look at what kinds of foods have protein, certainly animal products are often thought of as the protein foods, but plant foods can have easily the same percentage calories from protein. But we often need to eat quite a large amount of these plant foods. Great big salads. to get the same amount of calories. But then they'll deliver plenty of protein. And so we find the same range, like 20 to 40% calories from protein. Grains can be very helpful because they're a little more compact and the nuts and seeds, they'll deliver more calories and they have decent protein intakes. What is low is the fruits with only 1 to 10% of their calories from protein. So that's where people get in trouble, especially when caloric intakes are low. Then I'm showing here a raw food diet that meets the adult recommended intakes. Just so you can see what it looks like, because sometimes people wonder, well, what on earth are people eating when it is nutritionally adequate? And we find, for example, that somebody might have a smoothie for breakfast with lots of fruit, their favorite fruits, just lovely, light. But to have the increased calcium and protein, they'll want a great big handful of greens like kale, and that's one of the low oxalate greens with high calcium availability. And there's also a vitamin B12 supplement you can see circled. Now during the lunchtime and through the day, this is a very simple day where you're kind of eating simple foods so you can see what's in there rather than prepared things, but There are a lot of pea pods, legumes. So these are raw legumes, a good way to eat that. You could have sprouted lentils or another type of raw legume or sprouted mung beans, but here we have the pea pods. And then for calcium, we have iron, we have oranges and figs, and then we have some nuts and seeds. There's some walnuts for omega-3 fatty acids, seeds for zinc, and then for supper, what somebody could have is a blended soup with kale and apples in it and a great big salad or some raw veggies and a tahini dressing, so a little bit more seeds. A lot of green in this picture, you'll see. Now, how much nutrition does this deliver? We find that it has 1,657 calories. So that's low for a lot of people. Some people could add plenty more food than that. Some who want to lose weight would just stay at that level. 62 grams of protein, so that's quite respectable with all those greens. 1090 calcium, 27 iron, 10 zinc, and some omega-3 fatty acids to meet recommended intakes, and the vitamin B12 from the supplement. Then if we look at, for example, a high raw menu, Here's something from my co-author, Brenda Davis. You'll see that this type of a menu has one item that is not raw at each meal. So for example, at breakfast, there is some calcium-fortified milk, like a non-dairy milk, could be almond milk, soy milk, and could be calcium-fortified yogurt. Then at lunch, there's some pea soup. But apart from that, the breakfast is much like the early Swiss muesli. Lots of fruit, a little bit sprouted grains, some nuts and seeds, and very nutritious for breakfast. And at lunch, a great big salad along with the pea soup. So we've got some legumes there for supper, some beans or tofu, and a big salad, some dressing. Then for snacks, we can have some more fruit or we might have a frozen banana with chocolate dipped on, some dark chocolate. And so this is a high raw whole foods menu. And we'll see what this... delivers. Well, here's my co-author Brenda Davis on our book Becoming Raw at the age of 53. She just had some pictures taken. And this nutritious menu that we just saw has 2,000 calories and designed for somebody who keeps fit, does some exercise, 67 grams of protein, calcium, 1,200 milligrams, 20 of iron, and it meets the recommended intake for vitamins and minerals. And there is some sources of B12, vitamin D, get out in the sun a bit, or take a supplement, and iodine. So this has also abundant antioxidants and phytochemicals. Now, with the raw food movement, one of the challenges I found is that there are many unfounded beliefs about vitamin B12, and it's really important that people get a reliable source of vitamin B12, and especially in pregnancy or in lactation. But I mean, actually a raw food diet is not entirely appropriate for pregnancy or lactation. It's better to have some raw foods, but some cooked foods as well, just for the nutrient density. But some of the Raw vegan studies will show that people who do not include supplements or fortified foods are low in their vitamin B12 levels and have about 25 to 50% of the recommended levels. And this can really get them into trouble in terms of health. So what we want to have is about 4 micrograms per day if you're using fortified foods. These are not so common in Europe, more common in North America. And what is very reliable is to take a supplement. And supplements typically have about 25 micrograms of vitamin B12 or 1,000 micrograms twice a week would be all right. So either a daily supplement of B12 or two supplements a week. Then looking at the raw and high raw diets and chronic disease, some of the interesting findings are that there's risk reduction for fibromyalgia, for rheumatoid arthritis, and for overweight and obesity. And this has been shown in a number of studies. And there's suggestive evidence that these diets could be raw or high raw, help with reducing risk of cardiovascular disease, of type 2 diabetes, and of cancer. Just limited evidence there. So when we look first of all at rheumatoid arthritis, the studies that were done from Finland were very interesting. And people went on raw vegan diets, and they also left out gluten-containing foods, so wheat and the different grains that have gluten. They left out oranges and citrus. They left out the nightshade, so that's the potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant. That's in the tobacco family, those plants. And they found that they started feeling better. Many of the people, not everyone in the study, but some of them clearly responded to this raw vegan diet. And they had less stiffness, less joint pain. There were lab markers of improvement. And their fecal flora changed. That's a little bacteria in their intestines. And lower cholesterol, better antioxidant status. Then If they went back on their original diet, symptoms came back. So for many of the people, this was a very positive situation and they stayed with it. They didn't go back on their earlier diet. For fibromyalgia, a very similar experience happened for those who had this condition. It didn't work for everybody, but they went on raw vegan diets that were gluten-free, no citrus, no nightshades, and in many cases, their pain disappeared or diminished considerably, and after a while, they were quite happy with the diet and stayed on it. And again, there was a considerable reduction in symptoms for some of the people. And these studies were done in the United States and in Finland. Then if they went back on their earlier diet that contained gluten or dairy, symptoms returned. And it wasn't always the same trigger food for everyone, but certain foods caused problems for the different people. The advantages of these diets seem to be linked to the fact that plant foods are very high in anti-inflammatory compounds and antioxidants. They're low in inflammatory compounds and oxidants. They support these really friendly flora, bacteria in our intestines that keep us healthy. And of course, you've got some of the culprits for food sensitivities eliminated. There's generally weight loss, which can diminish the weight on people's joints. And these same factors that we just listed can also help us with the reduced risk of other chronic diseases. So for example, with cardiovascular disease, some studies that have been done in Finland, United States, Germany, show that there was lower blood pressure, the cholesterol levels dropped, triglycerides, the CRP, and the thickness of the carotid artery. So these could all be advantages for people. But if they didn't take vitamin B12, then they'd undermine the whole advantage of this diet because they'd increase the risk of cardiovascular disease with the high homocysteine levels that result when you don't have vitamin B12. Some of the advantages that there are with relation to type 2 diabetes are the low glycemic load of the foods on a plant-based diet that's raw. You give up the sugar, you give up the refined flour, all these baked things that make your blood sugar spike, and what you end up with is foods that have a low glycemic load. And so people on raw diets seem to have favorable fasting glucose, and insulin sensitivity. And so that looks like a promise there, but we haven't had studies that will really show the long-term benefits. Now, the other chronic disease that's of considerable interest is cancer. And the American Institute of Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Foundation put out a book every five years, a wonderful book. They give it away for free. The cover is shown here. And there are scientists from all over the world, from about 30 countries, looking at the cancer-related studies that are done. And what they find is that vegetables really help protect us against cancer. And that raw vegetables and fruits help even more. So it looks very promising. And there are several enzymes in, for example, broccoli and those cruciferous vegetables that are good in a raw form. Garlic and those compounds in the onion family are again protective and in the raw form. And there's plenty of insoluble fiber that helps us get rid of carcinogens, protective phytochemicals, vitamin C. So the raw vegan diet has a lot to go for it, and also high raw. And also you avoid these heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are so toxic and clearly carcinogenic. The protection that we find with raw vegan diets is borne out as long as you make sure that you get enough vitamin B12, that you get vitamin D, so either you're in a sunny climate and get outside sometimes for a little vitamin D on your skin, or take a supplement at northern latitudes or in winter. and they can probably help us with a number of chronic diseases to choose lots more plant foods that are in a raw form. So with all these beautiful, colorful plant foods, we eliminate cholesterol, we eliminate trans fats, and we avoid these toxic components that can arise during cooking, things like BBQ, high heat, we just eliminate all that. And it can be a wonderful benefit to you. So we have two books out. One is called Becoming Vegan and co-authored with my good friend and long-term writing professor. partner, Brenda Davis. So it's Becoming Vegetarian. And in that one, we put a lot of questions people have about enzymes and food combining and raw history and whether you should have mushrooms raw. Just a lot of different things that people are interested in about raw foods and how to do it right. We wanted people, wherever you are in the dietary spectrum, to succeed at having a really healthy diet and go into your years later on in life in very good health. And our other book, The Raw Food Revolution Diet, is centered on weight management because a lot of people are interested in that. And that's like drawing the line. If you're going to eat raw foods, it can really help. to lose weight, and people have had tremendous success in that. And this book has great food in it. Our co-author, Cherie Soria, is on the cover, 62 years old in that picture, and she's got 3 black belts and karate. Looks pretty good. So that's a book about health and weight management. So thank you very much.