
A Vegan Diet Can...
Prevent, arrest, and reverse Cardiovascular Disease
Perhaps the most famous vegan feat, the reversal of Coronary Heart Disease.. This was first demonstrated famously by the likes of Nathan Pritikin, and Dean Ornish. The famous Ornish study can be seen here, however I was unable to find a free full text of the Pritikin trials. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9863851
While the vegan diet can reverse heart disease, this does nothing from an argumentative standpoint, so here are some ways meat stimulates heart disease.
Meat contains high microbial loads, which alongside being gross, they can also contribute to heart disease.
http://jpma.org.pk/full_article_text.ph ... le_id=6039
Meat also contains L-Carnitine, which is produced by the body, but when consumed in the diet, it converts to Trimethylamine-N-Oxide, which is atherogenic. They also have the potential to form Nitrosamines, which are a rather active, potent carcinogen in cigarettes.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23563705
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25271725
The saturated fat is a concern, however not as large as the others, the main issue is how a very high fat meal effects the arteries, with saturated fat having slightly more potent effects, olive oil is indeed better than butter, but not by that much. Such interferes with endothelial cell function, which is crucial to overall health as shown in this article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24250251.
High fat meals damage endothelial function enough to induce and exacerbate angina : http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.asp ... eid=301511
The reason I haven't included cholesterol in here, is because the science isn't fully comprehensive on the matter oddly enough. The Framingham heart study showed no real link to cholesterol, while the Harvard nurses study found that eating one egg a day increased all cause mortality rate as much as smoking 5 cigarettes a day for eating fifteen years, however it is unknown if this happened because of the cholesterol, or because of the saturated fat, altered gut floor, or the phosphatidylcholine which also is converted into our friend Trimethylamine-N-Oxide, and thus clogs the arteries. Lastly, here are some epidemiological studies that show vegan diets coming out on top for heart disease (Note: You will often see Low fat used here in support of veganism, this is because low fat diets are almost always low in meat, and high protein diets are almost always high in meat. Since carbohydrates are almost exclusive to the plant kingdom with the exception of lactose sugar, and dairy, calories from carbohydrate are the best measure of the amount of plants in the diet. You will also see studies showing wait gain as opposed to an actual rise in serum cholesterol levels etc, this is because it is a very effective measure in determining disease risk, and it is much cheaper to test for.)
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/70/3/525s.full
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/92/2/398.abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2989112/ (This ones interesting, a meat based low carb diet increases all cause mortality, where as a plant based low carb diet decreases said risk ^_^)
lower cancer risk
A plant based diet is almost always anti-oxidant rich, which is known to help out with fighting free radicals, which are mutagenic. If you consume a starch based diet, I'd suggest eating a fair amount of berries, to get anti-oxidants, and for the highest anti-oxidant foods (Absurdly high.) try: Hibiscus tea (4 times as many anti-oxidants as traditionally brewed green tea, you can find these in Zinger products, Ie red zinger, wildberry zinger, raspberry zinger. I recommend cold brewing 3-5 packets in a large pitcher with some lemon and date sugar and sipping throughout the day.) purple cabbage, wild blueberries, walnuts, and indian goosebury, which is very cheap provided you have a store that actually sells it. Anti-oxidants should be considered the primary marker of how healthy a food is.
Meat based diets are also rich in mutagenic heterocyclic amines especially in burnt, or grilled foods, which are cancer promoting.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1469314/
Meat based diets also raise Igf-1 is also a concern with those who drink a carton of soy milk a day, or use excessive amounts of a soy based protein powder. Igf-1 is the hormone that determines how tall we grow, however when increased in a transient "spiking" manner, which is what happens with meat, we don't grow taller, but our muscles, and... Cancer cells enjoy a bit of growth.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12433724
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19746296 (dairy is especially awful.)
Lastly, there is an essential amino acid called methionine, found in highest ratios in meat, and isolated soy. Many cancers have been observed to be "methionine dependant", and thus restriction of methionine through a plant-based diet, may help prevent cancer.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6749653
Fight and "reverse" Type 2 diabetes
There is technically no way to reverse Type 2 diabetes, BUT... Neal Bernard has demonstrated a full reversal of diabetic symptoms, although not as drastic as with ornish's heart disease trials.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2677007/
Type two diabetes is also caused by intramyocellular lipids, which is fancy doctor speak for fat within the muscle cell. This essentially prevents insulin from being able to penetrate the muscle cell wall. The body will at first compensate by increasing insulin production, however after a while, it will stop being able to keep up, resulting in dangerous drops in blood sugar. Intramyocellular lipids increase as weight increases, and seeing as meat is correlated very strongly with weight gain, it is crucial to avoid meat, in order to escape diabetes.
These are the big 3, and the studies I have posted is the mere tip of the tip of the iceberg, feel free to type in buzzwords in google, and follow them with "nih", you will get a fair amount of clinical studies without having to navigate pubmed, which is less user friendly.
What a vegan diet cannot do (And other vegan myths)
Cure cancer.
Sadly, there are testimonials, but no reliable, or statistically significant trials show consistant cancer reversals. Sorry

Violate the first law of thermodynamics
While it would be cool if vegan foods were impossible to store fat from, but sadly, even for vegans, a calorie is still a calorie. People like durianrider and freelee have popularized the idea that unlimited sugar will not cause obesity, sadly, if you eat in a hypercaloric manner, you will gain weight, and of discussion. Forever.

Raw Food diets
There is no evidence that suggest cooked foods are inherently unhealthy, the raw foods community is based on very little science. There are short term studies showing raw foods improving health, but in the long term, raw foods can lead to nutrient deficiencies. This is because nutrients like Beta-carotene are made MUCH more bioavailable when cooked. The benefit to raw food diets is no processed foods, but we can get the best of both worlds by consuming healthy cooked foods like rice, sweet potatoes, and legumes, alongside raw fruits and veggies.
The body produces all the B12 we need
False. Yes the body does produce B12, however a huge amount of vegans are B12 deficient. B12 is needed to remove homocysteine from the body, which is a cardiovascular risk, and is also why many vegans still manage to have heart attacks. It is also important for metabolic and neurological function. I suggest a B12 supplement, or fortified food such as tofu plus.
The vegan diet can cure HIV
No.
Meat makes you pee your bones down the toilet
While meateaters do release more calcium in the urine, this is not because of the body compensating for acidity. The reason meateaters have an extremely high calcium secretion in the urine, it is because high dose calcium causes the body to downregulate calcium absorption to maintain homeostasis. Despite this being the consensus for awhile now, we will have to look elsewhere to find out why high protein diets are linked with osteoporosis.
Alright guys, that's it, If you are curious what the literature says on a specific condition, I would be happy to elaborate, or research further to see if/how the vegan diet can effect certain conditions. Alzheimer's and to a lesser extent ALS are examples of conditions which have a risk significantly reduced by a plant based diet.
Enjoy reading, I hope this helps if a debate ever comes to the health aspects of veganism!
