Vegetarians eat no meat, fowl, or fish for reasons of health, ethics, or religious convictions. However, ovo-lacto vegetarians do eat milk, milk products, and eggs. Other subgroups are Lacto vegetarians who eat dairy products but not eggs. Vegans eat only foods derived from plants. Fruitarians eat only fruits.
Early people, through the study of fossilized teeth, contained little meat in their diet. Teeth from our earliest ancestors show patterns of wear similar to those of modern vegetarians. As years passed, meat assumed a larger place in the human diet. In other parts of the world such as the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and Mexico, people fill up on grains and vegetables, no meat, although small amounts may be included in the meal. Fish, shellfish, and poultry are the principal sources of animal protein in many cultures.
In the 1960's people became more interested in fitness and in healthful lifestyles, and vegetarianism gradually began to pick up a following. Studies that showed a high rate of heart disease among populations that consume lots of animal fat helped turn the tide as did new research that showed the importance of fiber. Reports of veal cattle raised in pens so small they couldn't even turn around caused some to renounce meat on moral grounds. Others worried about the health hazards of growth-boosting hormones and high doses of antibiotics required for animals raised under such conditions.
Recent studies have shown that adopting a vegetarian diet cannot only reduce the risk of developing heart disease, it may even be able to help reverse the effects of atherosclerosis(blockage in the arteries leading to the heart). In addition, vegetarians maybe at lower risk for a host of other diseases, including hypertension, kidney stones, arthritis, breast, prostate, and colon cancer.
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