Dear Editor,
With Republican Congress bent on depriving 22 million Americans of
medical insurance, this is a great time to provide our own, totally free
and totally effective health insurance – a plant-based diet.
A study with 131,000 participants, in last year’s Internal Medicine,
found that consumption of animal protein is associated with higher risk
of death. A couple dozen other massive studies in the past four decades
had similar findings. None reached opposite conclusions.
According to National Institutes of Health, 1.4 million, or 68%, of
identified U.S. deaths are attributed to heart disease, stroke, cancer,
and diabetes, linked conclusively with consumption of animal products.
Cost of medical care was estimated by National Institutes of Health at 3
trillion dollars in 2014, or $24,000 per household, and rising at 6.5%
annually – nearly four times the rate of inflation. Incredibly, this
amount rivals our national budget and represents 17.5% of our gross
domestic product. Even so, it does not include the costs of lost
productivity, disability, and premature death.
We have little control over the national cost of medical care. But, each
of us has a great deal of control over our household’s $24,000 share
every time we visit the grocery store.
Sincerely,
Ed Laren
