Perspectives in Jaina Philosophy and Culture

Author(s): Satish Jain, Kamalchand Sogani
Publisher: Ahimsa International

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scientists are appealing to the people to stop eating animal food and also smoking for prevention of cancer
The role of dietary fibre in the prevention of coronary artery diseases, stroke, chronic constipation, piles, ulcerative colitis, heart attacks, paralysis, kidney failure, skin diseases, gall stone formation, etc has been recognised recently. The rising trends of these diseases in the western countries have been considered to be due to low dietary fibre intake as a result of animal food intake. In the countries having more of vegetarian dietary habit the incidence of these diseases has been considerably low
There are two main categories of fat in the diet-the triglycerides and cholesterol Both are found in blood High levels of cholesterol lead to coronary heart disease A high intake of triglycerides can raise blood cholesterol But triglycerides are of two types-saturated and unsaturated-and it seems that whereas the saturated fats do indeed raise blood cholesteroel, unsaturated fats reduce the blood cholesterol In general, the fats of animals are highly saturated and increase blood cholesterol, while oils of plants tend to be unsaturated and are safe for consumption
The epidemiological surveys have revealed that the vegetarians have lower levels of congulation factors II and VII which protect them against coronary heart disease and stroke
Dietary fibre is a significant part of vegetarian diet Doctors are beginning to realise that it has a role to play in the prevention of diseases Long transit times resulting from low fibre diets allow toxions produced by the bacteria in the gut to remain in contact with gut wall for longer time, giving rise to diverticular diseases as well as cancer of large intestine and rectum and a whole host of other problems
What is dietary fibre? The carbohydrates, starches and sugars almost provide half of the energy Carbohydrates are the major constituents of plant food If the carbohydrates are eaten as they grow, then plant cell walls are also must to be eaten-which for the most part are indigestable and were called as "roughage", but are now called as 'dietary fibre' There is increasing evidence that fibre is positively beneficial for the human body Lack of it is now considered to be the reason for many disorders of the gut
A large number of meat borne diseases like cysticerosis, hydatid cysts, trichnosis etc are some of the diseases which do not have any specific treatment Their counter-part in the vegetarian diet, that is cysticercosis, can be checked by washing of vegetables but those cannot be removed from the meat by the conventional cooking
Papers published in many medical journals have now been reporting that the aggression and violence are associated with the influence of human diet It has
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