Today, two of the biggest threats to human health are heart disease and hypertension. These are often associated with high cholesterol. Only animals produce cholesterol. We, being animals, produce as much cholesterol as we need. The excess is largely obtained from animal foods in the diet.

Since the early 1970s, study after study after study has implicated milk and dairy products as a cause of heart disease and clogged arteries. Dr Caldwell Esselstyn from the Cleveland Clinic (the top-rated heart clinic in the US) makes people ‘heart attack proof’ by putting them on a whole plant-based diet (American Journal of Cardiology, August 99).

Dr Dean Ornish of the University of California at San Francisco has demonstrated that artery blockages can be reversed with a low-fat vegetarian diet instead of expensive and invasive surgeries. He is the author of the best-seller ‘Reversing Heart Disease’.

Vegans also have lower blood pressure than meat-eaters. High blood pressure can contribute to heart disease, strokes and kidney failure. Potassium, found in plants, tends to lower cholesterol.