Vegetarian diets and dietary guidelines for chronic disease prevention: How meatless diets conform to current recommendations for healthy eating

It is generally recognized that habitual dietary patterns have profound effects on nutritional status, health, and longevity. Although the exact composition of the ideal diet is not fully known, increasing awareness of the role of diet in health and advances in scientific knowledge have prompted nutrition professionals and policymakers to periodically issue dietary advice and recommendations for the public. Concern about diet initially focused on the problems of hunger and inadequate nutrient intake, and dietary recommendations emphasized animal food sources such as meat and milk products for improving nutritional status. As patterns of disease shifted away from infectious and nutrient-deficiency diseases toward higher rates of chronic disease, dietary advice also changed. Dietary recommendations throughout the world currently promote a more simple vegetarian-like diet derived largely from plant food sources as being conducive to health.