On Thu, 26 Jul 2012 09:48:33 -0400, Walter Bushell
wrote:

[...]
Despite the scientific evidence that 75% of patients with CAD had
LDL-cholesterol levels *below* the current guidelines of the National
Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) of 130 milligrams (50% had
LDL-cholesterol levels below 100 milligrams!).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...?dopt=Abstract

And why do most people eat vegetarian and vegan diets in the first
place? Because they think fat and cholesterol (per se) are bad for
them, to avoid CAD, etc.

Do you have any sources sugggesting this is why most people are
vegetarian/vegan?

Not really. It's just a personal hunch based on knowing many
vegetarians/vegans.

Is your sample sized sufficiently random and large enough? You're
interested in nutrition so perhaps that produces sampling errors.

It's entirely possible, Walter. But I know (and have known) an awful
lot of vegetarians and vegans.

And politics, etc., aside, one of the first things a vegetarian or
vegan will usually say to me when they find out that I eat lots of
meat is: "Aren't you worried about having a heart attack?"

And because I'm not a proselytizer, I don't even bother trying to
convince them to eat meat, etc., I just make it clear to them that I
do, and will continue to do so. If they do ask me why, I point out the
science supporting *my* decision.

Besides the so-called ethical, religious or political reasons for not
wanting to eat animal flesh, eggs, fish, milk, shellfish, cheese,
etc., what other reason could there be to want to deprive oneself of
some the most nutritious and tasty foods on the planet? Foods that
human beings have evolved to eat for millions of years.

There friends are vegans and they want to maintain and deepen
friendships?

Maybe. But I don't have any friends that would want me to deprive
myself of tasty and nutritious foods. In other words, I don't have any
dumb, fascist friends.

They are self destructive?

Not intentionally, anyway.

They have an aversion to eating in general?

If that were true, they'd probably eat only a little bit of
everything, and wouldn't deprive themselves of some of the tastiest
and most nutritious kinds of food.

--
Dogman

"I have approximate answers and possible beliefs in different degrees of certainty
about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything" - Richard Feynman