I wasn’t sure if this belongs under “show me the science”, but since it is a research paper, and since there’s no ‘Teach me your Religion’ category, this is where it’s going. This was produced by Adventists themselves – note the authors – so caveat mTOR and all that. I just thought it was interesting that they are not hiding their role in the influencing the vegetarian bias in global diet recommendations. Of course, there’s a positive spin on it. Sort of, “Well, why shouldn’t we be proud of what we’ve accomplished? We’ve helped so many people.”
Which is why it’s all so disturbing. At this point, a good portion of people would probably agree and not even blink at the fact that it was all religiously motivated and not science based. At one point the authors talk about establishing the first dietetics association, and that Adventists made up the majority of authors and reviewers of the 1988 position paper of the ADA that finally stated and established once and for all (the ADA just rubber-stamps this position every 4-5 years) that vegetarian diets are superior and preferable to meat eating. If you ever wondered why dietitians seem to be so anti-meat as a body, and almost religious in their fervor, look no further than the fact that the SDA church has been essentially the source of their training.
I still feel that it would be shocking to most people to learn the truth about how vegetarianism has been promoted all over the world, not as a grass-roots effort or science-based initiative, but as a part of a Church’s mission to spread the gospel of “pure” plant-based diets. It’s good that this info is now freely available.