Wuhan City previously conducted health check-ups on 30 monks from Guiyuan Temple and Tiefo Temple, and the results were surprising: nearly half of them had fatty liver! Aren't vegetarians supposed to be very healthy? How could strict vegan monks develop fatty liver? What is the reason for this?
Excessive consumption of refined staple foods like white rice and flour.
Without meat dishes, it's hard to feel full, so strict vegetarians tend to eat more staple foods. The staple foods nowadays are mainly refined white rice and flour. During processing, these ingredients lose 70% to 90% of their vitamins and minerals, and 90% of their dietary fiber.
Food made from refined white rice and flour enters the digestive system. Without the participation of dietary fiber, it is quickly pushed from the stomach to the intestines, rapidly digested into glucose, absorbed into the blood, and becomes blood sugar. At this point, blood sugar levels rise sharply, and the pancreas secretes a large amount of insulin into the blood.
The function of insulin is to lower blood sugar, and it does this in three ways: first, converting blood sugar into energy for use and consumption by the body's tissue cells; second, converting blood sugar into liver glycogen and muscle glycogen; and third, converting blood sugar into lipids.
Clearly, the monks today have insufficient physical activity, so glycogen in the muscles and liver is not consumed. However, glycogen storage is not unlimited, so more blood sugar is converted into lipids (including fats, phospholipids, and sterols).
It should be noted that 80% to 90% of the body's cholesterol is synthesized in the liver, and insulin is the main factor promoting the liver's synthesis of cholesterol. Eating too much refined white rice and flour causes a rapid rise in blood sugar levels, which stimulates the pancreas to produce more insulin. Insulin not only allows excess blood sugar to be converted into fat but also promotes the liver to produce more cholesterol, which is another factor contributing to the development of fatty liver.
Fat transport in the body relies on protein.
The liver is the main site for lipid metabolism in the body. If the body's protein intake is insufficient, fat transport will be hindered, and fat is more likely to accumulate in the liver.
Strict vegetarians are prone to protein deficiency, especially a lack of high-quality protein (which is abundant in fish, meat, eggs, and dairy from non-vegetarian sources and has a high absorption and utilization rate in the body). If they also do not consume enough soy products, their protein intake will be severely insufficient, which is another important factor contributing to the development of fatty liver.
The monks' lifestyle, which is predominantly "sedentary," can easily lead to fat accumulation.
The latest research has found that exercise can cause a redistribution of body fat. Maintaining strength training at a moderate to high intensity will gradually lead the body to store and burn visceral fat in skeletal muscle. In contrast, the monks' lifestyle is mainly "sedentary," with insufficient exercise. Maintaining this lifestyle for a long time can easily lead to fat accumulation. Compared to people who exercise regularly, their fat metabolism rate is lower, burning about 30g less fat per day.