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* National Vegetarian Week will showcase the benefits of plant-based diets and encourage Australians to lower their meat intake..

* National Vegetarian Week is an initiative of the Australian Vegetarian Society, made possible thanks to the support of Sanitarium Health Food Company.

* According to Newspoll research, four out of 10 adults are now eating more vegetarian meals, with the switch in foods providing a welcome boost to their overall health (Newspoll Survey, “Attitudes towards vegetarian meals”, 23-25 May 2008)

* Numerous scientific studies have shown that people who eat a healthy vegetarian diet are less likely to be obese or develop heart disease, Type II Diabetes and some forms of cancer.

* In just under five years the total dietary emissions from the meat of a family of four on the CSIRO Total Wellbeing diet will exceed those from building and running a large 4WD.

* Livestock activity such as agriculture involving cattle, chickens, pigs and sheep, is responsible for more than a third of all human-produced methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide.

* While methane breaks down in less than 20 years, CO2 stays around for 100 years or more. Cutting CO2 emissions will have no effect on global warming for decades, but reducing methane will have an immediate effect.

More information at: http://www.vegetarianweek.com.au/BenefitsofaVegetarianDiet/