To be vegan means not only not eating any animal flesh, so not eating red meat, white meat and fish, but also no animal-based products. Vegans don’t drink milk, or eat eggs, but also (consume) no products derived from milk and eggs. Consequently, vegans don’t eat cheese. So, in summary, vegetarians don’t eat any animal flesh and vegans don’t eat any animal-based products.

HOST (IN FRENCH): Hallo, esteemed viewers, and welcome to today’s episode of Healthy Living featuring French physician Dr Jérôme Bernard-Pellet, who will discuss the tremendous health benefits of a plant-based diet.

Dr. Bernard-Pellet, who became a vegetarian at age 15 and a vegan at 30,found through his study of nutrition that consuming animal products is detrimental to maintaining good health.
In 2008, Dr. Bernard-Pellet and a group of other French physicians and dieticians founded the non-profit group the Association of Health Professionals for a Responsible Diet (APSARES), which seeks to enhance public health by promoting vegetarian and the vegan lifestyles.

In our interview we asked Dr. Bernard-Pellet how a vegan diet can help guard against many common, chronic medical conditions.

Bernard-Pellet (m): Well, there are very many benefits to eating vegetarian, or better yet, vegan food. The principal benefits are cardio-vascular. If you become vegetarian, you are at less risk of developing a myocardial infarction (heart attack) or comparable diseases such as coronary heart disease.
But the advantages of vegetarianism are not limited to cardiovascular diseases. Veganism is, from a nutritional point of view, extremely powerful in diminishing the risk of developing cancers, in particular colon cancer and prostate cancer.

It is also a very good way to fight obesity. We have found that vegetarians suffer far less often from obesity than omnivores.