More strength, more endurance.

Interest in the vegetarian diet is at an all-time high. Reasons include a renewed emphasis on animal rights and environmental concerns. But probably the most important explanation is the large number of government-sponsored diet-health reports that have urged Americans to consume less meat and dairy products, and more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. At the same time, researchers worldwide have published scientific papers on the many health benefits for vegetarians.

We are also in the midst of the largest fitness boom this country has ever seen. Many people find that they can exercise and perform at a higher level when they're on a vegetarian diet and emphasize eating high-carbohydrate foods, such as pasta, rice, cereals, and potatoes.

What many people don't realize, however, is that the belief that a vegetarian diet enhances performance was also popular in the United States during the health reform movement of the mid-1800s.

Endurance feats. The relationship between the vegetarian diet and athletic performance has a long and colorful history. The ancient Greek athletes were heavy meat eaters. For example, Milo of Crotona, the legendary Greek wrestler, who never once was brought to his knees in more than five Olympiads (532-516 B.C.), supposedly consumed gargantuan amounts of meat. The Greek concept of the importance of meat for performance is still a common belief among many coaches and strength athletes today.

During the mid-1800s Dr. Justus von Liebig, the preeminent physiological chemist of his time, promoted the idea that energy for all muscular movement came from protein. Most heavy laborers and athletes ate diets high in protein, and this was accepted by nutritionists as a physical necessity. Since the typical meatless diet was thought to contain insufficient quantities of protein, vegetarians were considered incapable of prolonged exercise.

At the same time Dr. von Liebig was promoting these "scientific views," a major health reform movement was gaining headway. it was led by such reformers as Sylvester Graham and William Alcott, who promoted a plant-based diet. Their efforts resulted in the formation of the American Vegetarian Society in 1850.

Concerns of health reformers during the mid-1800s were twofold-that the killing and eating of animals "contaminated and brutalized the human soul," and that health and fitness were superior in vegetarians.

Spirited verbal battles between vegetarian health reformers and other scientists who advocated a meat-based diet continued until the turn of the century.

To aid their cause, vegetarians of the mid- to late-1800s sought to prove, through excellence in endurance exercise, the superiority of a plant-based diet. In the 1890s the London Vegetarian Society formed an athletic and cycling club that did amazingly well, outperforming its carnivorous competitors.

Dr. J, C. Whorton, a medical health historian from the University of Washington in Seattle, writes: "In 1896, the aptly named James Parsley led the Vegetarian Cycling Club to easy victory over two regular clubs. A week later, he won the most prestigious hillclimbing race in England, breaking the hill record by nearly a minute. Other members of the club also turned in remarkable performances. Their competitors were having to eat crow with their beef" (Crusaders for Fitness [Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 19821).

American vegetarian cyclists also demonstrated their abilities. Will Brown, who in the 1890s switched to a vegetarian diet for health reasons, went on to thrash all records for the 2,000-mile bicycle race. Margarita Gast established a women's record for 1,000 miles on a vegetarian diet. Other vegetarian athletes joined in the foray.

Long-distance-walking races were also very popular in the 1890s, and were regarded then as the ultimate test of endurance. In the 1893 race from Berlin to Vienna, the first two competitors to cover the 372-mile course were vegetarians. A 100-K race held several years later in Germany also attracted much attention, with 11 of the first 14 finishers being vegetarian. In 1912 the vegetarian Kolehmainen became one of the first men to complete the marathon in less than two minutes and 30 seconds. Other records were set by vegetarian swimmers, tennis players, and other athletes, including the West Ham Vegetarian Society's undefeated tug-of-war team.

Early research. A few simple early studies attempted to measure the ability of vegetarian athletes. A Belgian researcher carried out tests in 1904 on 25 students divided into vegetarian and meat-eating groups. For each he determined the endurance of the forearm muscles by measuring the maximum number of times each student could lift a weight on a pulley by squeezing a handle. The mean number of contractions for vegetarians was 69; for meat eaters it was 38.

Irving Fisher of Yale University in 1906 reported on his study involving Yale athletes trained on a full flesh diet, athletes who abstained from meat, and sedentary vegetarians (nurses and physicians from the Battle Creek Sanitarium). Each was tested to determine the maximum length of time that the arms could be held out horizontally. The maximum number of deep knee bends and leg raises was also measured. The final tally for all tests was heavily in favor of the vegetarians.

In the horizontal arm hold test, only two of the 15 meat eaters were able to keep their arms held out more than 15 minutes, and none achieved a half hour. Of the vegetarians, however, 22 of 32 exceeded 15 minutes, 15 broke the 30-minute mark, nine broke 60 minutes, and one surpassed three hours.

The Tarahumara Indians. Other researchers have focused on the abilities of primitive peoples who eat a vegetarian diet. The Tarahumara indians, a Uto-Aztecan tribe, have been studied extensively. The tribe lives in the rugged Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains in the north central state of Chihuahua, Mexico, and is renown for extraordinary physical fitness and endurance as long-distance runners. Unusual stamina has characterized the Tarahumara Indians from the earliest recorded descriptions. It's best demonstrated in their popular sport called raripuri, in which participants race 150 to 300 kilometers kicking a wooden ball.

Their simple, near-vegetarian diet, composed primarily of corn and beans (90 percent of total calories), provides them with 75 to 80 percent of total calories in the form of carbohydrates. This appears to be one factor explaining their exceptional ability with endurance exercise.

Their intake of all amino acids, minerals, and vitamins has been found to exceed or approximate World Health Organization recommendations. Their diet has also given them unusually good health. Tarahumara Indian males have been measured to have very little body fat, with their serum cholesterol level averaging only 136 mg./dl., much lower than the 210 mg./dl. found in U.S. males.

A scientific rationale. Today we know that the superior performance of some of the early vegetarian athletes is probably best explained not only by their motivation to demonstrate excellence, but also by their higher carbohydrate intake. Carbohydrates are present in large quantities in grains, potatoes, dried fruit, and other plant foods, but are virtually nonexistent in meat (see food chart).

Research from both Europe and the United States has supported the concept that carbohydrates promote endurance performance in such activities as running, swimming, and cycling. Athletes who use high amounts of carbohydrates have greater levels of muscle glycogen. This allows them to exercise up to three times longer before exhaustion (see graph). For this reason, most endurance athletes today carbohydrate-load during hard training and before competitive events. Vegetarian athletes have an advantage because they are carbohydrate-loaded all of the time, allowing them to maximize both their training efforts and God-given talents.

David C Nieman, D.H.Sc., M.P.H., F.A.C.S.M., is in the Department of Health, Leisure, and Science at Appalachian State Univerity, Boone, North Carolina.