Here is a fresh dynamic and sporty 80 years old man, vegetarian from birth.
It is often said that children can not grow well without meat or other animal foods, Marcel is the living proof that this statement has no foundation.
Prof. Dr. Marcel Em Hebbelinck of biometry and biomechanics laboratory of human Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Faculty of Physics was born on 20.10.1931 in a vegetarian family. He learned a lot about healthy lifestyle from his father who ran a health food store and was a pioneer in promoting natural hygiene.

Marcel has always been a big sports fan. For 17 years he was competitor for the rowing national team and won several medals in national and international regattas.
Marcel, along with a distinguished team of researchers, during his long career conducted numerous studies, research and statistics on large sports vegetarians community , vegetarian children and elderly vegetarians.

Many scientific investigations conducted by him led to the demonstration that a person who follows a well-balanced vegetarian diet can have in life, at work and in the sport at least the same results as all other persons.

He also states that there is no scientific evidence that a vegetarian or vegan sportman or spotwoman can have performances superior to those of another sportman or sportwoman. There is clear evidence however, that a plant-based diet reduces the risk of many diseases of cardiovascular type and can be advocated for the prevention of many degenerative pathologies called modern-type.