Vegetarians may live longer

Search for California believes 12% lower risk of death for those who do not eat meat

By Denise Mann

HealthDay Reporter

Monday, June 3 (HealthDay new) - vegetarians can live longer than meat lovers, new research suggests.

Scientists in California analyzed the diet of 73,300 seventh-day Adventists and found that vegetarians were less likely to die from any cause or for reasons of specific causes, with the exception of cancer, compared with those who ate meat.

"Some vegetarian diets are associated with reductions in all causes of the [death], but also certain specific causes, including heart, kidney of deaths and endocrine diseases death linked to the disease such as diabetes," said lead researcher Dr. Michael Orlich, specialist in preventive medicine at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda.

The big question is why, and the study was not designed to meet it, noted Orlich.

"Reductions in meat in vegetarian nutrition can be part, but it may be due to larger quantities of plant foods," he added, although it is also possible that vegetarians can lead a healthy life more.

The research was published on 3 June online in JAMA Internal Medicine.

For the study, researchers used a food questionnaire to assess eating habits and looked at men and women who have joined one of the five systems: non-vegetarien; Semi-Vegetarian (eats meat or fish no more than once per week); Pesco-vegetarian (consumes seafood); lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet (including dairy products and eggs) and vegans, who eat no animal products.

During the study of more than five years, 2,570 people dead. But vegetarians were less likely to die from any cause as their carnivorous counterparts, the study showed about 12%. And the edge of survival seems to be stronger among men than women.

In addition, the researchers noted that vegetarians tend to be older and more educated, exercised more and were less likely to drink alcohol or smoke than their carnivorous counterparts.

The study also not identify what type of vegetarian diet provides the greatest benefit of survival because vegetarian diets were compared to non-vegetarian diets only, not both.

The research team now plans to examine patterns of food consumption seen in each vegetarian diet. "We want to see what they eat more or less, and then study the effect on mortality or associated with specific foods," Orlich said. "Are there specific foods that account for the largest portion of this apparent association." Is the lack of meat, the big question, or is the amount of food responsible herbal?"

Nancy Copperman, a dietician at North Shore Long Island Jewish health system in Great Neck, New York, said that the fiber in a vegetarian diet may be what motivates the edge of survival. "It isn't just fruit and vegetables, but all types of fibres (including grains) which really seems to reduce the risk to health," she said. «The new study pushes the literature that we build to the impact that all cereals and fruit and vegetables can have on your health.»