United States: The latest research revealed that switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet may really add to the number of disease-free years one will live.
In other words, getting oneself away from meat is a to prevention of cancer, heart disease, and early death, according to researchers conducted an extensive study.
How was the study conducted?
After a comprehensive review of nearly 50 studies on such diets that were published between 2000 and 2023, a clear pattern emerged: Both share the same benefits in terms of lower occurrence of both cancer and heart disease (which) is associated with blocked arteries.
For instance, when it came to the dietary intake of prostate cancer and gastrointestinal cancers like colon cancer, the chances of these cancers were reduced considerably. The risk of death due to cardiovascular complications was also lower amongst the vegetarian diet users.
The study is published on Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.
More importantly, plant-based diets can decrease the risk of being obese, inflammation, and the presence of “bad” low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
Experts comments
Matthew Landry, the study co-author and an assistant professor of population health and disease prevention at the University of California, Irvine, said, “This research shows, in general, that a plant-based diet can be beneficial, and taking small steps in that direction can make a difference,” as NBC News reported.
He added, “You don’t have to go completely vegan to see some of these benefits,” and “Even reducing a day or two per week of animal-based consumption can have benefits over time.”
However, according to Dr. Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said that it is unlike that everyone who are following a plant-based diet eats the same healthy foods.
Willett, who was not part of the study, said, “A vegetarian diet could be based primarily on refined starches and sugar, which we see to be the worst dietary pattern,” as US News reported.
Per him a dietary pattern of healthy full plant food which contains chiefly whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, soy and non-hydrogenated plant oils should be followed.
Besides removing obesity, the benefits are more numerous, as per Landry, who said, “Some of it is independent of weight. Even when weight is maintained or doesn’t change, we still see reductions in some of these other clinical health outcomes, especially when it relates to cardiovascular disease.”