We all want to find ways of living longer, and having a vegetarian diet can be a good way of doing just that.
A study by Loma Linda University Health showed that "vegetarian diets are associated with lower risk for all-cause mortality and many cause-specific mortalities." It also found that a pesco-vegetarian diet also helped, even among elderly people.
A pesco-vegetarian diet includes fish but does not include chicken or red meat.
Principal investigator of the study and professor at Loma Linda University Health, Gary Fraser, MBCHB, Ph.D., said that vegetarians in the study had a "12% less risk of death" compared to non-vegetarians. The death risk decreased even more for pesco-vegetarian participants to 18%.
The study included 96,000 people who lived in the U.S. and Canada between 2002 and 2007, and the data came from 88,000 subjects. From the cohort, there were about 12,500 deaths.
"Dietary data were collected using a questionnaire and then categorized into five patterns: non-vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, and vegan," per a summary on Medical Xpress.
"Overall, this is some of the clearest data that American vegetarians are greater protected from premature death than non-vegetarians," Fraser said.
Eating a vegetarian diet isn't just good for your health — it's also good for the planet. A study found that animal agriculture uses about 83% of farmland worldwide and is responsible for 58% of gas pollution from food.
Meanwhile, beef production accounts for 41% of global deforestation. A study in Global Environmental Change showed that 2.1 million hectares of land get cleared each year to expand beef production, which is equal to about 5 million football fields.
This deforestation is harmful because of all the benefits forests provide. According to the World Wildlife Fund, forests play a critical role in human health by purifying the air and water and are the "first line of defense against new infectious diseases."
They also absorb polluting gases that warm the atmosphere and provide food, fuel, and more than 86 million green jobs — benefits that are lost when forests are cut down for animal agriculture.
To help reduce meat consumption, you can explore plant-based food options. Not only will it limit a significant polluting source, but it will also save you money and lower your risk of stroke, cancer, and heart disease.
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