Vegetarians and vegans do not live longer than those who eat meat: the English research

Moderate consumption would not damage the body

This is the result obtained from the study conducted by the University of Oxford. The analysis – according to a note of sustainable meat – involved the eating habits and the state of health of 60 310 adults, including vegetarians, vegans and meat eaters in the UK in the last 30 years, providing some percentage data on the association between their eating habits and the emergence of diseases. In particular, the study shows that there are no significant differences in mortality between the different diet groups examined: English vegans and vegetarians have a longer life than those who eat meat. As it regards the causes of death, those for pancreatic cancer and respiratory diseases in subjects who consumed meat in moderation were 30-45% lower than what is found among those who consumed five times per week. Compared to the latter group, mortality from pancreatic cancer and cancers of lymphopoietic system it is halved for vegetarians and vegans. The mortality rate for all cancers, however was only about 10% lower in those who do not consume animal food than the other groups.

A separate analysis of vegetarians and vegans, however, revealed no statistically significant difference in mortality for the first six major causes of death among vegans and habitual consumers of meat. The data results are comparable both following the statistical adjustments concerning the weight (BMI), gender, smoking habits, both by comparing the mortality before the age of 75 and 90 years.

Moderation, within a varied diet – observes Sustainable Meat – is therefore the watchword to achieve the perfect nutritional balance. A proper dietary pattern must provide, in fact, the consumption of all foods, without exclusion, because only the balance you can dial the difficult mosaic of nutrients, daily essentials, to stay healthy or to the growth and development .

This thesis also seems supported by the new US guidelines that represent a breakthrough compared to the beliefs of the past. One of them, in fact – stresses Sustainable Meat – was that banning dietary cholesterol, leading to the demonization of certain foods such as eggs and red meat, while it is often found that the sugars are a major cause of its increase. The crux of the document refers to those which are considered the worst threats to the US: total calories, saturated fat, the percentage of sugars and the abuse of salt. No special mention is made instead of red meat, while urges the lean and poultry meat consumption.

It should be pointed out, finally – it concludes Sustainable Meat – that studies and guidelines in question relate to the UK and US populations, where eating habits are different from those of the Italian. As meat consumption in these countries on average higher than ours, for the Italian population it can be assumed that the conclusions are even more reassuring.