People choose to be vegetarian for many reasons, including to protect animal health, lower their carbon footprint, save money, eat the foods they like, or follow religious dietary rules. But one of the main reasons is to stay healthy.
Eating
mostly plants has been shown to help with weight loss, blood pressure, heart
health, inflammation, and the risk of getting type 2 diabetes and cancer.
A new
large-scale study adds to the proof that living this way can help protect
against chronic diseases, especially heart disease and cancer.
Here is a
summary of the study's results, different vegetarian eating styles, and easy
ways to switch to a plant-based diet.
About the study
The research
was released on May 15 in the journal PLOS ONE. It looked at 49 reviews and
meta-analyses that were written between 2000 and 2023. (Some studies' results
are put together in a meta-analysis.)
The academic
community recognizes this broad review, which is also known as a "umbrella
review," as one of the top levels of evidence.
Studies that
were part of the general review looked into the links between vegetarian and
vegan diets and the risk of heart disease and cancer. We didn't include
semi-vegetarian meals like flexitarian and pescatarian.
Describe what a vegetarian or vegan diet is
People who are lacto-ovo vegetarians only eat dairy and eggs and not meat, fowl, or fish. On a lacto-vegetarian diet, you can eat dairy, but not meat, fish, eggs, or fowl. Ovo-vegetarians only eat eggs and refuse to eat any other animal products. On a vegan diet, you can't eat any meat, fowl, fish, eggs, or dairy products.
What was found
The data
showed that vegetarian and vegan diets were linked to much lower body weight,
LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, blood pressure, and fasting blood
glucose levels. They were also linked to much lower levels of inflammation.
A lot lower
chance of heart disease and cancer, especially colon and prostate cancer, was
linked to vegetarian and vegan diets.
Vegetarians
had a much lower chance of dying from heart disease than people who didn't eat
vegetables. There weren't any studies that looked into the risk of death in
vegans.
The new
research suggests that plant-based meals are generally very good for your
health.
However, the
experts warned against making broad suggestions for these kinds of meals.
It's harder
to understand the results because the original studies that were part of the
umbrella review were very different in many ways, such as sample size, study
length, location, cooking methods, diet adherence, and other lifestyle factors.
There needs to be more study.
How veggie meals are good for you
Even so,
plant-based meals may lower the chance of getting sick in many ways.
A vegan or
vegetarian diet that includes a lot of different kinds of whole plant foods is
a great way to get a lot of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals that
fight inflammation and free radicals. Plant foods don't have phytochemicals.
On the other
hand, red and processed meats are not allowed on vegetarian and vegan diets.
Eating a lot of these foods is linked to a higher chance of heart disease and
bladder cancer.
According to
research, vegetarians also eat less processed grains, sweets, snack foods, and
sugary drinks than non-vegetarians.
A
plant-based diet may also be good for your health because it can help you stay
slim, which lowers your risk of heart disease and some cancers.
Going from eating meat to eating vegetables
If you want
to become a vegetarian, start by slowly adding more plant-based foods to your
daily diet.
For lunch
and dinner, for example, eat half of your normal amount of meat or chicken and
half of a plant-based protein food like nuts, chickpea salad, edamame, fried
tofu, or lentil pasta.
Other option
is to skip eating animal products some days a week. Black bean tacos, chickpea
stew, bean pasta, edamame stir-fry, black bean burgers, or bell peppers stuffed
with lentils and brown rice or farro are some new recipes you could try. Over
time, raise the number of veggie days you want to have each week.
Take away
animal foods that you don't eat very often, and you won't miss them as much.
Large amounts of red meat are often the first thing people give up.
As a snack,
eat nuts and fruit, veggies and hummus, whole grain bread with almond butter,
or fruit drinks.
Every week,
try making a new veggie dish. Lots of ideas can be found on the web.
Ensure you take vitamin B12
Vitamin B12
can only be found naturally in animal foods. It is used to make DNA and red
blood cells.
To get B12,
vegans can eat vitamin-fortified foods like non-dairy milk (like soy, almond,
oat, etc.), some meat options (check the ingredient lists), and nutritional
yeast.
