While most people are raving about diets such as the Paleo diet and the Mediterranean diet, researchers say the best way to extend your lifestyle is by following this diet–a vegetarian one.
The research, which was conducted by researchers from the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, says that people who adhere to a vegetarian diet live 20 percent longer than those who eat meat–and it doesn’t matter how much they weigh.
The research was co-authored by Sam Soret, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate dean at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health.
“The study sample is heterogeneous and our data is rich,” says Soret. “We analyzed more than 73,000 participants. The level of detail we have on food consumption and health outcomes at the individual level makes these findings unprecedented.”
The Research
Soret, who published his findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, initially drew his data from the Adventist Health Study, a study which looked at the health of 96,000 Seventh-day Adventists from the United States and Canada. The participants, who were described as being “ethnically diverse,” ate a range of different diets, ranging for omnivorous diets to strict vegetarian diets. Soret had a hunch that vegetarian diets would lead to fewer greenhouse gas emissions–as well as lead to other improved health markers.
Looking at the data, he looked at how long everyone lived and how much greenhouse gas was produced as a result of their diets. There, he found a link: Those who ate a vegetarian diet produced the fewest emissions.
In addition, Soret found that those who did not eat a vegetarian diet–a diet shared by most of the American population–were 20 percent more likely to die sooner from any combination of diseases.
“Throughout history, forced either by necessity or choice, large segments of the world’s population have thrived on plant-based diets,” says Joan Sabate, M.D., Dr. P.H., a nutrition professor at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, who also co-authored the study. “To our knowledge no studies have yet used a single non-simulated data set to independently assess the climate change mitigation potential and actual health outcomes for the same dietary patterns.”
Although it is the first study to look at how the diets of living populations affect the emissions of greenhouse gas, it serves an even bigger purpose: Showing how diets affect our longevity. Unequivocally, the evidence shows that vegetarian diets are the way to go if we want to live longer, healthier, more fulfilling lives.
So are vegetarian diets the way to go?
While Soret isn’t so quick to recommend it, he does emphasize that plant-based diets seem to be better for humans overall. And if you too want to live a longer, healthier life, perhaps you should make the choice too to “go veg.”
Readers: Would you go vegetarian to live longer? Why or why not?
Sources:
Study: Eating a Vegetarian Diet Reduces Greenhouse Emissions, Helps People Live Longer – ScienceDaily.com
Vegetarianism Extends Lifespan, Cuts Greenhouse Emissions, Study Finds – NatureWorldNews.com
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