Could The Vegetarian Diet Reduce Risk Of Heart Disease?

There are lots of reasons that you might choose to be a vegetarian. Some people are vegetarians for the dietary benefits, while others don’t eat meat or animal products due to the ethical considerations. But now it seems that whichever reason you choose there’s no doubt that this diet is good for you: a new study has shown that being vegetarian reduces your heart disease risk by around a third.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford, found that the risk of hospitalisation or death from heart disease is 32 percent lower in people who are vegetarians than those who eat meat and fish.

Heart disease is the largest cause of death in the UK, responsible for over 65,000 deaths every year. The new findings show that being a vegetarian could dramatically reduce your chances of developing the condition. The study shows how important diet is to the prevention of heart disease. It is thought that as vegetarians eat generally less food which affects cholesterol and high blood-pressure they are less prone to developing cardiovascular problems.

This study was the largest of its kind ever conducted in the UK. The researchers looked at around 45,000 volunteers from England and Scotland who joined the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. 34 percent of the people in the study identified themselves as vegetarians.

After accounting for factors such as smoking, regular exercise, educational level and socioeconomic background, the team was able to conclude that being vegetarian made subjects 32 percent less likely to develop heart disease.

The research team found that vegetarians had lower blood pressures and cholesterol levels than non-vegetarians. They concluded that this is the likely reason that the risk of heart disease is so reduced when on this diet.