Mortality in British vegetarians

Vegetarian Journal, May-June, 2002 by Reed Mangels

Vegetarians were compared with health-conscious but non-vegetarian subjects in a study from the United Kingdom. More than 8,000 vegetarians were studied over an average of 20 years and found to have low mortality compared with that of the general population. The vegetarians were also compared with nearly 12,000 non-vegetarians who were considered to be health-conscious. Somewhat surprisingly, the non-vegetarians had death rates that were similar to vegetarians, suggesting that factors other than avoidance of meat and fish may influence mortality. These factors include a low prevalence of smoking, a generally high socio-economic status, and possibly a higher intake of fruits and vegetables. Vegetarians did appear to have lower rates of death from heart disease. However, vegetarians had higher rates of death from breast cancer. This may be due to fewer births in the vegetarian women, a factor that would be expected to increase risk of breast cancer. Additional research is needed to determine if there are other dietary factors typical of both vegetarians and health-conscious non-vegetarians that led to low mortality in both groups.

Appleby PN, Key TJ, Thorogood M, et al. 2002. Mortality in British vegetarians. Public Health Nutr 5:29-36.