Vegetarians are much less likely to suffer from serious heart disease than their meat- and fish-eating counterparts, British researchers have found.
The new study comes from the University of Oxford, where Dr Francesca Crowe lead author and medical researcher at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford and colleagues analyzed data from 45,000 volunteers from England and Scotland, recruited in the 1990s and tracked until 2009.
Over an average follow-up period of 11.6 years, scientists recorded 1,066 hospital admissions due to heart disease, and 169 deaths. Being vegetarian reduced the risk of death or hospital admission from heart disease by 32 percent, after adjusting for factors such as age, sex, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, education and social background.
The study, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, noted the main reason for the difference was most likely the effect of a low-fat vegetarian diet on cholesterol and blood pressure. Vegetarians had lower levels of harmful cholesterol (LDL) in their blood and reduced systolic, or maximum, blood pressure. In addition they tended to be slimmer, with a lower body mass index, and they were less likely to be diabetic.
Dr Crowe, said: Most of the difference in risk is probably caused by effects on cholesterol and blood pressure, and shows the important role of diet in the prevention of heart disease.
This study is more thought provoking than anything else, says ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom. Fish is always being promoted as a healthy, essential food that should be incorporated into one's diet. But now, this study suggests a vegetarian diet may be best for overall heart health.