Vegetarians have 32% lower heart disease risk, and the average vegan’s cholesterol levels are 160mg/dl. — Click to Tweet.
Recently a British study confirmed what many other studies have found in the last few decades: switching to a vegetarian diet gives a drastic decrease in heart disease risk.
Vegetarians have 32% lower risk of heart disease, and this number is drawn from a study of over 44,561 people.
The Nitty Gritty Details
The study was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which involved people enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Oxford Study.
The study began in 1993 in England and Scotland. Researchers were seeking to compare a range of diets and their overall health effects, and it happened that 34% of the participants were vegetarians.
Several independent doctors have confirmed that the study was rigorously conducted, and that the results have outside confirmation. The bottom line is that vegetarians are less likely to have heart disease (and also cancer).
So Why Does It Work Better?
One of the main reasons is that almost all plant-based foods are extremely low in saturated fat, which is a dominant risk factor in heart disease. Almost all animal foods, however, are high in saturated fats.
Also, plant foods are great sources of soluble fiber, unsaturated fats, and phytochemicals. In fact, plant foods are pretty much the only sources of these great nutrients! Each of them helps lower cholesterol in our bodies.
What’s more interesting is that vegetarians can lower their heart disease risk further by adding more omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12 to their diet.
Some doctors, such as Dr. William Abraham of Ohio State University, actually put their patients on vegetarians diet as a prescription. And the results have been so encouraging that he’s considering doing it as a preventative treatment.
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