Vegetarians and even vegans now have something to wear about. A new study has found out that those following meat-free diets, which are usually associated with improved cardiovascular health, are likelier to possess an increased risk of stroke than those who actually consume meat.
It’s not really that concerning yet as more conclusive evidence is still being looked for. The paper, published in the BMJ, saw only a tiny rose in the risk of stroke. Also, it confirmed the observations of other studies which found out that non-meat eaters are less prone to heart diseases.
“It’s important to realize that we’ve seen outcomes here,” told study co-author Tammy Tong, a nutritional epidemiologist in the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Population Health. “The reduced risk of heart disease, in fact, might just be better than the higher risk of stroke.”
Anyway, both the effects were minute. Based on the data collected, the researchers observed that vegetarian diets—compared to those that have meat—come with 10 fewer cases of heart disease per 1,000 people over 10 years, but also 3 more strokes in the same sample size.
“The lower probability of heart disease occurring is due to, or rather at least partly due to the reduced weight, lower BP, lower blood cholesterol and lower rates of diabetes can be due to the nonexistence of meat or fully vegetarian diets,” explained head researcher Tammy Tong, a nutritional epidemiologist in the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford.
Tong, however, warned that this research can’t prove exactly that not consuming meat lowers the risk for heart disease or increases the risk for stroke. However, he concluded that there is most definitely some relation.
Either way, don’t be too concerned, vegetarians, vegans, meat-eaters or even eggetarians. You only live once. YOLO!
