BE MORE ‘FLEXIBLE’ TO LIVE LONGER
AT LEAST a third of early deaths could be prevented if everyone became part-time vegetarians, experts say.
Harvard scientists calculated a diet which involves eating only small amounts of meat, fish, poultry and dairy could cut people’s chance of dying in the next year by a third.
Part-time vegetarians, or ‘flexitarians’, who have cut back on meat are on the rise here.
Dr Walter Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard Medical School, has studied the health effects of a similar largely plant-based diet.
Although the results are yet to be published, his preliminary analysis shows this diet slashes the danger of all deaths.
The academic revealed the early results at the Unite to Cure Fourth International Vatican Conference in Vatican City.
According to the Daily Telegraph, he said: ‘We have just been doing some calculations looking at the question of how much could we reduce mortality shifting towards a healthy, more plant-based diet, not necessarily totally vegan, and our estimates are about one third of deaths could be prevented.
‘That’s not even talking about physical activity or not smoking, and that’s all deaths, not just cancer deaths.
‘That’s probably an underestimate as well as that doesn’t take into account the fact that obesity is important and we control for obesity.
‘When we start to look at it we see that healthy diet is related to a lower risk of almost everything that we look at.
‘Perhaps not too surprising because everything in the body is connected by the same underlying processes.’
It is unclear how much meat and dairy someone would need to eat to benefit from the reduced risk of death.
Flexitarians eat meat only occasionally, normally saving it as a treat rather than being vegetarian for ethical reasons. Although vegetarian and vegan diets are heavily promoted as a healthy lifestyle choice, only 2% of us are staying away from meat, according to Bord Bia’s most recent survey. In fact, meat consumption has risen since Ireland came out of recession.