Dietary Supplements, Nutrition

Vegetarian nutrition is the set of health-related challenges and advantages of vegetarian diets. more...

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Evidence suggests that vegetarians are generally healthier and live longer than non-vegetarians. They have lower rates of coronary heart disease, obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer. Vegetarian diets tend to be rich in carbohydrates, omega-6 fatty acids, dietary fibre, carotenoids, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium and magnesium. They are generally low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein.

However, vegetarian diets can sometimes be relatively low in protein, iron, zinc, vitamin B₁₂, calcium and other nutrients. Nonetheless, well-planned vegetarian and vegan diets can meet all these nutrient requirements and are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence.

Benefits of a vegetarian diet

Vegetarian diets are usually rich in carbohydrates, omega-6 fatty acids, dietary fibre, carotenoids, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium and magnesium. They contain lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein.

Evidence suggests that the health of vegetarians compares favourably with that of non-vegetarians. British vegetarians have lower death rates than non-vegetarians, although this may be due to non-dietary lifestyle factors, such as a low prevalence of smoking and the generally high socio-economic status of vegetarians, or to aspects of the diet other than the avoidance of meat and fish. Most notably, a vegetarian diet avoids the multitude of negative health effects of red meat.

One review found that mortality from coronary heart disease was 24% lower in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians. Studies of cancer have shown a clear link between large amounts of red meat and cancer. There is evidence that vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index, lower risk of obesity, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower homocysteine levels,, lower risk of high blood pressure, and lower risk of type 2 diabetes. One large prospective study found that non-meat-eaters had only half the risk of meat eaters of requiring an emergency appendectomy.

Read more at Wikipedia.org