This Is The Diet You Should Follow If You Want To Live Longer
[Photo: Getty]
Vegans are often accused of being smug about their choice to cut all products sourced from animals from their diet. But, according to new research, it seems they may actually have something to be smug about.
A study by scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital found that vegans had lower death rates. Researchers looked at more than 130,000 people’s health and diet records over the course of 30 years, The Independent reports.
Results showed that for every three per cent increase in plant protein calories in a person’s diet, their death risk dropped by a whopping 10% and their risk of dying from heart disease decreased by 12%.
Increasing your intake of animal protein had the opposite effect, with an increase of 10% leading to two per cent higher death risk and an eight per cent higher chance of dying from heart disease.
[Photo: Getty]
Ditching eggs for plant protein was found to cut your risk of dying by almost a fifth and giving up unprocessed red meat saw a decrease of 12%.
Unsurprisingly, people with a higher death risk also exhibited other unhealthy behaviours like drinking and smoking and were more likely to be obese.
However, the results may be skewed by the average differences in age and social class between vegans and non-vegans.
Lead scientist Dr Mingyang Song said: “Our findings suggest people should consider eating more plant proteins than animal proteins, and when they do choose among sources of animal protein, fish and chicken are probably better choices.”
Pass the broccoli, someone?
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