Vegetarians cut heart disease risk

http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/2013/01/31/16791541-vegetarians-cut-heart-disease-risk?lite

Jan. 31, 2013
By Maggie Fox, Senior Writer, NBC News

Vegetarians are nearly a third less likely than meat-eaters to die or be hospitalized from heart disease, British researchers report this week in another study supporting a plant-based diet.

Vegetarians have lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, weigh less and are less likely to have diabetes, as well, the researchers report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study, which covers 45,000 people over an average of 11 years from the 1990s through 2009, shows that vegetarians were 28 percent less likely to develop heart disease over that time.

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The researchers said they accounted for age, smoking, drinking, exercise, educational level and socioeconomic background in making their calculations.

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