Vegetarian diet could help lower diabetes risk

Thu, 14 Apr 2011
Scientists in the United States have found that a vegetarian diet could substantially lower the risk of conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke compared to those people who eat meat. The research revealed that vegetarians had a 36 per cent lower risk of metabolic syndrome, a potential precursor to these conditions, than that of non-vegetarians .

The team from Loma Linda University, whose work is published in the journal Diabetes Care, said their work showed vegetarians could be at a reduced risk of developing these conditions.

They reviewed over 700 adults from a long-term study into the health and lifestyle of nearly 1,000 Seventh-day Adventist Christians, finding that when factors such as age, race, gender, physical activity, calories consumption, smoking and alcohol intake were taken into account, although 25 per cent of vegetarians had metabolic syndrome, this increases to 37 per cent for semi-vegetarians and 39 per cent for non-vegetarians.

Even though the vegetarians on the study were slightly older, they exhibited lower glucose levels, triglycerides, blood pressure, waist circumference and body mass index (BMI). Semi-vegetarians, on the other hand, also showed substantially lower BMI and waist circumference as compared with the patients who ate meat more regularly.

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