A study published in the British Medical Journal reveals that people who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet increase the risk of having strokes. On the other hand, their risk of developing heart disease tends to be lower.
20% more stroke
The files of 48,000 people were studied over an 18-year period by researchers at the University of Oxford. These people had no history of stroke or heart disease. Among them were pescatarians (7506 people), vegetarians and vegans (16,254 people) and carnivores (24,428 people). Obviously, their physical condition, smoking and physical activity were taken into account.
People on plant-based and pescatarian diets saw their risk of developing heart disease drop by 22% and 13%, respectively. In contrast, stroke was 20% higher in these types of diets compared to carnivores. This could be explained by a lack of vitamin B12 but more studies must be carried out to confirm this theory.
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