Vegetarians May Be Less Likely To Be Hospitalized Or Die From Heart Disease.

Bloomberg News (1/31, Gerlin) reports that vegetarians may be "32 percent less likely to be hospitalized or die from heart disease than people who ate meat and fish," according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Investigators "followed almost 45,000 adults, one-third of them vegetarians, for an average of 11 1/2 years."

        The Huffington Post (1/30) reports participants "had their blood pressure taken and blood samples drawn to measure cholesterol levels for the study." The investigators found, "after taking into account outside factors like age, exercise, socioeconomic background, smoking status, alcohol consumption and education level...that vegetarians had a 32 percent lower risk of being hospitalized or dying from heart disease over the study period." Even after "taking body mass index into account, they still had a 28 percent lower risk of developing heart disease than their meat-eating peers, the researchers found."

        The BBC News (1/31, Gallagher) website reports, "The results showed the vegetarians had lower blood pressure, lower levels of 'bad' cholesterol and were more likely to have a healthy weight."

        AFP-Relaxnews (1/31) says researchers also found that "vegetarians in the study typically had a lower weight-to-height ratio and a reduced risk of developing diabetes."

        The Daily Telegraph (UK) (1/31, Collins, 871K) reports, "Dr Francesca Crowe of Oxford University, who led the study with her colleague Prof Tim Key, said the benefits of a vegetarian diet include low levels of saturated fats, high levels of polyunsaturated fats and a low salt intake, but these are also achievable with a healthy, non-vegetarian diet." Also covering the story are HealthDay (1/31) and theDaily Mail (UK) (1/31, Hope).