'Proven': vegetarians live longer

I was a vegetarian for two and a half years but had to stop for the lack of money in my family at the moment; I'll be one again one day, though.

It does make you feel you good, but humans were designed to eat meat. Our teeth and the acidity of our stomaches is proof enough.

Both eating meat and not eating meat has its benefits; if you are up for building muscle, meat is good for you. If you want a leaner diet, cutting off the meat is good.

If you have the time and talent, eating vegetarian is actually much cheaper than an omnivore diet. We have been vegan for over 30 years and raised six kids that way.

Ogman:
It was more expensive because we had to make more food, so I could eat my food, and they could eat their's. When I support myself, though, it'll be good.

we're obviously omnivores, but to what extent.

American's grossly overindulge in meat and our society pays for it. fatter, more stressed, less healthy overall. It's Ok to eat meat but having a steak every other night is ridiculous.

In the long term man has been eating meat thousands of years before the veggies came to the front and still survive.

In Austrailia Olive Riley the worlds oldest blogger has just passed away at 108 years of age. I should image she ate everything that was put before her

Man cannot live on leaves alone.

The latest ad is " eat five fruits a day" to keep healthy

. What if you are an eskimo?

Linda McCartney wasone of the most prominet people advocating vegetanarism. She also died very young

To say that humans should eat meat because we have the ability to is fallacious. I have personally experienced the body-building issues dealt within a vegetarian lifestyle and at the time supplemented with lean chicken or fish. For the average lifestyle though, meat just isn't necessary; furthermore, I hear the worst excuses from people to not eat more vegetables. Even after explaining how beneficial and relatively easy vegetarianism is and how closely tied to caloric restriction and its respective benefits it is, I still get excuses.

i am vegan, and everyone tells me that i should eat meat because i am on the top of the food chain. but i understand that people hundred of years ago eat meat because there wasnt stores where they went to buy all of the other foods that are out there today. but in todays world i belive there is no purpose of eating meat, you get all the protein from other things, and people go crazy with veil and lamb.
the town i live in is basically a farming town, and once it came up that i was vegan, i had everyone telling me that i am "weird" but i think it is weird that kids in school join F.F.A. and raise animals and then sell them to meat factorys, imagine selling your dog or cat when you know that people are going to kill them and sell there flesh for people to eat, now that is just weird. it isnt that meat taist bad, it is because knowing that it once lived and breathed, and though. there are many fake meats that you can eat if you are having a hard time adapting.

Nothing has been "proven" by this study. Gimme a break.

I totally support vegetarians and vegans in their choices, but I don't need this self-righteous garbage.

If you're personally opposed to meat, good for you. Most people would be if they had to kill their own animals. But I don't approve of them saying this is how humans "should" be.

But on the topic, I agree with earlier posters. Americans eat entirely too much meat. It's absurd amd it hurts our nation and our environment.

Wait, wait, wait. They describe a "moderate" vegetarian as someone who "occasionally ate fish or meat."

Newsflash folks, that's not a vegetarian, that's an omnivore who eats a reasonable (read: small) amount of meat.

It's not news that people whose diets contain smaller amounts of meat generally live longer, such as the Japanese, who primarily eat vegetables, rice and noodles with a bit of fresh fish or meat thrown into meals on occasion. It's no secret that they have more people over 100 years of age than any other country in the world.

Since even this study admits that "the results for moderate vegetarians was not statistically different from those for vegan or strict vegetarian diets," I think it's safe to say that simply not indulging in an unreasonable amount of meat makes you live longer, whether or not you're actually a vegetarian.

And again, that's not really news.

Been trying to tell people this for years now...

If you don't do it for the animals do it for your health!

If I can't have a pepperoni pizza I don't want to live longer. There is such a thing as quality of life too. I don't eat a lot of meat, but I draw the line at pepperoni.

Hmm could be Karma.

If you yawn you are a carnivore not someone who solely eats veggies and the like. So says studies on yawning.

I think that the style of life that they live is good and does attribute to their living longer. I would think that eating more veggies and fruits would be wise for anyone and not over indulge in things that will weigh you down in groggle-ness and weight.

If exercising gives you a boost I'd think eating veggies or fruit would do the same.

Human vegans cannot survive without B12. The only way to get a healthy amount of vegan B12 is from artificial means like vitamin supplements. So to say that it is unnatural for Humans to eat meat is false.

Personally, I don't think there is anything wrong with humans eating meat, it's what our species does. I do however think that the meat industry is monstrous, and if people had to actually watch or participate in what it takes to harvest meat, more people would be vegetarians.

The American beef industry is a joke. The turnover rate in corporate slaughterhouses is so high that most workers are inexperienced and end up contaminating the muscle tissue with fecal matter. There is sh*t in the meat. Which as it turns out is legal, to a certain extent. If you eat American beef, you should only get it from small, local farms.

I feel that the majority of people who aren't vegetarians simply don't eat enough fruits and vegetables. Therefore, the problem is not that some people eat meat but that they don't have a balanced diet. The article even supports this: "Living longer seems not to be exclusively related to eating meat, though, as the results for moderate vegetarians was not statistically different from those for vegan or strict vegetarian diets." If everyone made sure to eat plenty of fruits and veggies along with a moderately healthy diet they would definitely live longer.

a little misleading but nevertheless, an interesting article to get meat eaters to think about it. It just draws attention to vegetarianism. However, people might be misled to think that just because you don't eat meat that you'll be healthy and that's misleading. Good health has more to do with how little fat and protein you get and in what portions you eat non processed carbohydrates like fruits and vegetables. It has been proven that a raw vegan diet with 80% fruits, less then 10% fat and less then 10% protein is the optimum diet for humans. Also we are designed to be frugivores based on the animal closest to our design. One can get the necessary B12 that way from the body producing it and from the dirt on the food that is eaten.

This is news?

I've been vegan for a few years now and the improvements in terms of health and overall well being are astonishing. Not that I was terribly unhealhty prior to becoming vegan, I probably had a diet typical to many other Americans: meat/dairy every day, fast food a couple times a week, and not nearly enough fruit/veggies/fiber. But now, I still eat the same type of things I ate before (made with different ingredients of course) and I wouldn't even really say that my diet is overly "healthy", I eat a lot of vegan baked goods and soy/rice ice cream and things like that. But, my body just seems to function so much better now.

I have been vegetarian for 22 years and, while the health benefits are great, I really do it because I do not want anything put in my body that is produced out of cruelty and suffering, which meat is.

One of the many reasons I went vegetarian. Along with the fact the meat industry is unimaginably cruel. Plus after going vegetarian I felt so much better and I always seem to have a lot more energy then I did before I eliminated meat from my diet.

Let's be clear - the title "proven" is incredibly misleading. All this study has done is correlate vegetarianism and life expectancy, which is certainly interesting itself, but could mean a variety of different things about the vegetarian lifestyle. I'm guessing that's why you put it in quotes ;-D

Despite your assertion, in the third paragraph (which is really a non-sequitur), the studies do not address the underlying causes for the correlation. The reasons why people choose to be vegetarian are irrelevant to a discussion of disregarding the associated benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle. And as for what we were '"designed" to consume, the plethora of meat-digesting bacteria we all house pretty much denies the claim that we weren't "meant" to eat meat.

That being said, it sure is a boon for vegetarians everywhere.

i have been a vegan for around a year and i have never felt better. im from india and there is no one in my family that eats meat and they are for the most part pretty healthy

always good to add facts to what i already know! good job ogmin!

As a vegan I may not live longer, it just seems that way.

Life is short and store bought sucks.On my first point
you are not going to live forever I rather pass awaY AT
80 than to live in a nursing home being abused and forgotten with dementia you know what they are going to feed you?Eat what you want you might be run over by a bus at any time.On the other hand hormone laced meat
will kill you or give you breasts at 10 years old.Do what you want to do but stay away from veal cruel the pits.

The justification for a vegan or vegetarian diet is no different then the justification for an abstinence based education. Actually for arguments sake the vegetarian mantra is worse because abstaining from sex is logically and scientifically a proven deterrent to STD’s while a vegetarian lifestyle- scientifically-is still comparable to a healthy and balanced diet. Ultimately vegetarianism and sexual abstinence are largely supplemented by mawkish corniness; don’t eat meat cause its murder or don’t have sex before marriage because it makes Jesus cry.

if you were to add up all the time of the remainder of all the animals' lives vegetarians have saved, then we'd have lived longer for millions upon millions of years.

sure they live longer, but who cares. i'd rather be dead than never enjoy a steak or a burger.

I hope they're right! I avoid meat for health reasons and I hope it pays off.

Another factor that could be taken into account is that it may not be the food that allows for vegetarians to live longer, it may also be the lifestyle that they live - i.e. vegetarians might be less prone to be chain smokers or alcoholics.

This correlation study reaffirms the results of one of
the History channel shows on why the Neandertaals died
out,and why we as CroMagnon type humans continued.
10,000 years ago there were 2 types of human primates
in Europe competing to prevail.The Neandertaals were
short,stocky,barrel chested primates with huge noses,
and huge craniums shaped like Alien movies.They could
not walk straight,hobbling around like chimps.And they
only ate the meat of vegan mamals.They were easy prey
for wolves and mountain lions.The CroMagnons were
less muscular,but taller and smarter.They knew how to
communicate well with each other so that their species
would learn & adapt.And they could scramble up trees
to escape predators.They were hunters too, but more
omnivorous as gatherers in the northern regions and
farmers in more temperate environs.Because they ate
fruits,vegetables,and grains instead of only meat,they were more fortified as the frugivors rockstar millionaire
referred to.When you look at apes and realize how
powerfuly muscular they are yet never eat meat,you
can understand that it's genes,not meat that makes
this so.So modern CroMagnon humans evolved to
communicate,invent the Internet,and bounce ideas off
one another so that we could all have these wonderful
conversations like the mindsprings we are. Immagine a world as a small room full of mousetraps loaded with ping-pong balls.All it takes is one person communicating an idea whose time has come,and before you know it ,that one ping pong ball( idea) has mindsprung another,which has sprung 2 more ideas,and on and on until everyone is so galvanized & stimulated to respond to by the sheer inspiration which all others ideas have
done to produce their newer,better,stronger ideas that
follow, that the entire room has come alive with every
human bouncing their ideas off others ideas everwhere.
Vegans eat the best food,and thus like the CroMags
we are,have the best ideas,because you are what you eat.All you need do is read how much more substantial
the vegans/balanced diet folks are who've already said
their comments here to understand how well this vegan
correlation study has done to prove the point.Of course
vegans live longer-already about 10,000. years longer.
We ourselves are living proof of that. And AVtime is
quite possibly the best example of that,because his
comments sound more like my college Logic & Syllogisms
instructor's comments. You can tell his brain is well fed
I'm a vegan who eats marine fish substituted for meat.
Fish is brain food. I collect inspirational quotes from
people in all walks of life throughtout History.One man
said once "there are few things in this world which are
more powerful than an idea whose time has come" Some food for thought ,or rather,an idea to springboard from.

If everyone just ate moderate and balanced meals along with exercise then you will be fine. I have always been fine in every doctor check up. I never go preaching eating meat to people but vegans sure feel like preaching their lifestyle. Just accept that people make their own choices and stop feeding us biased reports. I will never give up sushi!!! No freakin way!!
Also accept that other cultures have ate meat forever and they seem to be fine too. Americans are so arrogant and ignorant of cultures. Im american too and i try all cultural foods and wont be disrespectful by saying things like " china eats dogs! oh my god that's wrong!" Educate yourselves and be respectful. Veggies rule too! Im not hating on them.

the healthier food is the fresh and tasty that give you pleasure.
cooked with love, eaten with pleasure
that's the healthier diet ever

hell yeah, i'm a veggie, i better live past 100, i hope!!

but are they happy?

Probably.

I hate it when people pull the "But you're not living if you can't eat steak!" card. I am living. And probably longer than you... *gets hit by a car * Anyway, I'm not a good chef, but when you really think about it, there's endless combinations of plant food, whereas meat has four main animals (cow, pig, chicken, fish) with a few "luxury" items thrown in (caviar, foie gras, Wagyu/Kobe, pheasant, lobster).