A vegetarian diet may lead to a longer, healthier life, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers at the Loma Linda University in California surveyed a group of 70,000 participants, discovering that the vegetarians of the group had a 12% lower risk of death compared to meat eaters.
"In the medical community, there is an increasing attention to diet in disease prevention, and a growing appreciation for the role of dietary patterns in managing disease," Michael Orlich, the study's lead author, said in an interview with Healthline.
The study also found that the association between vegetarian diets and lower mortality was greater in men than in women with the study's men facing a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and ischemic heart disease compared to non-vegetarians.
A 2012 Gallup poll found that roughly 5% of Americans claimed to be vegetarians.
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