Vegan and vegetarian diets may increase stroke risk
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Vegan and vegetarian diets are linked to a lower risk of heart disease but may increase the risk of stroke, experts say.
A study from the University of Oxford found that people who follow the diets have a 22% lower risk of heart disease than meat eaters, while those who eat fish but no meat (pescatarian diet) have a 13% reduced risk.
However, researchers found that vegetarians and vegans were a fifth more likely to suffer a stroke than meat eaters, which they suggest may be partly due to a lack of vitamins.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), included data for 48,188 people with no history of heart disease or stroke at the start of the study.
As well as being asked questions on lifestyle and medical history, on joining the study participants were also quizzed about their diet, allowing the team to classify individuals as meat-eaters, vegetarians, vegans or pescatarians. Some of these questions were asked again in 2010 and participants were re-classified if they had switched diet. As the study involved very few vegans, these individuals were grouped with vegetarians in the analysis.
The team said the increased risk of stroke could be down to lower levels of vitamins among the vegetarians and vegans in the study.
They said further investigation was needed, adding: “Vegetarians and vegans (in the study) have lower circulating levels of several nutrients (eg, vitamin B12, vitamin D, essential amino acids, and long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids), and differences in some of these nutritional factors could contribute to the observed associations.”
