Being a vegetarian can cut your risk of cancer by a half, claim scientists

[ElenorRigby]

"More than 61,000 people aged between 20 and 89, roughly half of whom were vegetarian, were followed for more than 12 years in the British arm of the research which is supported by Cancer Research UK."
"vegetarians were 12 per cent less likely to contract cancer than their meat eating counterparts"
"For some cancers like leukaemia, stomach and bladder cancers the difference was even more striking with up to 45 per cent fewer non-meat eaters contracting the diseases than carnivores."
Wow very conclusive study, maybe there should be a campaign to switch children to a meat free diet!

MM - I do wonder though if you, and my friend, are somewhat protected due to your choice of diet - in other words, perhaps it will stand you in good stead.

Fwiw the other friend I have has recovered, and I often wonder if she might not have done had she not eaten so healthily.

iyswim...let's hope it works in your favour.

'My diet is extremely healthy and based on natural food. Not synthetic garbage like Quorn which the veggies I know eat in copious amounts as highly process pretend mince, sausage etc. '

I agree entirely with spokette's post, especially the above. I would say that the vegetarians came out healthier because they are giving a lot of thought to what they eat and are less likely to be overweight plus more likely to get 5 portions, as dittany says.
I can't see anything in it to show that DCs should give up meat eating. I think a Mediterranean diet is the best with lots of water to drink, few snacks and plenty of exercise. I think that if you compared that with the average veggie diet you would get different findings. I wouldn't give up meat or fish, but I do a lot of vegetarian meals and my Cranks cookbook is the one that is falling apart from over use. I wouldn't eat synthetic garbage and call it 'healthy'.

Interesting that people object so strongly to the message of this study and are determined to pick holes in it. Why is that?

The other thing to point out is countries where they eat a huge amount of meat but cancer rates are low. Genetics, lifetstyle and environmental factors obviously play a huge part in that.

Therefore to think that a meat-based diet is bad and a plant based diet is good is simplistic, linear, wishful thinking.

Happywomble, your question about natural protein sources other than meat. Beans such as chick peas and kidney beans, lentils, quinoa (complete protein source),soya, eggs, dairy.

There are so many tasty recipes one can make with these natural ingredients without having to resort to junk like Quorn.

just to add to it-protein can also come from beansprouts,tofu,soya milk,wholegrains,seeds,nuts and hummous.

but apparently protein needs are automatically meet by a balanced,varied diet and can even be found in potatoes.(copied from ds2 wall chart that we use to quote to twats the say its unhealthy for a dc to be veggie!)

Spokette and cheesesarnie - thank you for this info.

I would happily eat all these things but my fussy DD would be unlikely to enjoy kidney beans and lentils..might try doing a few veggie recipes for the DCs. But they will still be having chicken casserole and fish pie etc sometimes. Does anyone have a good veggie recipe book for cooking for children?

I have wondered about putting the Dcs down for veggie meals at school as am not sure of the quality of meat used in school dinners (I try to buy organic meat for home use). I notice on the Surrey schools menu Quorn is used once a week as a veggie option. Should we be petitioning our county councils to provide a healthier veggie options?!

i suppose in the 3,000 veggies in the study therea are all sorts of types of veggies

as there are all sorts of meat eaters.

i would expect with such a large group they would balance out

the study sdeems to be just based on 2
questons-
doyou eat meat?
do you eat fish and no meat?

there are 3 groups-
those that eat meat (and presumably fisha nd veg)
those that eat fish (and presumabley veg)
and those that don't eat meat or fish.

That's it- no other questions such as how often do you eat meat, how often do you have 5 portions of fruit snad veg etc...

The sheer numebr of people responding it hink thak out akot of the waht ifs somehow.

And it showed that for "blood cancers" the veggie group had nearly half the rate as the meat gruop.

can't remember the other results, but overall the rate of cancer was lower for the veggie and fish only people than the meat people.

err, that's it.

Now we can all argue about whether or not rice is more toxic/les toxic to the enivroment than cows,
whether quorn is worse that chicken etc...
and these will prob be further studies.
But we don't actually have any sceintific results to show this- so the rest is speculation at this point.

the interviewer tried to lead the prof to say that the results of his study showed that people should not eat meat. he hesitated a bit, but said that the results show that we really need to look inot what is about a veggie diet/lifstyle that maybe can help protect against cnacer......

Does anyone think there is an argument for saying that different diets suit different people.

I once bought a book about eating the best diet for your blood group.

I am blood group "B". It said my body is suited to eating lamb and beef but not chicken. Without reading this book I would have thought chicken would be healthier than red meat for me.

Maybe there are some people whose bodies are best suited to a veggie diet and some people who need meat in their diet?

Just a thought. I am not a particular supporter of this blood group diet but wonder if there is any sense in eating for your blood group?

My darling MIL is a vegetaqrian and has been for most of her life, she doesn't smoke and never has, she drinks in moderation.

She has cancer of the liver and it has now spread to her lungs. She is dieing. She will not see her DGC grow up and will not even get to meet her DGC to be.

Yeah! being a vegetarian is great.

'Soil fungs' eh? What's that then, and why is it any worse than mushrooms?

fungus

Not eating that again then.

Linda McCartney died from cancer and she was a vociferous veggie to the point she created her own processed food range which was criticised for containing too much saturated fat and salt.

ok, so we have 4 people on here who are veggie and ill with cancer...

and the 3,000 people in the survey- some of them we ill with cncer... so being a veggie didn't specifically help them.

but it is a study in epideimiollogy- ie illness in a population.

but i feel i'm bashing my head against a brick wall.
I don't need anyne to become a veggie as a result of this- i don't really care what you all do.

But it seems facile to say that i have a study of n=1 which makes more sense to me than n=6,000 odd. I'm sure the sceintists here can regonsie that.

Or does eating meat make you so rapid and cross with the world that you'll think anything just to justify it.

And i don't buy the "quorn is shit" argument to show that eating meat is healthier th\n being veggi.

errr just don't eat quorn and meat, i'm sure that is healthier

sheesh the weather had got to us all i reckon.

happywomble and rubyruby - I don't suppose the book you refer to says anything about white wine and A+?

Thanks!

Wow, it's like some kind of food horoscope!

No cheese sarnies for me then! Unfortunately I hate pineapple but will have no problem avoiding lager!

Thanks again.

interestingly for my type (type B) the eat for your blood group book suggests stearing clear of nuts, lentils, tofu, tomatoes, olives and wheat amongst other things.

Dairy is ok and lamb is beneficial. So I'm not sure if a wholly veggie diet or wholly mediterranean diet would be the best for me. That is if there is any truth in the blood group theory.

I would be interested to know how many of those living till a ripe old age in mediterranean areas are blood group B as I think it is a blood group found more in Eastern Europe/Asia.