Vegetarian health boost

Wednesday July 1st, 2009

Being a vegetarian cuts the risk of developing cancer, especially cancers of the blood, researchers reported today.

The overall benefit enjoyed by vegetarians over carnivores is a 12 per cent reduction in risk, according to a Cancer Research UK.

But researchers were surprised to find that a vegetarian diet offers the most protection against cancers of theblood such as leukemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Vegetarians were 45 per cent less likely than meat-eaters to develop these cancers.

The study involved more than 61,000 people studied over a period of 12 years. During that time some 3,350 developed cancer.

The findings are published today in the British Journal of Cancer.

Experts said they were "surprised" at the massive protection against blood cancers enjoyed by vegetarians.

Sara Hiom, of Cancer Research UK, said: "The relatively low number of vegetarians who developed cancer in this study supports Cancer Research UK's advice that people should eat a healthy, balanced diet high in fibre, fruit and vegetables and low in saturated fat, salt and red and processed meat.

"It's understandable that there's a link between what you eat and cancers of the digestive system. But we are surprised to see an association between leukaemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and multiple myeloma, more research is needed to understand the mechanisms involved."

Researcher Professor Tim Key, of Oxford University, said: "In particular vegetarians were much less likely to develop cancers of the blood which include leukaemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. More research is needed to substantiate these results and to look for reasons for the differences."

Professor Key discusses the findings here.

Tags: Cancer | Nutrition & Healthy Eating | UK News

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