Who lives longer? Vegetarians against "car

Question

It is known that the life span of a person is influenced by the environment and genes. Scientists have found out that genes make up only 30% of this influence. This means that the environment is the decisive factor determining the longevity of a person.


Of the many environmental factors, the most studied and discussed everywhere is nutrition. In particular, the issue of calorie restriction is still relevant. At this point, research suggests that regulating consumed calories can increase life expectancy, at least for small creatures. But what's good for a mouse is not necessarily as good for a person.


"What we eat" is an equally relevant topic for research, and meat consumption is considered especially carefully. According to a study of 100,000 Americans over 5 years, people who eat meat were more at risk of dying than vegetarians (at least during the study). The effect was more pronounced in men.

When the results of the studies were summarized and analyzed, it became clear that a diet with a low intake of meat contributes to an increase in life expectancy, and the more a person adheres to such nutrition, the better the effect. Nevertheless, not all studies lead us to this conclusion. Some reveal only a small difference in the indices of vegetarians and those who consume meat, or the results are generally the same.

Obviously, only that a vegetarian diet can reduce the risk of developing health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and even cancer. There is some evidence to suggest that "vegan" diets may provide additional health protection, better than a normal vegetarian diet. The conclusions of these studies are much easier to interpret, because they consider only health problems, and not death, which is influenced by external factors, in addition to nutrition.

So can we say with certainty that giving up meat will allow you to live longer? Not at the moment.

Longevity problem
First, a person lives much longer than most other living beings. This greatly complicates the research that measures the effect of something on life expectancy (try to find a scientist who will wait for the result of his study 90 years). Instead, scientists study existing medical data or hire volunteers for short-term studies, analyze death statistics and monitor which of the groups of subjects are more prone to death. From these data, conclusions are drawn about the effect of certain factors on life expectancy, among which is the rejection of meat products.

These are all problems of approach to research. For example, we need to find a link between meat consumption and early mortality. But the first does not necessarily affect the second. It may be that vegetarianism and longevity are related, but in a different way. Perhaps, vegetarians lead a more active lifestyle, smoke and drink less than their carnivorous opponents.

When scientists conduct nutrition studies, they rely on accurate and honest test subjects' data on their diet. But this can not be trusted unconditionally. It is proved that people tend to graft about the amount of food eaten and reduce the number of calories consumed. Without complete control of the test groups, it is difficult to be absolutely sure of the results.

And yet - should we give up meat to live a long and healthy life? Most likely, the answer lies in the influence of the environment on the body, and therefore, on what we eat. According to the research, it is possible that rejection of meat can promote healthy aging and, moreover, increase the chances of avoiding many diseases associated with aging. The only thing that can be said for sure is that the maximum effect can be felt only by avoiding at least such obvious risks for longevity as smoking.

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