A new University of Graz study concludes that vegetarians are more often ill and have a lower quality of living than meat-eaters. According to the German press release, vegetarians "have cancer and heart attacks more often". The release also says that they show more psychological disorders than meat eaters. Consequently, the report writes, they are a greater burden on the health care system.
According to the press release the scientists evaluated data from the Austrian Health Interview Survey (AT-HIS), which is also part of an important and valuable EU survey (European Health Interview Survey).
The scientists examined a total of 1320 persons who were divided up into 4 groups of 330 persons each. All groups were comparable with respect to gender, age, and socio-economic status. The study also accounted for smoking and physical activity. Also the BMI was within the normal range for all four groups (22.9 - 24.9). The only thing that really was different among the four groups was the diet. The four groups were: 1) vegetarians, 2) meat-eaters with lots of fruit and veggies, 3) little meat-eaters and 4) big meat-eaters. More than three quarters of the participants were women (76.4%).
Vegetarians plagued by significantly more chronic illnesses
The press release states that the results contradict the common cliché that meat-free diets are healthier. Vegetarians have twice as many allergies as big meat-eaters do (30.6% to 16.7%) and they showed 166% higher cancer rates (4.8% to 1.8%). Moreover the scientists found that vegans had a 150% higher rate of heart attacks (1.5% to 0.6%). In total the scientists looked at 18 different chronic illnesses. Compared to the big meat-eaters, vegetarians were hit harder in 14 of the 18 illnesses (78%) which included asthma, diabetes, migraines and osteoporosis [1, p.4, Table 3].
The Medical University of Graz confirms findings by the University of Hildesheim: More frequent psychological disorders among vegetarians, the press release writes.
The roots of anxiety and depression?
In the analysis, the University of Graz found that vegetarians were also twice as likely to suffer for anxiety or depressions than big meat eaters (9.4% to 4.5%). That result was confirmed by the University of Hildesheim, which found that vegetarians suffered significantly more from depressions, anxiety, psychosomatic complaints and eating disorders [2]. The U of Graz scientists also found that vegetarians are impacted more by ilnessses and visit the doctor more frequently [1, p. 3, Table 2].
Big meat-eaters were also found to have a "significantly better quality of life in all categories", the study found. The four categories examined were: physical and psychological health, social relationships and environment-related life quality [1, p. 5, Table 4].
Dubious science everywhere
Again this is not the first study that has recently contradicted the claims that vegetarians are healthier. The world's largest study on nutrition (EPIC) indicated that vegetarians in general tend to die earlier [3].
Recently experts have shown that the alleged health benefits of a vegetarian diet are myths and fairy tales. For example, according to Professor Ulrich Voderholzer, Director and Chief Physician of the Schön Klinik Roseneck and an expert for eating disorders, promises made by vegetarian organisations "are not scientifically supported."
The University of Graz press release writes [4]:
The press release also adds [5]:It's more about an ideological message that suggests false promises."
Gee, it all sounds as bad as the evidence we see linking bad weather to CO2.Concerning cancer prevention through fruits and vegetables, Prof. Rudolf Kaaks of the German Cancer Research Center DKFZ recently stated: 'There's no relationship, zero-point-zero.'"
Not only are greens duped about climate science, many are also duped about nutritional science. Granola-eating tree-huggers are turning out to be the most ill-informed people on the planet.
Reader Comments
So people dont know what their bodies like? If your a type O your supposed you thrive on meat and heavy work outs, but get weak on just veggies,and if your a type A your thrive on veggies and yoga,but meat weakens you.Go figure. The key is to KNOW YOURSELF...
( da13thsun is type O but speaks against meat eating ,and he has the melanin magic ! )
But if you want a universal medicine there are things good for all blood types like olive oil.
The reason i believe one mans food is another mans poison is cause I fasted and cleansed,and when i went back to eating my body was directly effected and i found out what to avoid.Then my bro had a book called eating right for your blood type and they also had the foods i found agreed with me on top of the list for type A.
The blood type book (like the ketogenic diet) is based on avoiding foods that create LECTINS..
This article reeks of it. I stopped reading after the first sentence.
"It's no secret that many vegetarians are also radical environmentalists and climate alarmists who are obsessed and hysterical about the planet burning up."
WTF?
I'm radical because I happen to care about the planet and concerned we are killing it? What a dipshit! This article is far from unbiased and I suspect it has been written by a factory farm whore.
While 0.2% of the interviewees were pure vegetarians (57.7%
female), 0.8% reported to be vegetarians consuming milk and eggs
From the study:
(77.3% female), and 1.2% to be vegetarians consuming fish and/
or eggs and milk (76.7% female). 23.6% reported to combine a
carnivorous diet with lots of fruits and vegetables (67.2% female),
48.5% to eat a carnivorous diet less rich in meat (60.8% female),
and 25.7% a carnivorous diet rich in meat (30.1% female). Since
the three vegetarian diet groups included a rather small number of
persons (N = 343), they were analyzed as one dietary habit group.
Moreover, since the vegetarian group was the smallest, we decided
to match each of the vegetarians (1) with an individual of each
other dietary habit group (carnivorous diet rich in fruits and
vegetables (2), carnivorous diet less rich in meat (3) and a
carnivorous rich in meat (4)).
So there were not a significant number of actual vegetarians in the study, right? Does anyone read these things before publishing them?
Okay so you say "It's no secret that many vegetarians are also radical environmentalists and climate alarmists who are obsessed and hysterical about the planet burning up." There are so many things wrong with this statement first of all it has nothing to do with how "Vegetarians are unhealthier, more mentally disturbed than meat - lovers". It also implies that there is something wrong with caring about the planet which effects each and every living organism including whoever wrote this article.
"Recently experts have shown that the alleged health benefits of a vegetarian diet are myths and fairy tales. For example, according to Professor Ulrich Voderholzer, Director and Chief Physician of the Schön Klinik Roseneck and an expert for eating disorders, promises made by vegetarian organisations "are not scientifically supported." Also the fact that the writer of this brings up things not being supported is quite hypocritical considering the statement pasted above and many others through - out this entire article. "Not only are greens duped about climate science, many are also duped about nutritional science. Granola-eating tree-huggers are turning out to be the most ill-informed people on the planet." This is a little thing called slander right above ^ I can understand one not having the same beliefs as others but to insult them and assume all vegetarians are "duped about climate science" and "the most ill-informed people on the planet" (a little exaggeration there don't you think?) is ridiculous. This also failed to mention how vegetarians have 15% chance of heart failure and meat-eaters have 50% chance also how hard it is for the human body to digest meat which takes several weeks and how our teeth are not made or adapted to chew/eat meat in which you would think the human is not made to eat meat.Oh do not forget about the billions of animals are killed each year just so these living organisms can digest into shit, turning living beings into shit very nice meat-eaters. Next time you are eating pork just remember it is proven that it tastes just like human flesh. I'm not saying there are not health problems with being a vegetarians for some people but this is insulting. Overall this is a completely biased article in which i suggest to whoever wrote this to not continue writing about things you are on one side about.
Also the BMI was within the normal range for all four groups (22.9 - 24.9).
LMFAO
What true vegan has a BMI over 20
This document is fraudulent and FULL of holes
The press release and the conclusion of the study highlights the dangers of a strict vegetarian diet and the researchers are right to assert this point because the intention is to help improve public health in Austria (They're not interested in promoting the cause of the meat lovers anywhere else in the world).
But the report doesn't say meat is best. Read the report closely and you'll find that a varied diet of meat plus fruits and vegetables is very healthy and the group under this category enjoys a better quality of life than the group that eat a rich diet of meat.
P Gosselin, you've definitely stepped out of the NoTrickZone with this articles, which contrasts the extremes on both ends of the diet spectrum. You failed to acknowledge or chose to ignore the fact that the vast majority of us fall somewhere in the middle. Most people eat meat and they also eat vegetables, grains and fruits, and they live better lives than voracious meat eaters.
Unlike your attempt to skew the study to support your agenda, no where in the study does it say that fruits and vegetables are bad. It just says that it is bad to go full on vegetarian or vegan. And no where does it say that a rich meat diet is good.
In fact, the researchers "emphasized the necessity for further studies in Austria, for more in depth analysis of the health effects of different dietary habits". And I believe they are being responsible scientists for saying this because dietary habits differ greatly from people to people and in different locations around the world. For example, the inhabitants near pole as well as those in the central Asian steppes have a diet rich in meats and animal fats, but they aren't necessary healthier or worse off than the rest of us.
Also the sample data gathered from this study is too restricted to be applied to the general world population. Look at the data about the chronic conditions of the different groups and most fall within the relatively insignificant single digit percentage, with the exception of allergies, hypertension, arthritis, sarcospinal complaint and migraine. So less than 5 out of 100 vegetarians could get cancer; is that a bigger deal than smoking and second hand smoke inhalation, which are the major causes of preventable cancer?
P Gosselin is just cherry picking from the study and making too many general assumptions with this article to be taken seriously. If I was to do that, I will end up saying something like this: "The study shows that meat lovers will grow into old people who complain incessantly about headaches, chronic joint pains, weak bones, poor bladder control and high blood pressure, and they wished they'd had eaten a bit more greens when they were younger."
So you say other studies show that vegetarians die earlier. Earlier than who? Meat eaters? You don't dare assert that meat eaters live longest, do you?