Strange fact about vegetarian's and longevity/aging?

Question

After reading the LA times on Sunday, there was one study of people who lives over to be or are over the age of 100 years.

Out of 400 people in the study, they were studied for life-styles, etc. Not a single vegetarian among the 400...not 1. Being one for roughly six months(and then I snapped watching someone eat a In-n-Out hamburger), I always felt a bit weak.

It may be a moral choice/issue not to eat meat/fish/poultry, but it appears in moderate amounts to be benefical long-term. The study would suggest we are designed by nature to eat meat as well as veggies.

Actually, the FDA approves drugs commonly precribed with less subjects than 400 people...

Answer 1

I think you need to look at a bigger picture here. How many people born in 1906 were ever vegetarians? It's probably a small number. It also doesn't say where these centenarians lived, but overall, many do seem to come from Asian cultures, which historically have ate less meat than western society.

I googled the article, and it speaks a lot about some genetic changes in certain people that allow them to live longer, in some ways regardless of certain lifestyle choices. There's no way to say that they would have lived shorter or longer lives if they had cut out the meat.

I think that your last sentence is certainly a huge leap, one that you were drawn to because it's what you want to believe. That's what we all do in life, find the facts that support our beliefs and hold on to those. But applying my slightly trained scientific eye to it, I don't think that you've made your case at all.

Answer 2

I have to say, that does show something, although I think some people would rather it didn't. With 4.5% of people vegetarians in the US it would seem unlikely, were vegetarianism all it was cracked up to be.

@ Matt H

1. Albeit only one study, that doesn't mean the information is worthless.

2. That's not that far under 1% of the total number of centenarians in the US, so while it may be 'only' 400 people, it's a significantly larger proportion than most studies done relating to the general public. Secondly, the number of vegetarians in the population is about 4.5% IIRC, so you'd expect about 18 in the group, more so if you believe that vegetarians are healthier on average than the average of the general public. Of course the error margin could be reasonably large in a study of this small scale, but I think most people would think it unlikely that there were none, the error margin is unlikely to be that large.

3. Someone who lives to 100 is quite likely to be healthy at 80 and 90. And if you don't want to suffer a poor quality of life there's always assisted suicide (I joke).

4. I haven't read that book (I doubt you're surprised) but I can't find any other information on this topic (centenarians specifically) on the web, neither for nor against. There were however a few sites which suggested (although no data or proof shown) that vegetarianism doesn't increase likelihood of living for a hundred years.

@ Totnesmartin, the problem with the classic vegetarians live longer statistics is that they aren't very reliable. Yes, veggies are more likely to live longer, but their not eating meat isn't the only variable: veggies are less likely to smoke, eat junk food, binge drink and generally take more care of their diet and health; this makes it very hard to show the relationship meat has on longevity. No study as yet has managed to properly eliminate all the variables, but the ones that have taken this into account have shown little difference between meat eaters and vegetarians.
Also don't forget vegetarians are mostly women, who have a life expectancy which is quite a few years longer than men anyway.
It also depends how the data is measured; if done by death rate veggies get the upper hand as they are, on average, younger, and thus will have a lower death rate than the average of the rest of the pop. regardless of diet.
These things can all easily be countered to make data reliable, but many studies saying veggies live longer ignore at least one of these things, making them flawed and worthless, not that that'll bother some people.

Answer 3

I think it is funny that people think a subject group of 400, representing people 100 years old or older is small.
C'mon, people just need to figure this out for themselves. Listen to your own body and stop judging what other people do with theirs.
Additionally, people who in this day and age have lived that long know that you can't be so choosy all of the time about the things that you eat as long as they sustain your life.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Problem #1 Your mention only one study.

Problem #2 It only involved 400 people, considering the population of vegetarians it makes sense there may not be one in this group they picked.

Problem #3 (and this is just how I feel) I would rather live to be 80 or 90 and healthy and active, then be 100 in a wheelchair on oxygen after my second heart attack, or stoke.

Problem #4 there is plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise.
Read: Healthy at 100 by: John Robbins.

Answer 6

Here's a few articles about vegetarians living longer. 400 is a pretty small sample for a scientific survey. Even opinion polls take a larger sample. Looks like a bit of lazy thinking by a newspaper.

Answer 7

Yes meat in moderation is better than too much meat or no meat at all and if you eat a well balanced diet including meat you can live longer than a vegetarian or vegan.

Answer 8

Humans are omnivores. Yeah, we can survive as carnivores or herbivores, and have good quality of life, but there's no denying what comes naturally.

Answer 9

Whatever lets you sleep at night....