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Meat food provokes heart disease
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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British scientists have published the results of an experiment that began more than fifteen years ago. The topic of the study was to determine the relationship between the products that are part of an adult's diet and heart disease. In January 2013, scientists from England and Scotland announced that people who consciously refused to eat animal food suffer from heart failure significantly less often.
Doctors from Oxford University claim that people who eat animal protein every day have an increased chance of being hospitalized with cardiovascular disease. In percentage terms, the difference is more than 30%: this is the figure that scientists cite when they say that vegetarians are less susceptible to cardiovascular diseases.
Heart disease is the scourge of the modern world. In many developed countries, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of premature death and daily hospitalization of patients. Due to the large number of fatal cases, it was decided to conduct such a study. In England alone, about 40,000 people die from heart disease every year.
The study became one of the largest events in the history of British medicine: for fifteen years, scientists observed the health of more than 45,000 adults, a significant portion of whom (more than 30%) were initially convinced vegetarians. During the experiment, volunteer participants regularly answered questions about their lifestyle, nutrition, sports and other physical activity, as well as the presence of bad habits. Almost all participants regularly took blood tests so that doctors could check their cholesterol levels.
After the experiment, the scientists received detailed data on the volunteers' health. During the entire study, doctors recorded 1,250 cases of heart disease, of which 198 were fatal. The result showed that only 180 of the patients were vegetarians, which allowed the scientists to conclude that nutrition can affect heart health.
Additional studies have shown that people who have given up eating animal food have much lower blood cholesterol levels, which reduces the risk of disease several times. Moreover, vegetarians are much less likely to suffer from diabetes and very rarely suffer from obesity. It turned out to be interesting that vegetarians, even with bad habits, when it comes to heart disease, are still “more resistant” than those who eat meat but lead a healthy lifestyle.
Despite all the visible benefits of giving up meat, scientists have noted that vegetarianism should be taken seriously and thoughtfully. A sudden refusal of meat and fish can cause stress to the body, which has become accustomed to a certain food over many years. If you decide to give up animal protein, you should first think about products that can fully replace it in order to avoid vitamin deficiency and a lack of nutrients in the body.
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