Study Finds Vegetarians, Vegans at Increased Risk of Stroke

Nutritional studies have the shelf life of yogurt, with just about everything coming around on the probably going to kill you carousel at least once. So take this study with a grain of salt, unless you’re trying to cut back. Scientists at the University of Oxford have found that vegetarians and vegans might be at a higher risk of stroke than meat-eaters.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday, found a 20% higher risk of stroke among herbivores. That works out to three more people suffering a stroke per 1,000 over the course of 10 years.

The study followed 48,000 people for an average of 18 years, dividing them by diet. The subjects were split between meat-eaters, pescetarians, and vegetarians. Pescetarians suffered no increased risk of stroke. Researchers speculated that the difference might be B12 intake, which pescetarians get from consuming fish whereas vegetarians would need to take a supplement or eat fortified vegetarian food to get this nutrient. 

Even though the study finds increased risk of stroke, researchers were quick to note that vegetarians were overall much more healthy than their meat-eating counterparts. Vegetarians were found to have a 22% lower chance of suffering from heart disease and pescetarians reduced their risk by 13%.  They said heart diseases were much more common among the study group overall. 

“It does seem that the lower risk of coronary heart diseases does exceed the higher risk of stroke, if we look at the absolute numbers,” lead researcher Tammy Tong told CNN.