Going vegetarian could help lower your risk of stroke, study reveals

Cutting meat out of your diet may seem like a big change, but the health benefits are worth it. There are so many people trying out meat-free days, going vegan or vegetarian nowadays and it turns out it can lower your risk of stroke.

A study has found that vegans and vegetarians are at a lower risk of suffering a stroke because of their diet. A group of researchers at Tzu Chi University in Taiwan analysed two groups of Buddhists to reach these results.

30 percent of participants were vegetarians. The team discovered that the non-meat eaters in group one were at a 74 percent lower risk of ischaemic strokes. The vegetarians in group two were a 60 percent lower risk of ischaemic stroke and 65 percent lower risk of haemorrhagic stroke.

Dr Chin-Lon Lin, of Tzu Chi University in Taiwan commented on the study: “Stroke is the second most common cause of death worldwide and a leading cause of disability. Our study found that a vegetarian diet was beneficial and reduced the risk of ischemic stroke even after adjusting for known risk factors like blood pressure, blood glucose levels and fats in the blood.”

He explained: “This could mean that perhaps there is some other protective mechanism that may protect those who eat a vegetarian diet from stroke.”

The team stressed that other factories come into play like lifestyle, diet and alcohol consumption but the results are promising and will hopefully encourage the public to alter their diets.

The study appeared in the medical journal Neurology.