Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-pjp64 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-06-14T11:34:45.445Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mortality in British vegetarians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Paul N Appleby ,
Timothy J Key ,
Margaret Thorogood ,
Michael L Burr  and
Jim Mann
Paul N Appleby*
Affiliation:
Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Gibson Building, The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE, UK
Timothy J Key
Affiliation:
Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Gibson Building, The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE, UK
Margaret Thorogood
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Michael L Burr
Affiliation:
Centre for Applied Public Health Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, UK
Jim Mann
Affiliation:
Department of Human Nutrition, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
*
*Corresponding author: Email appleby@icrf.icnet.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.
Objective:

To compare the mortality of British vegetarians and non-vegetarians.

Design:

Analysis of original data from two prospective studies each including a large proportion of vegetarians – the Oxford Vegetarian Study and the Health Food Shoppers Study. Standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) compared with the population of England and Wales were calculated from deaths before age 90 for vegetarians and non-vegetarians in each study. Death rate ratios (DRRs) for vegetarians compared with non-vegetarians within each study were calculated for each of 14 major causes of death.

Setting:

UK.

Subjects:

Twenty-one thousand men and women aged 16–89 years at recruitment, including more than 8000 vegetarians.

Results:

SMRs for all causes of death were significantly below the reference level of 100 in both studies: 52 (95% confidence interval (CI) 49–56) based on 1131 deaths in the Oxford Vegetarian Study and 59 (57–61) based on 2346 deaths in the Health Food Shoppers Study. For all causes of death, the DRR for vegetarians compared with non-vegetarians was close to one in both studies: 1.01 (95% CI 0.89–1.14) in the Oxford Vegetarian Study, 1.03 (0.95–1.13) in the Health Food Shoppers Study.

Conclusions:

British vegetarians have low mortality compared with the general population. Their death rates are similar to those of comparable non-vegetarians, suggesting that much of this benefit may be attributed to non-dietary lifestyle factors such as a low prevalence of smoking and a generally high socio-economic status, or to aspects of the diet other than the avoidance of meat and fish.

Keywords

VegetarianMortalityBritish

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , February 2002 , pp. 29 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © CABI Publishing 2002

References

1Dwyer, JT. Health aspects of vegetarian diets. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1988; 48: 712S–38S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2Thorogood, M. The epidemiology of vegetarianism and health. Nutr. Res. Rev. 1995; 8: 179–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3Sanders, TAB. The nutritional adequacy of plant-based diets. Proc. Nutr. Soc. 1999; 58: 265–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4Key, TJ, Davey, GK, Appleby, PN. Health benefits of a vegetarian diet. Proc. Nutr. Soc. 1999; 58: 271–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5Thorogood, M, Mann, J, Appleby, P, McPherson, K. Risk of death from cancer and ischaemic heart disease in meat and non-meat eaters. Br. Med. J. 1994; 308: 1667–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6Mann, JI, Appleby, PN, Key, TJ, Thorogood, M. Dietary determinants of ischaemic heart disease in health conscious individuals. Heart 1997; 78: 450–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7Burr, ML, Sweetnam, PM. Vegetarianism, dietary fibre, and mortality. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1982; 36: 873–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8Burr, ML, Butland, BK. Heart disease in British vegetarians. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1988; 48: 830–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9Key, TJ, Thorogood, M, Appleby, PN, Burr, ML. Dietary habits and mortality in 11000 vegetarians and health conscious people: results of a 17 year follow up. Br. Med. J. 1996; 313: 775–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10Key, TJ, Fraser, GE, Thorogood, M, Appleby, PN, Beral, V, Reeves, G, Burr, ML, Chang-Claude, J, Frentzel-Beyme, R, Kuzma, JW, Mann, J, McPherson, K. Mortality in vegetarians and non-vegetarians: a collaborative analysis of 8300 deaths among 76 000 men and women in five prospective studies. Public Health Nutr. 1998; 1: 33–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11Key, TJ, Fraser, GE, Thorogood, M, Appleby, PN, Beral, V, Reeves, G, Burr, ML, Chang-Claude, J, Frentzel-Beyme, R, Kuzma, JW, Mann, J, McPherson, K. Mortality in vegetarians and non-vegetarians: detailed findings from a collaborative analysis of 5 prospective studies. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1999; 70(Suppl.): 516S–24S.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Riboli, E, Kaaks, R. The EPIC Project: rationale and study design. Int. J. Epidemiol 1997; 26(Suppl.): 6S–14S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13Coleman, MP, Hermon, C, Douglas, A. Person-years (PYRS): A Fortran Program for Cohort Study Analysis. IARC Internal Report No. 89. Lyon: World Health Organization, 1989.Google Scholar
14Stata Corporation. Stata Statistical Software: Release 5.0. College Station, TX: Stata Press, 1997.Google Scholar
15Gregory, J, Foster, K, Tyler, H, Wiseman, M. The Dietary and Nutritional Survey of British Adults. London: HMSO, 1990.Google Scholar
16Vandenbroucke, JP. Commentary: Should you eat meat, or are you confounded by methodological debate? Br. Med. J. 1994; 308: 1671.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17Fraser, GE. Associations between diet and cancer, ischemic heart disease, and all-cause mortality in non-Hispanic white California Seventh-day Adventists. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1999; 70(Suppl.): 532S–8S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18Thorogood, M, Roe, L, McPherson, K, Mann, J. Dietary intake and plasma lipid levels: lessons from a study of the diet of health conscious groups. Br. Med. J. 1990; 300: 1297–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19Key, TJ, Verkasalo, PK, Banks, E. Epidemiology of breast cancer. Lancet Oncol. 2001; 2: 133–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20Giem, P, Beeson, WL, Fraser, GE. The incidence of dementia and intake of animal products: preliminary findings from the Adventist Health Study. Neuroepidemiology 1993; 12: 28–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21Fraser, GE, Singh, PN, Bennett, H. Variables associated with cognitive function in elderly Californian Seventh-day Adventists. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1996; 143: 1181–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar