A surprising study from the UK shows that vegetarians and pescatarians (those who eat fish but not meat) appear to be at increased risk for suffering bleeding strokes, even though they are at reduced risk for heart attacks and are not at increased risk for clotting strokes (Brit Med J, September 2019;366:l4897). Researchers followed 48,188 healthy people, average age 45, for an average of 18.1 years.
The subjects were classified as:
• meat eaters,
• fish eaters who ate no meat, and
• those who ate neither meat nor fish.
In agreement with most previous studies, this study showed that, compared to meat eaters, the fish eaters had a 13 percent reduced rate of heart disease and the vegetarians had a 22 percent lower rate. The meat eaters also had a significantly higher rate of conditions that can cause heart attacks and strokes: high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity. The authors did not check blood levels of nutrients in patients in this study, but vegetarians are at high risk for deficiencies of vitamins B12 (Med J Aust, 2013;199(4):S27-S32), vitamin D (J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad, Jan 2013;25(1-2):152-5) and in poorer countries, other B vitamins and amino acids, the protein building blocks….