Vegan diets benefit health, but only if they're healthy

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-03-29 02:00

Australia; International; WA

CC-0

International scientists, including an Australian, looked at health records for more than 125,000 people in the UK, and found a healthy vegan diet was linked to lower risk of heart disease, cancer and premature death, compared with non-vegan diets. However, vegans who drank more sugary drinks and fruit juices, and ate more snacks, desserts, refined grains and potatoes had a higher risk of these conditions and premature death than non-vegans. Although this type of study cannot show a healthy vegan diet actually caused the improvements in health outcomes, the authors recommend people concerned about chronic disease adopt a plant-based diet that's low in animal products, sugary drinks, snacks and desserts, refined grains, potatoes, and fruit juices.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Edith Cowan University, Queen’s University, UK

Funder: Ms Thompson holds a PhD studentship in the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland. This research was conducted using UK Biobank funded and sourced data (application 64426). The UK Biobank was established by theWellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, the UK Department of Health, and the Scottish Government. The UK Biobank has also received funding from theWelsh Assembly Government, the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes United Kingdom, the Northwest Regional Development Agency, and the Scottish Government.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.