A study conducted by the Medical University of Graz in Austria found that vegetarians who had a lower mass index and consumed less alcohol were in a poorer sate of physical and mental health.
Vegetarian food has always been proclaimed as healthier than the traditional meat and egg diet. Considering this, many people replaced delicious fatty dishes with big steaming plates of vegetables thinking it beneficial for health. But the recent studies have proved that even being more active than meat eaters, vegetarians are linked with higher risks of cancer, allergies, and mental health problems. These are the mental health problems that lead to anxiety and depression.
The dietary habits and lifestyle differences between meat eaters and vegetarians were studied under the Austrian Health Interview Survey. In this study, 1320 were matched according to their age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Among all the people, 330 were complete vegetarians, 330 were the ones who consumed lots of fruits, and vegetables along with eating meat, 330 were normal eaters but ate less meat, and heavy meat eaters were the rest of the 330 subjects.
The authors found that less meat-eating participants had poorer health practices because of skipping doctors’ appointments and preventive checkups.
The study concluded that the Austrian vegetarians were less healthy with a lower quality of life, and required more mental handling. They found out that these are the people who suffered more from conditions like asthma, mental illness, and cancer as compared to people who ate meat.
But the researchers are not very well satisfied with what has caused this and what needs to be done to change the effect. Therefore they have preferred to have more studies carried out for this purpose.
Via: Independent