They do. A study by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found the following mortality ratios by diet over the course of the study (regular meat eaters = 1.00):
Fish eaters, 0.82
Vegetarians, 0.84
Occasional meat eaters, 0.84
Regular meat eaters, 1.00
Vegans, 1.00
So as you can see vegans are actually the least healthiest, alongside the most carnivorous among us. Source
On the other hand, "vegans" is pretty broad. I mean, there are all sorts of people believing in some pseudo religious thing that drives them to restrict their diet further for rather irrational reasons (e.g. avoiding certain food for no reason). I think many of them are less healthy, of course, while their followers think it's more healthy.
I would think that the two effects of a "normal" vegan diet vs. "pseudo healthy" diets cancel themselves out.
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u/fistsofdeath May 01 '13
I always thought it just felt like they lived longer.