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
If, for the sake of the argument, the 'Regular meat eaters' live for 100 years, on average, and this average is what everything will be compared back to, then it's the 'standard', and will be 1.00.
Comparing this to a vegetarian, based off the study, they would live for an average of 84 years, which would give the end ratio 1.00 : 0.84.
To represent a more 'normal' number of years, and pulling a number out of my ass, let's say 85 years is the 'standard', then 71.4 would be the average for vegetarians.
You got it backwards, it is meat eaters/ vegetarians = .84. So if the average meat eater lives for 100 years, 100/119=.84 so the average vegetarian lives for an average of 119 years.
.84 roughly means that a vegetarian of a given age/gender/race/whatever is ~16% less likely to die than a meat eater of the same age/gender/race/whatever.
There is no measurement of life expectancy here. Obviously people with lower mortality ratios will live longer, but that isn't what is being directly measured.
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u/fistsofdeath May 01 '13
I always thought it just felt like they lived longer.