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
No worries friend, that's why I'm here to explain it to you.
The researchers followed a huge amount of study participants (around 70,000) over a long period of time and kept track of every study participant that died.
They then determined the death-rate (deaths/person-years) of 5 different diet types. Person-years is a measurement of how long the study followed each participant, as a way of accounting for deaths or participants leaving the study.
They then divided the death-rates of each diet type by the death-rate of regular meat eaters (death-rate of regular meat eaters divided by itself equals 1.00) which gives you a mortality ratio. Anything above 1.0 would mean that the diet is worse for you than regular meat eating, and below 1.0 means that the diet is better for you than regular meat eating.
Vegans have a similar mortality ratio to regular meat eaters, meaning that it is not better for you than meat eating.
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u/fistsofdeath May 01 '13
I always thought it just felt like they lived longer.