2024-10-04 19:46:53
Every day more and more people are adopting a vegetarian diet with the aim of improving their health. But stop eating meat and fish can be harmful in old age, particularly in terms of the risk of dementia, a new US study shows.
Scientists from Loma Linda University Health in California found that most vegetarian diets are associated with a lower risk of disease in middle-aged people. However, the opposite happens with people over the age of 65.
The researchers observed slightly higher risks among very elderly vegetarians from diseases such as stroke, dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
However, when fish is added to the diet, this risk is significantly reduced and associated with it a lower risk of death.
The study, published in August on American Journal of Clinical Nutritionthey used dietary data from 88,000 people ages 30 to 85 from Canada and the United States, including 12,500 deaths. Participants were recruited between 2002 and 2007 and followed up in 2015.
The participants they were divided into five categories depending on their diet: non-vegetarians, semi-vegetarians, pescatarians (those who ate fish), lacto-ovo-vegetarians (those who ate dairy products and eggs) and vegans.
Overall, those who ate a vegetarian diet had about a 12 percent lower risk of contracting this disease than those who ate meat. But people who followed a vegetarian diet but also ate fish (peschetarians) they had an 18% lower risk of death.
The researchers also looked at the benefits of the addition dairy products and eggs to a vegetarian diet and found that this reduced the risk of death by a further 15%.
Vegans, who don’t eat animal products, had only a 3 percent lower risk of death. However, the study found that although the vegetarian diet offered protection against the risk of death for middle-aged people, those in their 80s haven’t seen as many benefits.
The principal investigator of the study, Prof Gary Fraserexplained that there is a greater risk of neurological diseases among vegetarians over the age of 80.
This may be because a vegetarian diet that does not include fish may lack vital nutrients, such as fatty acidswhich can help the brain.
The Mediterranean diet, which also includes the consumption of a variety of fruits and vegetables, is believed to be oily fish, such as salmon and mackerel, It is useful because it has a high antioxidant content.
Add oily fish to a diet, which It is rich in omega-3it might also help brain health. That’s because omega-3, which is also a type of fat found in cell membranes, is important for the brain from development in the womb through adulthood.
It is believed that omega-3s may help reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, both of which contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
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