The long-term health of vegetarians and vegans
Open accessAbstract
Vegetarians, who do not eat any meat, poultry or fish, constitute a significant minority of the world's population. Lacto-ovo-vegetarians consume dairy products and/or eggs, whereas vegans do not eat any foods derived wholly or partly from animals. Concerns over the health, environmental and economic consequences of a diet rich in meat and other animal products have focussed attention on those who exclude some or all of these foods from their diet. There has been extensive research into the nutritional adequacy of vegetarian diets, but less is known about the long-term health of vegetarians and vegans. We summarise the main findings from large cross-sectional and prospective cohort studies in western countries with a high proportion of vegetarian participants. Vegetarians have a lower prevalence of overweight and obesity and a lower risk of IHD compared with non-vegetarians from a similar background, whereas the data are equivocal for stroke. For cancer, there is some evidence that the risk for all cancer sites combined is slightly lower in vegetarians than in non-vegetarians, but findings for individual cancer sites are inconclusive. Vegetarians have also been found to have lower risks for diabetes, diverticular disease and eye cataract. Overall mortality is similar for vegetarians and comparable non-vegetarians, but vegetarian groups compare favourably with the general population. The long-term health of vegetarians appears to be generally good, and for some diseases and medical conditions it may be better than that of comparable omnivores. Much more research is needed, particularly on the long-term health of vegans.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The impact of micronutrient status on key measures of exercise performance or adaptive responses to training is minimal compared with macronutrients.
“Although the impact of micronutrient status on key measures of exercise performance or adaptive responses to training is minimal (in comparison with macronutrients), clearly any deficiencies play a role in overall health.”
From Nutritional Considerations for the Vegan Athlete (2023) · cites this paper as [227]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health
McMichael, A. J., Powles, J. W., Butler, C. D., & Uauy, R. (2007) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(07)61256-2 · Cited by 1,226 · see citing works
Position of the American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets
Craig, W. J., & Mangels, A. R. (2009) · Journal of the American Dietetic Association · doi:10.1016/j.jada.2009.05.027 · Cited by 1,039 · see citing works
Diabetes and obesity: the twin epidemics
Smyth, S., & Heron, A. (2006) · Nature Medicine · doi:10.1038/nm0106-75 · Cited by 643 · see citing works
Type of vegetarian diet, body weight, and prevalence of type 2 diabetes
Tonstad, S., Butler, T., Yan, R., & Fraser, G. E. (2009) · Diabetes Care · doi:10.2337/dc08-1886 · Cited by 641 · see citing works
Vegetarian dietary patterns and mortality in Adventist Health Study 2
Orlich, M. J., Singh, P. N., Sabaté, J., Jaceldo-Siegl, K., Fan, J., Knutsen, S., Beeson, W. L., & Fraser, G. E. (2013) · JAMA Internal Medicine · doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6473 · Cited by 607 · see citing works
Davey, G. K., Spencer, E. A., Appleby, P. N., Allen, N. E., Knox, K. H., & Key, T. J. (2003) · Public Health Nutrition · doi:10.1079/phn2002430 · Cited by 583 · see citing works
Self-citationKey, T. J., Fraser, G. E., Thorogood, M., Appleby, P. N., Beral, V., Reeves, G., Burr, M. L., Chang-Claude, J., Frentzel-Beyme, R., Kuzma, J. W., et al. (1999) · The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1093/ajcn/70.3.516s · Cited by 484 · see citing works
Self-citationVegetarian diets and incidence of diabetes in the Adventist Health Study-2
Tonstad, S., Stewart, K., Oda, K., Batech, M., Herring, R. P., & Fraser, G. E. (2013) · Nutrition Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases · doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2011.07.004 · Cited by 442 · see citing works
Health effects of vegetarian and vegan diets
Key, T. J., Appleby, P. N., & Rosell, M. (2006) · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · doi:10.1079/pns2005481 · Cited by 414 · see citing works
Self-citationPawlak, R., Lester, S. E., & Babatunde, T. (2014) · European Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1038/ejcn.2014.46 · Cited by 345 · see citing works
Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and the Risk of Colorectal Cancers
Orlich, M. J., Singh, P. N., Sabaté, J., Fan, J., Sveen, L. E., Bennett, H., Knutsen, S. F., Beeson, W. L., Jaceldo‐Siegl, K., Butler, T. L., et al. (2015) · JAMA Internal Medicine · doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.59 · Cited by 337 · see citing works
Crowe, F. L., Appleby, P. N., Allen, N. E., & Key, T. J. (2011) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.d4131 · Cited by 335 · see citing works
Self-citationBeyond meatless, the health effects of vegan diets: findings from the adventist cohorts
Le, L., & Sabaté, J. (2014) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu6062131 · Cited by 319 · see citing works
Crowe, F. L., Appleby, P. N., Travis, R. C., & Key, T. J. (2013) · The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.3945/ajcn.112.044073 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Oxford Vegetarian Study: an overview
Appleby, P. N., Thorogood, M., Mann, J. I., & Key, T. J. A. (1999) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1093/ajcn/70.3.525s · Cited by 258 · see citing works
Self-citationKey, T. J., Appleby, P. N., Spencer, E. A., Travis, R. C., Roddam, A., & Allen, N. E. (2009) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.26736l · Cited by 253 · see citing works
Self-citationVegetarian Dietary Patterns Are Associated With a Lower Risk of Metabolic Syndrome
Rizzo, N., Sabaté, J., Jaceldo‐Siegl, K., & Fraser, G. E. (2011) · Diabetes Care · doi:10.2337/dc10-1221 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
Vegetarian Diets and the Incidence of Cancer in a Low-risk Population
Tantamango-Bartley, Y., Jaceldo‐Siegl, K., Fan, J., & Fraser, G. E. (2012) · Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention · doi:10.1158/1055-9965.epi-12-1060 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Appleby, P. N., Davey, G. K., & Key, T. J. (2002) · Public Health Nutrition · doi:10.1079/phn2002332 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Self-citationMishra, S., Xu, J. Y., Agarwal, U., Gonzales, J., Levin, S., & Barnard, N. D. (2013) · European Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1038/ejcn.2013.92 · Cited by 240 · see citing works
Ten Years of Life: Is It a Matter of Choice?
Fraser, G. E., & Shavlik, D. J. (2001) · Archives of Internal Medicine · doi:10.1001/archinte.161.13.1645 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
Rosell, M., Appleby, P., Spencer, E., & Key, T. (2006) · International Journal of Obesity · doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0803305 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
Self-citationCohort Profile: The Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2)
Butler, T. L., Fraser, G. E., Beeson, W. L., Knutsen, S. F., Herring, R. P., Chan, J., Sabaté, J., Montgomery, S., Haddad, E. H., Preston‐Martin, S., et al. (2007) · International Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/ije/dym165 · Cited by 231 · see citing works
Comparative fracture risk in vegetarians and nonvegetarians in EPIC-Oxford
Appleby, P., Roddam, A., Allen, N., & Key, T. (2007) · European Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602659 · Cited by 217 · see citing works
Pettersen, B. J., Anousheh, R., Fan, J., Jaceldo‐Siegl, K., & Fraser, G. E. (2012) · Public Health Nutrition · doi:10.1017/s1368980011003454 · Cited by 214 · see citing works
Vegetarian and vegan diets in type 2 diabetes management
Barnard, N. D., Katcher, H. I., Jenkins, D. J., Cohen, J., & Turner-McGrievy, G. (2009) · Nutrition Reviews · doi:10.1111/j.1753-4887.2009.00198.x · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Risk of overweight and obesity among semivegetarian, lactovegetarian, and vegan women
Newby, P. K., Tucker, K. L., & Wolk, A. (2005) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1093/ajcn/81.6.1267 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
Key, T. J., Appleby, P. N., Crowe, F. L., Bradbury, K. E., Schmidt, J. A., & Travis, R. C. (2014) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.3945/ajcn.113.071266 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Self-citationType of vegetarian diet, obesity and diabetes in adult Indian population
Agrawal, S., Millett, C. J., Dhillon, P. K., Subramanian, S. V., & Ebrahim, S. B. J. (2014) · Nutrition Journal · doi:10.1186/1475-2891-13-89 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
A Two‐Year Randomized Weight Loss Trial Comparing a Vegan Diet to a More Moderate Low‐Fat Diet
Turner‐McGrievy, G. M., Barnard, N. D., & Scialli, A. R. (2007) · Obesity · doi:10.1038/oby.2007.270 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
The UK Women's Cohort Study: comparison of vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters
Cade, J. E., Burley, V. J., Greenwood, D. C., & UK Women's Cohort Study Steering Group (2004) · Public Health Nutrition · doi:10.1079/phn2004620 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Effect of vegetarian diets on bone mineral density: a Bayesian meta-analysis
Ho-Pham, L. T., Nguyen, N. D., & Nguyen, T. V. (2009) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.27521 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Turney, B. W., Appleby, P. N., REYNARD, J. M., Noble, J. G., Key, T. J., & Allen, N. E. (2014) · European Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s10654-014-9904-5 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Self-citationFarmer, B., Larson, B. T., Fulgoni, V. L. I., Rainville, A. J., & Liepa, G. U. (2011) · Journal of the American Dietetic Association · doi:10.1016/j.jada.2011.03.012 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Snowdon, D. A. (1988) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1093/ajcn/48.3.739 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
Vegetarian diets and bone status
Tucker, K. L. (2014) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.3945/ajcn.113.071621 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Obersby, D., Chappell, D. C., Dunnett, A., & Tsiami, A. A. (2013) · British Journal Of Nutrition · doi:10.1017/s000711451200520x · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Bradbury, K. E., Crowe, F. L., Appleby, P., Schmidt, J. A., Travis, R. C., & Key, T. J. (2013) · European Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1038/ejcn.2013.248 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Self-citationNutritional profile of Indian vegetarian diets – the Indian Migration Study (IMS)
Shridhar, K., Dhillon, P. K., Bowen, L., Kinra, S., Bharathi, A. V., Prabhakaran, D., Reddy, K. S., & Ebrahim, S. B. J. (2014) · Nutrition Journal · doi:10.1186/1475-2891-13-55 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Vegetarianism, dietary fiber, and mortality
Burr, M. L., & Sweetnam, P. M. (1982) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1093/ajcn/36.5.873 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Plasma lipids and lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations in people with different diets in Britain.
Thorogood, M., Carter, R., Benfield, L., McPherson, K., & Mann, J. I. (1987) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.295.6594.351 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Taiwanese Vegetarians and Omnivores: Dietary Composition, Prevalence of Diabetes and IFG
Chiu, T. H. T., Huang, H., Chiu, Y., Pan, W.-H., Kao, H., Chiu, J., Lin, M., & Lin, C. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088547 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Diet, vegetarianism, and cataract risk
Appleby, P. N., Allen, N. E., & Key, T. J. (2011) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.3945/ajcn.110.004028 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Self-citationShridhar, K., Dhillon, P. K., Bowen, L., Kinra, S., Bharathi, A. V., Prabhakaran, D., Reddy, K. S., Ebrahim, S. B. J., & for the Indian Migration Study group (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0110586 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Thorpe, D. L., Knutsen, S. F., Beeson, W. L., Rajaram, S., & Fraser, G. E. (2007) · Public Health Nutrition · doi:10.1017/s1368980007000808 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Ho-Pham, L. T., Vu, B. Q., Lai, T., Nguyen, N. D., & Nguyen, T. V. (2011) · European Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1038/ejcn.2011.131 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Prevalence of obesity is low in people who do not eat meat: Fig 1
Key, T. J., & Davey, G. K. (1996) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.313.7060.816 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Self-citationLousuebsakul, V., Thorpe, D. L., Knutsen, R., Beeson, W. L., Fraser, G. E., & Knutsen, S. F. (2013) · Public Health Nutrition · doi:10.1017/s1368980013002693 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Cade, J. E., Taylor, E. F., Burley, V. J., et al. (2010) · Nutrition and Cancer · doi:10.1080/01635580903441246 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Prevalence of hyperthyroidism according to type of vegetarian diet
Tonstad, S., Nathan, E., Oda, K., & Fraser, G. E. (2014) · Public Health Nutrition · doi:10.1017/s1368980014002183 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Mortality among German vegetarians: First results after five years of follow‐up
Frentzel‐Beyme, R., Claude, J., & Eilber, U. (1988) · Nutrition and Cancer · doi:10.1080/01635588809513978 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Japas, C., Knutsen, S. F., Dehom, S. O., Santos, H. D., & Tonstad, S. (2013) · Obesity Research & Clinical Practice · doi:10.1016/j.orcp.2013.11.007 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Venkatesh (1989) · doi:10.1002/1097-0142(19890801)64:3
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Allès, B., Baudry, J., Méjean, C., Touvier, M., Péneau, S., Hercberg, S., & Kesse-Guyot, E. (2017) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu9091023 · Cited by 367 · see citing works
Saini, R. K., Prasad, P., Sreedhar, R. V., Akhilender Naidu, K., Shang, X., & Keum, Y.-S. (2021) · Antioxidants · doi:10.3390/antiox10101627 · Cited by 337 · see citing works
Lee, Y., & Park, K. (2017) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu9060603 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
<p>Effects of Plant-Based Diets on Weight Status: A Systematic Review</p>
Tran, E., Dale, H. F., Jensen, C., & Lied, G. A. (2020) · Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy · doi:10.2147/dmso.s272802 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Perspective: The Public Health Case for Modernizing the Definition of Protein Quality
Katz, D. L., Doughty, K. N., Geagan, K., Jenkins, D. A., & Gardner, C. D. (2019) · Advances in Nutrition · doi:10.1093/advances/nmz023 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Nutritional Considerations for the Vegan Athlete
West, S., Monteyne, A. J., van der Heijden, I., Stephens, F. B., & Wall, B. T. (2023) · Advances in Nutrition · doi:10.1016/j.advnut.2023.04.012 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“micronutrient deficiencies may have and strategies to mitigate them [6,227,228].”
BackgroundJohannesen, C. O., Dale, H. F., Jensen, C., & Lied, G. A. (2020) · Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy · doi:10.2147/dmso.s265982 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
- Authors
- Appleby, P. N., & Key, T. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Appleby, Paul N.
- Venue
- Proceedings of The Nutrition Society
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2015-12-28
- Volume
- 75
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 287-293
- ISSN
- 0029-6651 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-2719
- OpenAlex
- W2232095045
- Cited by
- 268
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 35 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 5
- FWCI
- 1.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of The Nutrition Society (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Cancer Research UK (16491)
- Medical Research Council (MR/M012190/1)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Dietary Effects on Health
- Keywords
- vegetarians, vegans, long-term health, cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, stroke, cancer risk, diabetes mellitus, diverticular disease, cataract, mortality, obesity, meat consumption, plant-based diet
- MeSH terms
- Diet, Vegan, Cardiovascular Diseases, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Health Status, Humans, Neoplasms, Obesity, Risk Factors, Diet, Vegetarian, Weight Gain, Body Mass Index, Prevalence
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
