Vegetarianism a key to longer life

Simon Sheridon has been a vegetarian for nine years.

Rob Williams

BECOMING a vegetarian may be one of the simplest ways to increase life expectancy.

This was confirmed by recent research that indicated such a diet could almost halve the risk of developing cancer.

Vegetarians were reported to be twice less vulnerable to developing lymph and blood cancers including leukaemia, multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Published in the British Journal of Cancer, the study also found vegetarians developed fewer cancers of the bladder and stomach.

Bellbird Park acupuncturist Simon Sheridon has been a vegetarian for nine years and said going without meat reduced his stress levels and improved his awareness of the world around him.

“When an animal is killed they are in a state of fear and great stress so by eating another entities fear you increase your own stress levels,” Mr Sheridon said.

“One day nine years ago it just came over me that I didn't need to eat anything that has a mother.

“So I made a change and the benefits have been mind blowing on many, many levels.”

Mr Sheridon said although it was not for everyone, being a vegetarian was slowly becoming more accepted in Australian restaurants and culture.

Mr Sheridon said while there were health benefits it was important to know how to combine the remaining foods to keep a nutritious, balanced diet.

University of Oxford Professor Tim Key said during a lifetime about one in three people would be diagnosed with cancer.

“So if 33 people in every hundred get cancer this would come down to about 29 with everyone following a vegetarian diet which is 12 per cent lower,” he said.

“Our study looking at cancer risk in vegetarians found the likelihood of people developing some cancers is lower among vegetarians than among people who eat meat,” he said.

“In terms of what explains this we have to look at what other research is going on.

“For stomach cancer there is already quite a lot of evidence that high intake of food such as processed meat may increase risk.”

The research was conducted on more than 61,000 individuals aged between 20 and 89 and found those who did not eat meat reduced overall incidence of the disease by 12 per cent.

The study looked at 20 different types of cancers and found the differences in risks between vegetarians and meat eaters were independent of other lifestyle factors including smoking, alcohol intake and obesity.