Live
- 13 killed, 18 injured as landslides, flash floods hit Indonesia's North Sumatra province
- Israeli PM seeks additional delay of testimony in court for criminal trial
- JAIN International Residential School, Bengaluru jointly with The Sports School to announce India’s First Integrated Scholarship Future25
- Sale certificate issued in pursuance to a court's auction not required to be stamped: Supreme Court
- Andhra Pradesh: Jagan flays Chandrababu-led govt for neglect of education
- Sri Lanka issues flood warnings for 12 flood-prone river basin areas
- IPL 2025 Auction: Venkatesh Iyer sold to KKR for Rs 23.75 cr, Stoinis joins PBKS for Rs 11 crore
- Kharge to lead Opposition strategy meeting as Parliament session kicks off on Monday
- Three killed in firing as violence breaks out amid Sambhal mosque survey in UP
- IPL 2025 Auction: Ravichandran Ashwin, Rachin Ravindra return to Chennai Super Kings
Pesco-vegetarian diet may help reduce mortality in older adults
Plant-based diet has long been touted as healthy, but it may not be enough for the sustenance of older people, claims a study on Friday, noting that including seafood may help.
New Delhi : Plant-based diet has long been touted as healthy, but it may not be enough for the sustenance of older people, claims a study on Friday, noting that including seafood may help.
The study, conducted by Loma Linda University, US, showed that a pesco-vegetarian diet -- which includes fish and other seafood as a primary source of protein, along with vegetarian elements -- may be a more viable option for elderly people.
Vegetarian diets are linked to a decreased risk of several cause-specific deaths as well as overall mortality, particularly in middle-aged and male participants.
However, very old vegetarians were, in the study, found to have somewhat greater risks for neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease, dementia, and stroke. But, the elderly on a pesco-vegetarian diet showed a small but noticeable advantage over other vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets.
“A vegetarian diet appears to offer protection from risk of death through middle-aged years, but once it helps people get into their 80s that overall advantage seems to disappear for those adhering to a strict vegetarian diet,” said Gary Fraser, professor at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health.
“These increased risks of neurological conditions among vegetarians in their 80s weren’t huge, but something is going on there that we shouldn’t ignore if we wish the vegetarian advantage to continue for all vegetarians in their later years,” Fraser added.
The study analysed data from a total of 96,000 participants, both American and Canadian natives. It found that vegetarians had a 12 per cent lower risk of death compared to non-vegetarians.
Participants with a pesco-vegetarian diet had an 18 per cent reduction in death, while those with a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet -- a diet that excludes meat, fish, and poultry but uses dairy and eggs -- had a 15 per cent reduction.
Vegans had a 3 per cent decrease in risk, with male vegans showing better results than females, so even by a narrow margin, pesco-vegetarian diets were deemed the best.
Overall this could very well become a new trend in the global lifestyle chart but this diet still warrants further study, said the team.
