KEY POINTS

  • Many people would want to live long and healthy lives
  • There is one diet that many health experts say is very effective at increasing longevity
  • This is the famous vegan diet

The goal to live a long and satisfying life often involves looking for ways to reducing the threat of developing lasting complications. In the UK, two of the major killers are obesity and heart disease. This means taking action to minimize the risk of getting trapped in these ailments is important to attain longevity. Diet plays a major role in shielding you from life-threatening complications, with some diets offering lots of health benefits.

Vegan Diet Works

There is mounting evidence that vegan diets, for instance, helps in countering threats posed by deadly ailments like heart disease. The vegan diet, according to the NHS, contains only those products which are plant-based. These include nuts, vegetables, fruits, and grains. This diet eliminates food coming from animals, including eggs and dairy products.

Vegan Diet
Pictured: A plant-based meal. Rita E - Pixabay

It was revealed by a large-scale analysis that among the main health benefits of a plant-based diet is it reduces your risk of dying from a stroke or heart attack. It also boosts the health of your heart.

Proven By Research

The findings, which were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, were established after conducting an analysis of food consumption information from over 10,000 middle-aged adults in America. The monitoring of these adults began in 1987 and went on until 2016.

All of the participants did not show any signs or symptoms of cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study. Researchers then categorized the eating patterns of the participants according to the proportion of plant-based foods they consumed versus animal-based foods.

What Researchers Found

Overall, researchers concluded that those who consumed the most plant-based meals had a 16% lower risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease like heart failure, heart attacks, stroke, and other conditions. Those who consumed plant-based foods the most were found to be at 32% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases. They also enjoy a 25% lower risk of dying from any other cause as compared to people who consumed the least quantity of plant-based foods.

Additionally, researchers also established that being on a vegan diet for at least 16 weeks is enough to see positive improvements in blood sugar management, body composition, and weight. Researchers presented their findings during the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. They said that those who were on a vegan diet for 16 weeks improved gut microbes. The human gastrointestinal microbiota, also known as gut microbiota, is a microorganism living in the human digestive tract. They play an important role in regulating weight, metabolic syndrome development, and type 2 diabetes.

The authors of the study said that a low-fat vegan diet for 16 weeks brought major changes in gut microbiota. These changes were linked to improvements in insulin sensitivity of obese adults, body composition, and weight. All of these helped in improving the lifespan of the participant.