A pescatarian diet may protect older adults from neurological diseases such as stroke, dementia and Parkinson’s disease, according to scientists at Loma Linda University (LLU).
The scientists classified all non-meat diets as “vegetarian”, including pescatarian and vegan diets, and compared this with data from people following “non-vegetarian” or “semi-vegetarian” diets.
They concluded that a ‘vegetarian’ diet could help people live longer, with fish consumption providing the greatest benefits to people around the age of 85.
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“Overall, this is some of the clearest data yet showing that American vegetarians are better protected from premature death than non-vegetarians,” said lead researcher Professor Gary Fraser.
The study analysed data from 88,400 Seventh-day Adventist members recruited from the United States and Canada and found that vegetarians had an overall lower risk of death of about 12% compared to non-vegetarians during the study period (2002-2015).
Specifically, participants who followed a pescatarian diet had an 18% reduced risk of death, those who followed a traditional vegetarian diet – abstaining from meat and fish but consuming eggs and milk – had a 15% reduced risk of death, and vegans had a less than 3% reduced risk of death over the study period.
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There were also gender differences: male vegans fared much better than male meat eaters, but the opposite was true for female subjects, who appeared to be at higher risk.
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Although the middle-aged subjects appeared to benefit from a vegetarian diet, older vegetarians who didn’t eat fish were found to be at higher risk of developing stroke, dementia and Parkinson’s disease than fish eaters.
“The increased risk of neurological disease for vegetarians in their 80s is not huge, but something is going on that can’t be ignored if we want the vegetarian advantage to continue into old age,” Fraser said.
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The protective effect of fish may be due to the high content of beneficial fatty acids called omega-3 DHA and EPA in fish and seafood, which have been shown to have a positive effect on brain health.
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reference
Abris, GP, Shavlik, DJ, Mathew, RO, Butler, FM, Oh, J., Sirirat, R., Sveen, LE, Fraser, GE (2024). Cause-specific and all-cause mortality in vegetarian and non-vegetarian participants in the Adventist Health Study 2 cohort. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (n/a)Not applicable. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.07.028
