Does a vegetarian diet reduce the occurrence of diabetes?
We propose the hypothesis that a vegetarian diet reduces the risk of developing diabetes. Findings that have generated this hypothesis are from a population of 25,698 adult White Seventh-day Adventists identified in 1960. During 21 years of follow-up, the risk of diabetes as an underlying cause of death in Adventists was approximately one-half the risk for all US Whites. Within the male Adventist population, vegetarians had a substantially lower risk than non-vegetarians of diabetes as an underlying or contributing cause of death. Within both the male and female Adventist populations, the prevalence of self-reported diabetes also was lower in vegetarians than in non-vegetarians. The associations observed between diabetes and meat consumption were apparently not due to confounding by over- or under-weight, other selected dietary factors, or physical activity. All of the associations between meat consumption and diabetes were stronger in males than in females.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001835:Body Weight; D003644:Death Certificates; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014676:Diet, Vegetarian; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012306:Risk; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States