
Adapted from BMJ 13 September 2025
A longitudinal study of 100,000 Seventh Day Adventists in the USA and Canada indicated that they got 10-20% fewer cancers than non-vegetarians.
The largest reductions were for breast, colorectal, prostate, stomach and lymphoproliferative cancers.
There could be several reasons for this:
They have a higher intake of fruits, nuts and legumes which are rich in protective phytochemicals.
They don’t eat any meat, including red and processed meats which are linked to a higher risk of gastro-intestinal malignancy.
The vegetarians studied also had a lower rate of obesity, and were also less likely to smoke or drink alcohol.
But…are they happy?
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