Vegetarians Are 32 % Less Likely To Die From Heart Attack

A study of 44,500 people in England and Scotland shows vegetarians were 32 % less likely to die from heart diseases or need hospitalization than those eating meat or fish. Difference in cholestrol level, blood pressure and body weight are thought to be behind the health boost. The findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Heart diseses is a major cause of death in Western countries. It kills more than 94,000 people in UK each year-- more than from any other disease and 2.6 milllion people live with the condition. The heart's own blood supply is blocked up by fatty deposites in the arteries that nourish heart muscle. It can cause angina or even lead to heart attack if the blood vessels are blocked completely. Scietists at the University of Oxford analyzed data from 15,100 vegetarians and 29,400 from the people who ate meat and fish. Over the course of 11 years, 169 people in the study died from the heart disease and 1066 needed hospital treatment- and they were more likely to heve been meat and fish eaters than vegetarians. The results showed the vegetarians had lower blood pressure, lower level of bad cholestrol and were more likely to have healthy weight.