Benefits of a vegetarian diet

Vegetarian diets are usually rich in carbohydrates, omega-6 fatty acids, dietary fibre, carotenoids, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium and magnesium. They contain lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein.
Studies show that the health of vegetarians compares favourably with that of non-vegetarians. British vegetarians have lower death rates than non-vegetarians, although this is at least partly due to non-dietary lifestyle factors, such as a low prevalence of smoking and the generally high socioeconomic status of vegetarians, or to aspects of the diet other than the avoidance of meat and fish.
Notably, vegetarians avoid the negative health effects of animal protein including red meat. One review found that mortality from coronary heart disease was 24% lower in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians. Studies of cancer have not shown clear differences in cancer rates between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. There is evidence that vegetarians tend to have a lower body mass index, lower risk of obesity, lower blood cholesterol levels, lower homocysteine levels , lower risk of high blood pressure, and lower risk of type 2 diabetes. One large prospective study found that non-meat-eaters had only half the risk of meat eaters of requiring an emergency appendectomy.
Vegetarians are less likely to die by choking on food since the most common food to obstruct the airway is fish, which caused about 4,500 accidents a year in the UK as of 1998. Meat, poultry and bones were cited as the next three most common causes of choking, followed by sweets and non-food objects

Article Source : www. wikipedia.org