Nutrition & Diet "Vegetarian" diets linked to reduced risk of colorectal cancer

[Second Summer]

According to a new study by Dr. Michael J. Orlich, et al:

The results of the study revealed that individuals who ate a vegetarian diet were at a 22% lower risk of colorectal cancer, with a 19% reduced risk of colon cancer and a 29% reduced risk of rectal cancer, compared with participants who did not follow a vegetarian diet.

Looking at the results by the type of vegetarian diet followed, the team found pescovegetarians (who eat fish) had a 49% lower risk of colorectal cancer, lacto-ovo vegetarians (who eat milk and eggs) had an 18% lower risk, vegans had a 16% reduced risk, and semi-vegetarians were 8% less likely to develop the disease.

More: Vegetarian diet linked to reduced risk of colorectal cancer Medical News Today (10. March, 2015)

I wonder if the higher risk in vegans and vegetarians compared to pescetarians can be explained by the length of time that the study subject followed the diets. Pescetarinism might be easier to stick with long-term than real vegetarian diets. So the veg*ns who got cancer may not have been on the diets for very long, and the cancer could have come from their pre-veg*n eating habits. Alternatively, eating fish is somehow protecting people from these cancers ... which seems unlikely.

 

[ledboots]

They were 7th Day Adventists studied, so I suspect more of them had similar eating habits lifelong than most vegetarians.

 

[Mischief]

Alternatively, eating fish is somehow protecting people from these cancers ... which seems unlikely.

There's quite a bit of research supporting various health benefits of eating fish (as long as the fish aren't from a highly polluted environment).

That's quite apart from the ethical reasons to avoid eating fish of course, which I find paramount.

 

[flyingsnail]

Maybe vegans are more likely to eat heavily processed foods?