Vegetarianism Linked to Reduced Cataract Risk

Vegetarians may have a reduced risk of developing age-related cataracts, according to a recent study.

Vegetarianism is a dietary practice that restricts or excludes the consumption of animal products. Various forms of vegetarianism exist. For example, lacto vegetarians do not consume meat or eggs but do consume dairy products, while vegans exclude all animal products from their diets, including dairy and eggs.

In a recent study, researchers in Britain evaluated the association between age-related cataracts and vegetarianism for 27,670 non-diabetic individuals over 40 years-old from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Oxford) with data from the Hospital Episode Statistics in England and Scottish Morbidity Records.

The researchers found that there was a significant association between vegetarianism and reduced cataract risk. When compared to high meat eaters, there was a progressive decrease in risk of cataracts for moderate meat eaters, low meat eaters, fish eaters (individuals who ate fish but no meat), vegetarians and vegans with risk ratios of 0.96, 0.85, 0.79, 0.70 and 0.60, respectively.

Additional research is necessary to further evaluate this potential association.

For more information about vegetarianism, please visit Natural Standard's Health & Wellness database.

References

Appleby PN, Allen NE, Key TJ. Diet, vegetarianism, and cataract risk. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 May;93(5):1128-35.

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