Heart Attacks, Strokes, Vegetarians, Vegans and Headlines: A Few Comments

Amidst the worlds sorrow watching Hurricane Dorian pound the Bahamas, headlines started appearing in the media with almost the same force reporting that vegetarian and vegan diets may increase stroke risk. Some of the headlines were more responsible than others in reflecting the actual published data, but the debate for steak or sprouts was fueled once again. What was the reason for this turmoil and what were some of the nuances headlines do not reveal?

1) The Study

The study was summarized in the British Medical Journal below:

“The EPIC-Oxford study, a cohort in the United Kingdom with a large proportion of non-meat eaters, recruited across the country between 1993 and 2001.

Participants 48 188 participants with no history of ischaemic heart disease, stroke, or angina (or cardiovascular disease) were classified into three distinct diet groups: meat eaters (participants who consumed meat, regardless of whether they consumed fish, dairy, or eggs; n=24 428), fish eaters (consumed fish but no meat; n=7506), and vegetarians including vegans (n=16 254), based on dietary information collected at baseline, and subsequently around 2010 (n=28 364).