You may protect yourself from heart disease.
Several large studies involving more than 76,000 men and women have compared vegetarians and non-vegetarians with similar lifestyles. The results demonstrate that death from ischemic heart disease (caused by severe narrowing or closing of the coronary arteries) was 24% lower in vegetarians than in carnivores—perhaps due in part to lower levels of inflammation. "Plant-based diets have been proven time and again to be anti-inflammatory," asserts Emily Bailey, RD, director of nutrition coaching, sports nutrition, eating disorders, and weight management at NutriFormance in St. Louis.