Vegetarian women likely to weigh less than meat eaters

In a study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It has been reported that women who eat no meat are less likely to be overweight or obese than those who eat meats. More than 55,000 Swedish women were studied and the researchers found vegetarians and vegans tend to weigh less and were leaner than those who ate animal foods. The study defined vegetarians as those who ate no meat, fish or eggs except for dairy products (also called lacto-vegetarians) and those who sometimes ate fish or eggs (semi-vegetarians). Vegans ate no animal products including dairy.

The researchers findings were that the vegetarians were 50 percent less likely to be overweight or obese. Among the meat eating women 40% were likely to be overweight or obese Vegans also had the low body mass index (BMI) in comparison to meat eaters.