Mortality Is Higher For Meat-Eaters, Study Of 1.5 Million People Says

"Is Meat Killing Us?" may sound like a sensationalistic headline from the 10 o'clock news, but it's a real study by the Mayo Clinic published in the American Osteopathic Association. A large-scale review of the eating habits of 1.5 million people found that mortality is higher for those who eat meat, specifically red or processed meat.We already knew that processed meats were shortening our lives, but now we know: It's not just bacon.

"This data reinforces what we have known for so long — your diet has great potential to harm or heal," said Brookshield Laurent, DO, at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine. "This clinical-based evidence can assist physicians in counseling patients about the important role diet plays, leading to improved preventive care, a key consideration in the osteopathic philosophy of medicine."

On average, those with a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle lived 3.6 years longer than those on a meat-eating diet, or a short-term vegetarian lifestyle.