Pescatarian much ?

The longest lived Americans are pescatarians ...basically egg and milk eating vegetarians who also eat fish . Where do you fall on this spectrum?

I eat chicken and beef maybe three times a week out of 21 meals ( but i eat much more frequently than three times a day honestly)?

Do you have a source for that?

As far as I can find (professional data nerd here), there's no good data to back up her assertion.

There are "no significant differences in the mortality caused by [several types of] cancers and stroke between vegetarians and 'health-conscious' non-vegetarians." (Source)

As best I can see from other sources, veg*ns tend to be longer-lived, but it's because of the presence of veggies rather than the absence of meat. Additionally, people who are veg*n tend to avoid alcohol, avoid tobacco, and exercise more than others, so it's hard to separate the impact of diet versus other lifestyle factors when considering longevity.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1753-4887. 1997.tb06106.x

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrit ion/article/vegetarian-diets-lowmeat-diets-and-health-a-revi ew/CFE7D0A7ADA80651A3DC03892287BABA

https://www.nature.com/articles/0802300

Well, she did say that pescatarians are the longest live. And a pescatarian is a type of veg*an, so you technically are both in agreement, right?

I defer to the first study, which seems most comprehensive.

When you compare people by their type/degree of meat consumption, there is no difference in mortality.

Results are mixed from what I can find (as with almost any topic related to nutrition). The Adventist study is interesting because it actually breaks down various veg*ns into: non-vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian and vegan. The problem is that even "vegan" can mean so many things. You can be a vegan and live off of Coca Cola and Potato Chips - not great for your health.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4191896/

I also know that Blue Zone populations tend to eat very little meat - generally as flavoring or a few times a year on special occasions.

But again, I agree with you and suspect it has a lot to do with the high consumption of fruits and vegetables, and low consumption of processed foods. That is the one thing that the vast majority of nutritionists, scientists and doctors tend to agree on. Eat more fruits and vegetables - reduce processed foods. They argue vehemently about the rest.

Another consideration I haven't seen in any studies is socioeconomic status (SES). My gut says that strict vegans tend to be better-off from a financial standpoint; when you're poor, you don't have the luxury of a very specific diet. Therefore, those people gain all the other health benefits inherent to economic security, such as adequate healthcare.

Agree - not only do you not have the luxury of any specific diet, but when you are trying to stretch your dollar, your caloric bang for the buck will almost always end in junk food. You can get very high calorie density processed food for very cheap.

Then there is also access issues - my kids always say "you know you're in a decent part of town if you see a Whole Foods" Sad, but true. You don't see a lot of health food stores and local farmers markets in the poor inner-city neighborhood. A lot of the time you don't see grocery stores at all. I live in metro Detroit, and until a few years ago there were 0 grocery stores in all of Detroit proper. And it's geographically large. (as a side note, with the resurgence of Detroit, it not only has grocery stores, but a Whole Foods - see point above ;-) ). Plenty of liquor stores and gas stations though.

Well said!

I lived in an inner city Pittsburgh neighborhood in the late 90s. The local grocery store, a major chain a block away, had zero fruits or vegetables. Every so often you'd find a basket of bruised apples or over ripe bananas, but that was it. Even the frozen section was mostly barren of fruits/veggies. When I questioned the manager, his reasoning was that no one wanted them. I had to take a 30 minute bus ride to get fresh food. It was shocking.