Benefits of Living a Vegetarian Life

A growing number of people are moving toward plant-based eating, whether that's cutting out meat entirely or just eating a lot less of it. Here's an honest look at why people make the switch, what the research actually shows, and the one nutrient worth paying attention to if you do.

Vegetarian or Vegan? It's Worth Being Clear

The two get used interchangeably a lot, but they're not the same thing. Vegetarians typically still eat dairy and eggs, just not meat or fish. Vegans cut out all animal products, including dairy, eggs and honey. This matters because some of the research on plant-based diets, including a study we'll come to on asthma, was specifically on vegan diets, not vegetarian ones, and the nutritional considerations differ between the two.

Why People Choose It

Reasons generally fall into two camps: environmental and ethical (discomfort with eating animals). On the environmental side, a large 2023 Oxford study analysing over 55,000 people's diets (Scarborough et al., published in Nature Food) found vegan diets produced about a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions of a high-meat diet, with vegetarian and low-meat diets sitting in between. Plenty of people land somewhere in between fully meat-free and their old diet, cutting back significantly without going all the way.

One common myth worth clearing up: you don't need to carefully combine specific proteins at every single meal to get all your amino acids, that idea dates back to a 1970s book and has since been dropped by mainstream nutrition guidance. Eating a variety of protein sources, beans, grains, nuts, tofu, across the day is enough for most people.

What the Research Actually Shows

Heart health

A well-known 2013 study from the EPIC-Oxford cohort (Crowe et al., published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition) followed over 44,000 people and found vegetarians were about a third less likely to be hospitalised for, or die from, ischaemic heart disease than non-vegetarians, after accounting for other factors like smoking and activity levels. Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol and higher in fibre, which is the likely mechanism.

Asthma

A small Swedish study from 1985 (Lindahl et al.) put 24 long-term asthma patients on a vegan diet for a year; by the end, the great majority had reduced or stopped their asthma medication, with clear improvements in lung function tests. It's an old, small study rather than a modern gold-standard trial, and it tested a vegan diet specifically, not a vegetarian one, but it's a genuine, published result worth knowing about rather than a myth.

Bone health

A 1988 Michigan study (Marsh et al.) compared long-term lacto-ovo-vegetarian women (20 or more years on the diet) with closely matched omnivores, and found the vegetarians had lost noticeably less bone mineral by age 80, around 18% compared with around 35% in the omnivore group. Calcium, vitamin D, phosphorus and magnesium all play a role in bone health, and none of them require meat, dairy-free sources include tofu, dried beans, soy milk, and dark leafy greens like broccoli and kale.

Nutrients Worth Keeping an Eye On

Vitamin B12

B12 is found almost exclusively in animal products, so it's the nutrient most worth planning for. Vegetarians who still eat dairy and eggs usually get enough without much thought, since milk, cheese, yoghurt and eggs are all genuine sources. Vegans need to be more deliberate, reliable sources include fortified breakfast cereals, fortified plant milks, and nutritional yeast, but only if it's specifically labelled as fortified, plain nutritional yeast doesn't contain B12 on its own, so it's worth checking the packet rather than assuming. The UK reference intake for adults is around 1.5 micrograms a day. Worth knowing: foods sometimes claimed as B12 sources for vegans, like spirulina, seaweed and tempeh, don't reliably provide B12 your body can actually use, so they shouldn't be relied on in place of fortified foods or a supplement. Deficiency can take months or years to show symptoms, so it's genuinely worth getting right rather than assuming it'll be fine.

Zinc

Zinc from plant sources, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds and wholegrains, is less easily absorbed than zinc from meat, because plants also contain compounds called phytates that bind to it. Soaking, sprouting or fermenting pulses and grains (think proper sourdough, or soaking beans before cooking) reduces phytate content and improves absorption. It's a smaller concern than B12, but worth knowing about if you're eating a lot of your protein from beans and grains.

A Few Balanced Meal Ideas

Getting a vegetarian or vegan meal genuinely balanced is mostly about combining a protein source with something that helps you absorb it well:

• Lentil and vegetable curry with rice, and a spoonful of yoghurt on the side. Lentils bring protein, iron and zinc, and the yoghurt (dairy for vegetarians, a fortified plant yoghurt for vegans) adds calcium and, if fortified, B12.
• Chickpea and tofu stir-fry with a tahini sauce, finished with a sprinkle of fortified nutritional yeast. Chickpeas and tofu cover protein, iron and zinc, tahini adds calcium, and the nutritional yeast (check it's labelled fortified) adds B12 and a cheesy flavour, genuinely useful for a fully vegan meal.
• Beans on wholemeal toast with a grilled tomato and a handful of spinach. An easy one: the vitamin C in the tomato actually helps your body absorb the iron from the beans and spinach better, so this simple combination does more nutritionally than it looks like it should.

If You're Curious About Trying It

You don't need to make a single, all-or-nothing decision. A few genuinely useful starting points:

1. Swap one meal a week for a vegetarian one before trying to change everything at once.
2. Watch out for ultra-processed meat substitutes. Some are a genuinely healthy swap; others are high in salt and additives, so it's worth reading the label rather than assuming "vegetarian" automatically means "healthier."
3. Get comfortable reading labels for hidden animal-derived ingredients like gelatine, rennet, or certain E-numbers, if that matters to you.
4. Plan your protein, B12 and zinc sources rather than leaving them to chance, beans, lentils, tofu, eggs and dairy (if you eat them), and a supplement if needed.

Whether you go fully vegetarian, mostly plant-based, or just eat a bit less meat, the genuine health case is there, but it's worth going in with your eyes open about what the evidence actually supports and what you'll need to plan for.

Studies referenced: Crowe et al., Am J Clin Nutr, 2013 (EPIC-Oxford cohort); Lindahl et al., 1985 (vegan diet and bronchial asthma); Marsh et al., 1988 (vegetarian lifestyle and bone mineral density, Michigan); Scarborough et al., Nature Food, 2023 (dietary greenhouse gas emissions, Oxford). B12 and zinc guidance based on UK reference intakes and the British Dietetic Association.