Vegetarians a third less likely to develop heart disease The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, followed 45,000 volunteers, a third of whom were vegetarian, for more than 11 years. Participants answered questions about their health and lifestyle when they were recruited in the 1990s, and almost half had tests to measure their blood pressure and cholesterol. By the time the study finished in 2009, there had been 1235 cases of heart disease among the group, including 169 deaths and 1066 hospitalisations. Among participants aged 50 to 70 years, 6.8 per cent of those who included meat or fish in their diet were admitted to hospital or died from heart disease during the study compared with 4.6 per cent of vegetarians. Tracy Parker, Heart Health Dietitian at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: "This research reminds us that we should try to eat a balanced and varied diet - whether this includes meat or not. Vegetarians were shown to eat more fruit, vegetables, whole grains and cheese than meat eaters. Eating less meat also leaves room for other nutritious protein-rich food, such as fish, pulses, nuts and eggs. People adopting a vegetarian diet should plan meals carefully to ensure they replace the vitamins and minerals they would normally get from meat, the charity said.