Well, we follow different diets according to our body's needs. However, a study claimed on Friday that a plant-based diet can be touted as healthy but it is not enough for the sustenance of older people; thus, including seafood may help. Now, a diet that includes both vegetables as well as fish is known as a pescatarian diet.
What is a pescatarian diet?
A vegetarian diet that includes fish or other aquatic animals is known as a pescatarian diet. Those who adhere to this diet regimen are occasionally referred to as pesco-vegetarians or pescatarians.
Apart from consuming seafood, there are no hard rules to distinguish between being a vegetarian or a pescatarian. The frequency of fish consumption required to be classified as a pescatarian is not set in stone.
About the recent study
The study, conducted by Loma Linda University, US, showed that a pesco-vegetarian diet which includes fish and other seafood as a primary source of protein, along with vegetarian elements may be a more viable option for elderly people.
Vegetarian diets are linked to a decreased risk of several cause-specific deaths as well as overall mortality, particularly in middle-aged and male participants.
However, very old vegetarians were, in the study, found to have somewhat greater risks for neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease, dementia, and stroke. But, the elderly on a pesco-vegetarian diet showed a small but noticeable advantage over other vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets.
“A vegetarian diet appears to offer protection from risk of death through middle-aged years, but once it helps people get into their 80s that overall advantage seems to disappear for those adhering to a strict vegetarian diet,” said Gary Fraser, professor at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health.
“These increased risks of neurological conditions among vegetarians in their 80s weren’t huge, but something is going on there that we shouldn’t ignore if we wish the vegetarian advantage to continue for all vegetarians in their later years,” Fraser added.
The study analysed data from a total of 96,000 participants, both American and Canadian natives. It found that vegetarians had a 12 per cent lower risk of death compared to non-vegetarians.
Participants with a pesco-vegetarian diet had an 18 per cent reduction in death, while those with a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, a diet that excludes meat, fish, and poultry but uses dairy and eggs had a 15 per cent reduction.
Vegans had a 3 per cent decrease in risk, with male vegans showing better results than females, so even by a narrow margin, pesco-vegetarian diets were deemed the best.
Overall this could very well become a new trend in the global lifestyle chart but this diet still warrants further study, said the team.
(With IANS Inputs)
ALSO READ: Want stronger bones? Add a slice of cheese to your diet, know other benefits
