A longitudinal study of various vegetarian diets shows a 12 per cent overall reduced risk of all cancers and strong support for the finding in less-studied, medium- frequency cancers, such as stomach and lymphomas.
The study, conducted by Loma Linda University Department of Research Affairs, examined data from tens of thousands of Seventh-day Adventists vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Researchers used data from the Adventist Health Study-2, a cohort of nearly 96,000 people who identify as Seventh-day Adventist and lived in the United States and Canada during the study’s baseline recruitment between 2002 and 2007, with follow-up through 2015. Researchers used data from nearly 80,000 people from the study, about half of whom were vegetarian.
Researchers found that a vegetarian diet was associated with even greater risk reduction of stomach cancer, as high as 45 per cent, as well as lymphomas by 25 per cent. The study also offered solid evidence confirming previous studies that vegans have lower risks of the common breast and prostate cancers (by about 25 per cent). Further, vegetarian diets overall also offer major risk reduction of colorectal, and stomach cancers, and this report adds new evidence about their lower risk of lymphomas The risk of colorectal cancer was reduced by approximately 20 per cent with a vegetarian diet, he said.
Source: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2025
