Vegetarianism and Lifespan : What does the East West divide tell us?

India provides a rich contrast between presumably similar genetics but different dietary habits. There is a clear divide between the East and the West. Because India is the “original melting pot,” with many different human migrations into the sub-continent, it is highly likely that under the common brown skin, black hair and eyes, lie a plethora of ancestry and genetic pools. Nevertheless the country provides a long-run experiment to answer vexing questions around dietary habits and health.

Expected Lifespan at Birth

On the surface, there appears to be a positive correlation between lifespan and vegetarianism. If one were to regress the percentage of population who are vegetarians against expected lifespan over the minimum (62.5 is used as the baseline minimum), we cannot find any relationship.

One thing that stands out is that non-vegetarianism shows a much higher variation in lifespan compared to vegetarianism. Again, this may be explained by institutional differences by state (such as better healthcare) and genetic variation. However, in the Indian context, vegetarianism does lead to higher predictability in expected lifespan.

If one were to eliminate the outlier, Kerala, where known institutional differences exist, we do see a small positive correlation between vegetarianism and lifespan. However, this is not statistically relevant.

Policy makers should carefully consider the relationship between health and dietary habits. In India, the institutional aspects, such as healthcare and education may be more important than diet.