> They also discovered “significantly higher" incidences of cancer in vegetarians, as well as increased rates of anxiety disorder and depression, although they note that this is inconsistent with other research.
Having scanned the original paper (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/jo...) this seems like p-value hacking. If you check table 3 they report the p-values for the chi-squared test that they did across disease categories and dietary habits, it seems they are using a threshold of p<0.05 as being significant. The problem is that they have repeated this test across ALL the different conditions without adjusting this threshold of significance, and then handpicking the ones that satisfy p<0.05. At the very least they should correct for this by using something like a Bonferroni correction (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonferroni_correction).
Having read (what I like to think as quite extensively) into the current research on the subject, I'd be inclined to dismiss these findings. Like said by /u/lawlorino elsewhere in the thread, the p values used seem questionable to say the least. There is also substantially more evidence to the contrary. I highly recommend Dr. Michael Greger's book "How Not to Die", and reading through the references section at the back. I've linked a summary of the book below but I do recommend reading it to completion[1]. It contains a vast selection of data that seems to directly oppose the evidence given in the linked article. While I personally disagree with Greger's recommendations on sodium intake (no one ever controls for potassium...), he's incredibly thorough with his research, albeit stretching slightly with some of his declarations (my criticisms with the book mirror that of the summary linked).
Anecdotally, myself and my father have been using Greger's 'daily dozen' app for the past year or so; myself fully vegan, him only eating animal product on weekends up until the beginning of this month where he has been trying veganism. I've managed to reduce my body fat by about 10% and reached a mental clarity I haven't ever had before, and my dad has come completely off his statin medication, reduced his body fat by closer to 15%, and in his words "feeling healthier now then I did in my 20's". I hate to sound preachy, but I only say this all because I want to help others. Please take the above article with a large pinch of salt.
Because the lack of knowledge to have a proper diet. Vegeterian is probably harder, and society is still lagging behind. But over all I would say probably healthier.
Having scanned the original paper (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/jo...) this seems like p-value hacking. If you check table 3 they report the p-values for the chi-squared test that they did across disease categories and dietary habits, it seems they are using a threshold of p<0.05 as being significant. The problem is that they have repeated this test across ALL the different conditions without adjusting this threshold of significance, and then handpicking the ones that satisfy p<0.05. At the very least they should correct for this by using something like a Bonferroni correction (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonferroni_correction).