The benefits of eating vegetarian meals remain widely unrecognised. World Vegetarian Day provides the opportunity to increase awareness and have non-vegetarians also enjoy the benefits.

The consumption of red and processed meats is linked to increased risks of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and premature death; whilst vegetarian diets are associated with a lower incidence of obesity, coronary heart disease, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes.

Aside from health benefits there are also environmental gains. A person’s food footprint is calculated based on all the emissions resulting from the production, transportation and storage of food needed to meet their consumption; beef is the most carbon intensive meat to produce, followed by white meats and dairy.

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