h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"A study of 65,226 men and women indicated the more fruit and vegetables people ate, the less likely they were to die - at any age.
Seven a day cut death risk by 42%"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26818377

So what is the life expectancy of someone who eats zero portions of fruit and veg?

This story has put me in *such* a bad mood this morning (and I was grumpy to start with). So I can't offer any help on answering the question - I'm too cross. Sorry.

Mol

As a non-smoking, non-drinking vegan who spends 30 minutes each day exercising, I've actually lived forever.

I could never remember what vegans feed on then it struck me - attention.

Firstly, ignore any news story you see today, it's April 1st.

Secondly, having lived with a vegan for many years and eating mostly vegan food at home, what vegans mostly feed on is really good food.
As for the attention seeking, there's a few gobby ones as there are in any community, but I hear far more whinging from people taking the piss out of them that I hear from them.

Don't Vegans live long and prosper?

I thought that was Vogons?

Why is it when I have vegetarians over for dinner, I'm expected to cater to their faddy needs but when the roles are reversed do I get offered a steak at their place?

Some vegetarians I know will cook steak for visitors. Perhaps you should ask your friends?

Thanks Pasey - maybe we should hold a Vegan poetry contest

'Ode to a small lump of quinoa I found in my armpit...'

Tofu, or not tofu?
That is the quinoa.

Are militant vegans lactose intolerant?

Not usually.

Most people are vegan or vegetarian because they don't agree with the animal farming practices that are widespread. And it's thanks to their campaigning that things like battery farmed hens are illegal in Europe, and that organic (and better quality) meat is so widespread, meaning the costs have come down.

Whether you like them or not, whether you find them the butt of jokes or not, the meat that you so love (if you like good quality meat) is far more readily available because of their actions.

I'm sorry, did I just justify the existence of militant vegans?

I think that's cause for celebrating with a nice hamburger later

PP

as a red-meat eating, alcohol-drinking, non-exercising, smoker, who eats some limited vegetables, I just hope I've timed it correctly so I snuff it before I reach retirement age... Bad lifestyle choices is more a sensible retirement plan as far as I'm concerned Balance and moderation is the key.... balance all the essential food/nutrient groups; choclate, bacon, alcohol, cheese, nicotine, bread, butter, caffeine and eggs, and I doubt one can go far wrong

I'd say from my own experience that very few people eat their vegetables. I'd expect that the average life expectancy for the country is more or less at the value for zero portions of fruit and veg.

The life expectancy for Ireland and the US is 78 years, while the UK is slightly higher at 81. I'd guess that the "zero fruit" life expectancy is three years less than this.

Mol what exactly made you cross? The "nanny state" aspect? Or do you not like fruit and veg?

My entry for the Vegan Poetry Contest:

I eat my peas with syrup
Cos honey isn't vegan
I'll follow them with swedes,
Just as long as they're not Norwegian.

The only vegan I can think of at the moment is/was Jack LaLanne, who had almost unimaginable strength and lived to be 96. There are some who think he would have lived longer had he not been deficient in some nutrient only available in foods of animal origin [it's not Vitamin K2, as that's available from a fermented soy dish that Japanese love].

Wait, I think Toby Maguire is also a vegan.

There's a buffet-style Indian restaurant down the street from me, where you can choose between two buffets, one of which is vegetarian with some vegan dishes. I've tried both, and found that they were both delicious. There was a vegetarian Buddhist Chinese restaurant n downtown San Francisco that I enjoyed immensely in 1996.

Good vegan cuisine is as good as anything else out there. I'd advise people not to reject it out of hand.

George Bernard Shaw was a vegetarian, and some of his favorite dishes might have been vegan, though I know [having tried some of them] that some of them contained butter, so were not vegan. Shaw lived into his nineties, though he had a lifelong sweet tooth.