I agree with everything else you've said, but the jury is definitely out on this one.
Life expectancy for Hong Kong is 84.7 years. [2]
Based on a comparison of 158 countries in 2013, Maldives ranked the highest in fish consumption per capita with 166 kg followed by Iceland and Hong Kong [3]
Hong Kong also beats most countries in beef consumption, out-eating Americans by nearly 50% per capita. [4]
So of the countries in the top 10 for life expectancy, we see a lot of meat in the diet. India has the most vegetarians of any country (at 38%). And their life expectancy ranks 133rd at 69.4 years.
[1] https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/ISL/iceland/life-expec... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expe... [3] https://www.helgilibrary.com/indicators/fish-consumption-per... [4] https://beef2live.com/story-world-beef-consumption-per-capit...
Hong Kong’s beef consumption doubled since 2003. I’d wager your average elderly American ate more meat in their life than your average Hong Kong resident.
Source: https://medium.com/@ecyY/meat-consumption-growth-in-hong-kon...
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/HKG/hong-kong/life-exp...
If you look at the article I linked to, it shows relatively flat beef consumption until the mid 2000s.
I’m not saying beef will kill you, but picking two or three rich countries that eat a lot of meat — and have a huge amount going for them in other ways — and comparing them to India is not science or a statistically significant thing. It’s like comparing teacher salaries and alcohol prices in the 1970s and saying one causes the other when they’re both the result of inflation.
You can look at the entire top 10 list of countries by life expectancy. They have plenty of meat consumption. There are no clinical studies implicating meat in shortened lifespans.
But people blindly spout off that a plant based diet is supposedly healthiest for you. There's no evidence to support that.
An alternative is to do something like follow second-generation Western people of Indian origin. I know at least one study of Tuberculosis in the UK tested the effect of vegetarianism there and used the British Asian sub-population to do so, so there's probably some info there too.
I don't know of any other large vegetarian groups.
> AGEs can also be encountered in foods, particularly foods that have been exposed to high temperatures, such as in grilling or frying.
I wonder if non plant based diets promote more grilling and frying hence the bad wrap.
From what I read physical fitness correlates much better with it than mental fitness.
Without the corrosive influence of social media, you might also be more likely to live a more authentic life that you find personally meaningful.
That said, I doubt everyone has the same relationship with social media that I had. I found myself influenced by it even in small doses, and it always felt like it was detracting from my wellbeing. Going cold turkey ended up being a life-changing decision for me and I wouldn't dream of going back.