Although a vegetarian diet has many health benefits, eating meat may not be so terrible for you either, as long as you include plenty of vegetables, too, according to a new study.
In the study, the researchers looked at how different diets affected the types of bacteria in people's guts, and the levels of certain compounds that those gut bacteria produce. They found that not only did the people who ate vegetable-filled diets generally have higher levels of bacteria previously linked to plant-based diets, they also had higher levels of molecules called short-chain fatty acids, which gut bacteria produce and which are beneficial for health.
But diets that also included meat — such as the Mediterranean diet — didn't necessarily spell disaster for gut health. People in the study who closely followed the Mediterranean diet (and ate very little meat) had higher levels of short-chain fatty acids than those who followed it less closely.
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