Meat eating Kashmiri women less prone to diseases: Study

Srinagar, Jan 29: Women, who take non-vegetarian meals five-times a week are likely to grow strong immunity to fight against several diseases, a study suggests.

It was revealed in a study jointly conducted by the doctors at All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Delhi, and Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS).

The study was conducted on dietary habits of women during the year 2014-2018 between the age group 18- 40 both from the Kashmir valley and Delhi.

The study showed women who consume non-vegetarian meals five-times in a week fall less prone to diseases such as diabetes, cardiac aliments, cancer and obesity as compared to those on a vegetarian diet.

Dr Ashraf Ganie, Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism at SKIMS, who headed the study at AIIMS, Delhi, when he was Associate Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism told The Kashmir Monitor that there are many other notions in this world, which cannot be “justified”.
“Our result is based on the four year research conducted by the team of doctors.”

He said, “We all are well known to the fact that consumption of vegetarian diet has low risk of life threatening diseases but the study showed that Indian vegetarian foods are contrary to the fact. We checked the inflammatory markers and insulin resistance in both categories and found that the parameters were better in women from Kashmir who consumed non-vegetarian food.”

A total of 464 women were enrolled from Delhi and Kashmir. Women who consumed meat (203) were selected from Kashmir, while those who were vegetarian (261) were from Delhi. This included women who were healthy as well as those suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).

A total of 144 women were suffering from PCOS and 320 were healthy. They were divided on the bases of their dietary preferences — vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism.

Moreover, Dr Ashraf Ganie also said that in second phase of study the researchers are checking if the genetic and pollution patterns in both states have any role to play.

He added, “Insulin resistance is a common link between these diseases. “We will further study if the diets have some components which are pro-inflammatory,” he added.