....or how to panic people with statistics.  

We all "know" that vegetarian diets are far more health than eating meat, or even fish.  Right?  

But is that really true?  And if so, what does it really mean anyway?  After all, 

There are lies, damned lies and statistics. -Mark Twain 

There was a recent article in the British Medical Journal, 

Risks of ischaemic heart disease and stroke in meat eaters, fish eaters, and vegetarians over 18 years of follow-up: results from the prospective EPIC-Oxford study, by Tong, et al. 

This study has a pretty decent size study group (48K subjects) and good follow up (18 years).  So what did they find?

First, there is a greater risk of ischemic heart disease in meat eaters, compared to vegetarians.  But wait, there is a second major finding in the paper also.  Vegetarians have a higher risk of hemorrhagic stroke during that same time period. 

Wow.... maybe...