Why Many Seventh-day Adventists Choose a Vegetarian Diet?

You may have an Adventist friend who is vegetarian, or maybe you’re attending a Seventh-day Adventist Church for the first time and notice the potluck doesn’t have any meat.

This isn’t unusual in Adventism.

In fact, about 36% of Adventists are lacto-ovo vegetarians, meaning they don’t eat meat or fish but may eat eggs or dairy. Another 16% eat fish or meat occasionally, according to Adventist Health Studies done by Loma Linda University.¹

At any rate, perhaps you’re wondering what their reasons are.

Vegetarianism is popular within Seventh-day Adventism because we value personal health and believe that a vegetarian diet is a good way to care for our bodies, maintain wellness, and honor God (1 Corinthians 6:20; 10:31; Romans 12:1-2). God originally gave human beings a vegetarian diet, according to Genesis 1:29, and today, research is increasingly showing the benefits of a diet low in animal products and high in fruits, vegetables, grains, and nuts.

However, the desire to serve God in this way is not meant to be a means to become “holier” or to somehow earn salvation. Adventists aim to live this way as a response to what God has done for us as human beings.

To further explain why vegetarianism is popular among Adventists, we’ll look at:

• Biblical reasons
• Scientific reasons
• Spiritual reasons

To start off, let’s turn to the Bible’s insights.

What the Bible says about a vegetarian diet

When we read about Adam and Eve living in the Garden of Eden, we find that God’s original plan for humanity included a plant-based diet. He told the new humans:

“See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food” (Genesis 1:29, NKJV).

And it makes sense that God would have provided Adam and Eve with food that would sustainably grow for them. And in a perfect world without death of any kind, the slaughter of animals would’ve been incomprehensible.

It wasn’t until after the flood that God directly permitted humans to eat meat (Genesis 9:3-4). After the flood, the earth’s vegetation had been destroyed and would take time to grow back and be able to provide food once again.

For this reason, God instructed Noah to bring on the ark seven of every “clean” animal (Genesis 7:2-3).

(Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 explain in more detail what is considered “clean” meat.)

After the time of the flood, most people throughout the rest of the Bible ate meat. It was a necessity in a society where fresh food wasn’t always easy to come by and couldn’t be preserved for long periods of time. So to meet their dietary needs, they hunted animals to provide for their families.

In some places today, too, being a vegetarian may not be as practical or provide enough necessary nutrition due to a lack of vegetarian options. But many Adventists who live in places with easy access to fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes year-round choose a vegetarian diet to eat as closely to the original diet as possible.

And modern science continues to show the benefits of eating this way, as we’ll look at in the next section.

What science says about a vegetarian diet

A balanced vegetarian diet, high in fruits, nuts, vegetables, and legumes, has numerous benefits for physical health, as revealed by research done over the past 20 years. Eating vegetarian is associated with:²

• Lower blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, and BMI
• Lower risk of heart disease
• Lower risk of cancer
• Lower risk of type 2 diabetes
• Lower risk of obesity³

Adventist Health Studies, conducted by Loma Linda University, have looked at the connection between lifestyle and health in Seventh-day Adventists. Adventist Health Study-1 surveyed more than 34,000 individuals over a 14-year period and found significant links between a high-fiber vegetarian diet and lower risks of cancer.

Adventist Health Study-2, which involved over 94,000 respondents, provided even more insight. It found that Adventists who did not eat meat had a smaller chance of developing type 2 diabetes.⁴

Another analysis of the data from the Adventist Health Study-2 found that Adventists who got protein from foods like lentils, nuts, and seeds had a lower risk of cardiovascular death than those who got protein from meat.⁵

The longevity of Adventists also speaks for their lifestyle and way of eating.

Researchers found that Adventist men in California who were vegetarian lived almost 10 years longer than their counterparts.⁶

In fact, Loma Linda, California, an area with a high concentration of Adventists, drew the attention of researcher Dan Buettner when he was studying “Blue Zones,” or places in the world where people live significantly longer (often to over 100 years old) and healthier lives than the average population.

He labeled Loma Linda as one of those Blue Zones because of the many Seventh-day Adventists there who are health conscious and eat a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Though diet is not the only factor for health and longevity in the Blue Zones, it’s a significant one. Most Blue Zone residents eat 95% vegetarian, consuming meat rarely and focusing on unprocessed, whole foods like legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and whole grains. If they do eat meat, it’s generally lean meat, like fish, and little to no red meat.⁷

The health benefits of being vegetarian coincide with Adventists’ desire to honor God by being good stewards of the bodies God gave us, striving to maintain well-being in as many ways as possible. Let’s look at that next.

Spiritual reasons Adventists choose vegetarianism

Alongside striving toward eco-friendliness and kindness to animals, Adventists find healthy living to be a good way to serve and honor God to the best of our abilities. One passage we turn to in Scripture is 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (NKJV).

Because our bodies are “the temple of the Holy Spirit”—the means through which God speaks to our minds—we seek to care for our bodies, mentally, spiritually, and physically. So it makes sense for good health to be a priority.

Eating healthy is one aspect of that. It helps to keep our minds clear, making it easier to grow closer to God and serve Him more effectively.

The apostle Paul sums up this idea of honoring God in his letter to the Corinthian church:

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31, NKJV).

And that’s really what it’s all about—serving God and orienting our lives toward Him. Making healthy choices supports that ultimate desire.