This article suggests that the reason men are more affected by cardiovascular disease might be due to the higher amount of iron in ther bodies during their youth. It also says: As someone who's been trying a vegetarian diet for a couple of weeks, I wonder if I should be happy about this? I was actually worried about developing an iron deficiency and was thinking about how best to supplement it. Or is this one of those "pick your poison" situations? organicAnt, what do you think?One reason for that delay in onset of cardiovascular disease could be that women are relatively iron-deficient compared to men — especially younger women, those in their late teens and early 20s — because of menstruation. Iron plays a very important part in the reactions in our cells that produce damaging free radicals, which glom onto cell membranes and DNA, and may translate into aging the cell.
In fact, in our diets, red meat is the main source of iron, and lack of iron is probably one major reason that being vegetarian is healthy for you.