Scientists at Loma Linda University in California looked at over 26,000 men, and for the first time, assessed the link between prostate cancer and various types of diet including non-vegetarian, pescatarian and vegan diets.
"The evidence around the disease-preventative qualities of the vegan diet is now overwhelming. Time and again we are seeing new research showing the vegan diet to be significantly better for our health," said Jimmy Pierce, spokesperson for The Vegan Society.
Vegetarians have 35 per cent reduced risk of developing prostate cancer, the study funded by World Cancer Research Fund, a group related to cancer prevention research, said.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK with over 47,000 new cases annually. Over 10,000 men die of the cancer each year and worldwide it is the second most common cancer in men after lung cancer.
Today's findings are very similar to those published by the American Society for Nutrition in 2014 which concluded that high intakes of dairy products may increase prostate cancer risk. It also comes just months after the World Health Organisation classified processed meat as carcinogenic to humans, on a par with tobacco.