Vegan and vegetarian diets might seem like the healthy choice, but scientists now say that avoiding meat could scupper your chances of reaching 100.

According to a major Chinese study, meat eaters are actually more likely to reach the milestone age than their plant-eating counterparts.

Even after accounting for factors like exercise and smoking, people who cut meat out of their diet were 19 per cent less likely to make it to 100 compared to omnivores. 

This trend was the most pronounced among vegans, who are a staggering 29 per cent less likely to become centenarians. 

Vegetarians, who still eat eggs and dairy, were only slightly more likely to make it to 100, with their odds being 14 per cent worse than those of meat eaters.

Even trendy pescetarian diets, which include fish, were linked with reduced odds of reaching 100.

The researchers suggest that these stark differences could be because older people need more nutrients than vegetarian diets can provide.

Lead author Dr Xiang Gao, of Fudan University, says: 'Our study suggests that in adults aged 80 years and older, a diet including both plant and animal-derived foods may better support survival to 100 years than a strictly vegetarian pattern, especially for those who are underweight.' 

The study looked at 5,203 participants in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, who were all 80 or older when the survey began in 1998. 

Of this cohort, 1,495 lived to be 100 while 3,744 died before becoming centenarians.

Using statistical tools, the researchers analysed the participants' health information to see how much of an impact diet had on the chances of making it to 100.

Overall, participants who kept meat as a part of their diet throughout the study were more likely to become centenarians.

But that does not mean you should switch over to a purely carnivore diet in order to boost your life expectancy. 

Among the individual food groups, daily consumption of vegetables had the biggest impact on the chances of living to 100.