If you’re not consuming animal products this month then you just passed the halfway mark. Congratulations. Every chicken breast and milk carton you spurn lowers the demand on industries responsible for egregious environmental harm – and spares countless animal lives from needless suffering.

But you already knew this. So what else is taking part in Veganuary good for? If you need some motivation to keep going with your plant-based diet, researchers have uncovered a selection of benefits that might surprise you.

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First, did you know that animal farming is a major source of air pollution?

Keeping cows, pigs and other livestock locked in sheds generates a lot of urine and faeces. The result is ammonia: a gas which can irritate and burn the skin and eyes.

That’s bad enough for the animals, but ammonia can travel a long way in the air. This noxious gas reacts to form smog and fine airborne particles which can penetrate your lungs and contribute to heart disease and lung cancer.

Read more: Switching to plant-based diets means cleaner air – and it could save more than 200,000 lives around the world

Of the 4 million premature deaths linked to outdoor air pollution in 2019, animal farming was probably responsible for........

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