- Researchers investigated the effects of vegetarian dietary patterns on those with a high risk of cardiovascular disease.
- They found that eating plant-based diets for six months improved several measures of cardiometabolic risk, such as cholesterol and blood sugar.
- Eating a more plant-based diet may benefit those at high risk of cardiovascular conditions.
In 2019,
Studies show that CVD often develops due to lifestyle factors, such as diet, smoking and physical inactivity. Practical interventions that may improve cardiometabolic risk profiles are thus key to reducing CVD rates.
An increasing amount of research shows that vegetarian diets may be effective in preventing CVD. However, little is unknown about how these diets may affect those with or at high risk of CVD.
Recently, researchers from the University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Australia, and Brescia University in Italy investigated how vegetarian diets affect major cardiometabolic risk factors among people with or at high risk for CVD.
They found that consuming a vegetarian diet for six months was linked to improved measures of cholesterol, blood sugar, and body weight among those at high risk of CVD.
Dr. Dana Hunnes, a senior clinical dietitian at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study, told Medical News Today:
“Vegetarian diets are not only better for CVD health, but they are also better for the environment — lowering greenhouse gases, using less water, and using less land — which is better for all of us.”
The paper — a systematic review and meta-analysis of the latest evidence — was published in
For the study, the researchers analyzed 20 randomized controlled trials involving 1,878 participants with a mean age of 28–64 years who either had…
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