Vegetarian Diet May Lower Heart Disease Risk

Maintaining a vegetarian diet may lower the risk for heart disease, according to a new study.

Vegetarianism is a dietary practice characterized by the consumption of only vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains and pulses, and excluding the consumption of all body parts of any animal and products derived from animal carcasses (such as lard, tallow, gelatin, cochineal), from one's diet. Dietary recommendations vary with the type of vegetarian diet. For children and adolescents these diets require special planning since it may be difficult to obtain all the nutrients required for growth and development. Nutrients that may be lacking in a vegetarian's diet are protein, vitamin B12, vitamin D, riboflavin, calcium, zinc and iron.

Vegetarian diets are often high in fiber-rich bulky foods, which produce less total calories, and thus may be beneficial for obesity. High fiber influences the health of the digestive tract. Diets low in fat and saturated fat and high in fiber, fruits and vegetables may also lower blood pressure.

In a new study, researchers analyzed data on 44,561 men and women from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Oxford study. Those participants, who maintained a vegetarian diet at the beginning of the study, 34 percent, were included in the analysis. Ischemic heart disease cases were identified through death certificates and hospital records.

After an average 11.6 year follow-up period, 1,235 heart disease cases were identified. The researchers found that when compared to those who did not maintain a vegetarian diet, vegetarians had a 32 percent reduced risk of developing heart disease. Furthermore, vegetarians had a lower average body mass index (BMI), lower cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure. After the researchers controlled for BMI, sex, age and smoking, vegetarians still had a substantially lower risk of ischemic heart disease.

The authors concluded that maintaining a vegetarian diet may reduce the risk for developing heart disease, likely due to its effects on BMI, cholesterol and blood pressure.

For more information about vegetarian diets, please visit Natural Standard's Health & Wellness Database.

Comments

[NBF]

I don't think I could ever quit eating meat. I love vegetables but a meal is incomplete without meat. The findings in this study are very interesting. I wonder how different the results would be if participants were long term meat eaters, like myself, that converted to a vegetarian diet just prior to the study and were followed for 12 years.

[bp]

It's great that they were able to follow the participants for such a long time span. I find this very interesting overall. We know that meats, especially red meats, contain a lot of cholesterol, which contributes to heart disease, so the results are not wholly surprising. I would be curious to now if similar, if not so exaggerated, results would be seen in a population that restricts meat products without fully excluding them. For instance, I eat red meat maybe a few times a year, and eat poultry may twice a week. Is that helping me at all, or does it need to be strict vegetarianism?

[Sabrina]

This is very interesting. I was a vegetarian for 11 years and just started to eat meat because I felt I was not getting enough protein in my diet during college. My mom has been a vegetarian her whole life. The one food she always mentions that helps her to obtain protein is lentils. I was shocked to see that 1 cup of cooked lentils can contain 18 grams of protein! There are many other sources to obtain a sufficient amount of protein from (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_DietAndFitnessResource/super-healthy-vegetarian-protein-sources/story?id=16477525).

[ML]

I just started a vegetarian diet in January due to the heavy meat eating during the holidays. It really does make my body feel refreshed and healthier overall. I try to make sure I do eat some protein such as tofu. This is some great information to re-enforce the importance of eating a meal balanced with vegetables and fruits. The key to an all vegetarian diet is to try to make the meals exciting. At first I only steamed the vegetables, but now I am incorporating couscous and beans to make a more hearty meal.

[MS]

This is very interesting that they were able to follow up with these individuals for 11.6 years. When I looked at the studies chart on food intake the vegetarian group had no consumption of fish or meat. Their overall intake of dairy products was less and their whole grain consumption was higher compared to the non vegetarian group. I was surprised to see that the vegetable and fruit consumption was only slightly higher in the vegetarian group. An important factor that the paper did not seem to address is that vegetarians do report a higher incidence of iron deficiency leading to anemia and osteoarthritis if less dairy is consumed.

[SS]

This is great to see that a person's diet can influence their heart disease risk later on in life. It makes sense that the vegetarian diet would reduce the risk because often times it is a healthier diet. My biggest concern, as was briefly mentioned in the article, is the ability of a person to obtain all the nutritional requirements with a limited diet. If a person decides that they want to switch to a vegetarian diet for the decrease in heart disease they could be at a higher of nutritional deficiencies. Yes, it is most concerning in children and adolescents who are still developing but it still an issue in adults as well. This diet should be done with knowledge of the food groups and where you can all the recommended nutrients.

[bz]

These results are quite significant. I am surprised that such a long term study with a large patient population came out with such significant results favoring a vegetarian diet. Clearly the saturated fats in meat are not goods for optimal heart health, but I didn't realize the significance of this in comparison to a vegetarian diet. I wonder what other results can be extrapolated from the data of this study.