Plant-Based Diets Improve Cardiometabolic Health

A recent meta-analysis conducted at Copenhagen University Hospital has shown that plant-based diets reduce several cardiometabolic risk factors for adults with overweight or type-2 diabetes. These are important findings, given that 73.6% of adults in the US are classified as overweight or obese and over 11% have diabetes.

The researchers analyzed 11 randomized controlled trials in which participants adhered to a vegan diet for at least 12 weeks, and found that several risk factors - including body weight, body mass index, glycated haemoglobin, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol - were significantly reduced.

The results are even more compelling considering a 2021 meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies also showed significantly lower incidence of cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes among those with more plant-forward eating patterns.

These findings add yet more weight to the words of Dr Kim Williams, Chief of Cardiology at Rush University Medical Center, in The Game Changers film: “If everyone was exercising daily and on a [whole foods] plant-based diet, the field of cardiology would have very little left to do.”

References:

Termannsen, A. D., Clemmensen, K., Thomsen, J. M., Nørgaard, O., Díaz, L. J., Torekov, S. S., Quist, J. S., & Faerch, K. (2022). Effects of vegan diets on cardiometabolic health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 23(9), e13462.

Gan, Z. H., Cheong, H. C., Tu, Y. K., & Kuo, P. H. (2021). Association between Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. Nutrients, 13(11), 3952.