Plant-Based Diets Improve Health

Last month “Nutrition 2018” was held in Boston. It was the inaugural flagship meeting of the American Society for Nutrition. Evidence from several studies was presented showing that a primarily plant-based diet is linked to numerous health benefits. Obviously, the quality of the food was important as well. Here is a summary of 5 papers that were presented:

• A 13 year study of 6000 people in the Netherlands found that a higher proportion of dietary plant protein to animal protein was linked to lower risks of developing heart disease.
• A study of 4500 Brazilians showed that those eating more plant-based protein were 60% less likely to have coronary artery plaque than those consuming more animal-based protein.
• South Asians living in the US that followed a vegetarian diet had a lower number of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes (lower body mass index, smaller waist circumference, less abdominal fat, lower cholesterol levels, lower blood sugar levels) than those that ate meat.
• A 4-year American study of over 125,000 adults showed that a whole food plant-based diet (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc.) led to less weight gain than a processed plant-based diet (sweets, refined grains, fries, etc.).
• A study on 30,000 American adults demonstrated that improving the quality of the plant-based component of diet decreased mortality by 30% whereas improving the quality of the animal-based components had little effect. Among people with chronic health problems these beneficial effects were even more pronounced.

These recent research findings add to the mounting body of evidence supporting the health benefits of a whole food plant-based diet.