Photo: Adrianna Calvo via StockSnap, public domain.
Vegetarian diets are linked to a 22% lower risk of dying from coronary heart disease and a 28% lower risk of developing it, according to a new meta-analysis of seven studies involving 197,737 people.
Researchers at the University of Toronto, led by Andrea Glenn and John Sievenpiper, carried out the review to update the European Association for the Study of Diabetes nutrition guidelines. It covers people with and without diabetes and is published in Frontiers in Nutrition. No significant link was found with overall cardiovascular or stroke deaths.
The authors graded the certainty of the evidence as very low, mainly because there are still few studies and they are mostly in specific populations, so more research is needed. They conclude:
Very low-quality evidence indicates that vegetarian dietary patterns are associated with reductions in CHD mortality and incidence but not with CVD and stroke mortality in individuals with and without diabetes.
The direction matches what trials show about cholesterol and blood sugar on plant-based diets.
The same Toronto team found last year that vegetarian diets lower blood sugar, cholesterol and weight in people with diabetes, and an NYU trial showed a vegan diet cut a key heart inflammation marker by 32%.
Another reason to love your heart with plants!