Vegetarian or Non-Vegetarian: Which Diet Fights Cardiometabolic Diseases Better?
A comprehensive review published in the Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases Journal compared the impacts of vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets on cardiometabolic and other non-communicable diseases. The study found that while vegetarian diets may help reduce the risk of cardiometabolic diseases, the non-uniformity of findings due to cultural and ethnic differences, as well as variations in methodology, make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions. However, several cohort studies reported that vegetarian diets were associated with lower risks of obesity, overweight, ischemic heart disease, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes. Randomized controlled trials also showed that vegetarian diets improved glycemic control and resulted in higher weight loss. The researchers believe that the health benefits of vegetarian diets are likely due to lower intake of saturated fats, reduced effects of excess animal proteins, and the high fiber, polyunsaturated fatty acid, complex carbohydrate, and micronutrient content of plant-based diets.