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A new study pub­lished in the Journal of the American Heart Association con­cluded that peo­ple who con­sumed a mostly plant-based diet were less likely to develop heart dis­ease and to die from it than those who ate a diet rich in meat and refined carbohydrates.

The study con­cluded that not all veg­e­tar­ian and plant-based diets were equally ben­e­fi­cial. Greater ben­e­fits were observed in par­tic­i­pants who adhered to health­ier ver­sions of veg­e­tar­ian and plant-based diets although even a con­sid­er­ably unhealthy plant-based diet went some way to reduc­ing the risk of heart dis­ease and death.

Four dif­fer­ent types of diets were assessed dur­ing the study. These were an over­all plant-based diet, one based pri­mar­ily on healthy plants such as green veg­eta­bles, an entirely veg­e­tar­ian diet and a fourth diet which included more unhealthy plant-based meals includ­ing starches such as pota­toes and processed foods.

Results of the study indi­cated that diets richer in ani­mal prod­ucts and refined car­bo­hy­drates increased the risk of death from heart dis­ease by up to 32 per­cent and par­tic­i­pants who con­sumed more ani­mal pro­duce and refined carbs were 18 per­cent to 25 per­cent more likely to die of all causes than those who adhered most closely to a plant-based or veg­e­tar­ian diet.

The research team found that par­tic­i­pants who ate the most plant-based foods were 16 per­cent less likely to develop heart fail­ure or have a non-fatal heart attack or stroke than those who ate the least plants.

“Our results pro­vide fur­ther evi­dence of rea­sons for indi­vid­u­als to fol­low diets rel­a­tively higher in plant foods and rel­a­tively lower in ani­mal foods (par­tic­u­larly red and processed meats),” Hyunju Kim, lead author and research fel­low at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Olive Oil Times. ​“Specifically, con­sum­ing healthy plant foods (fruits, veg­eta­bles, whole grains, legumes, and nuts) appears to be impor­tant for heart health.”

“In this gen­eral U.S. pop­u­la­tion, higher adher­ence to diets higher in plant foods and lower in ani­mal foods was asso­ci­ated with a lower risk of inci­dent car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease, car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease mor­tal­ity and all-cause mor­tal­ity,” she added.

Kim also endorsed the Mediterranean diet say­ing, ​“we believe that the Mediterranean diet is a healthy diet. Plant-based diets and Mediterranean diets are sim­i­lar in that they empha­size the intake of plant foods (fruits, veg­eta­bles, whole grains, legumes, nuts), and limit the intake of red and processed meats.”

Although olive oil intake was not assessed dur­ing the study Kim com­mented on its health ben­e­fits say­ing, ​“pre­vi­ous stud­ies which included olive oil as a healthy plant food in an over­all plant-based diet or a veg­e­tar­ian diet found a lower risk of Type 2 dia­betes, coro­nary heart dis­ease and all-cause mortality.”

“Olive oil is an impor­tant com­po­nent of the Mediterranean diet, and high olive oil intake has been asso­ci­ated to a lower risk of car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease,” she added. ​“Although our study did not have data on olive oil intake, based on prior lit­er­a­ture, we believe that incor­po­ra­tion of healthy plant fats, such as olive oil, in an over­all plant-based diet may pro­vide ben­e­fits for car­dio­vas­cu­lar health.”

The study observed the eat­ing habits of 12,168 peo­ple aged between 45 and 64 years old; none of whom had heart dis­ease at the start of the study. During the 30 year study period 5,436 par­tic­i­pants died with 1,565 of these deaths occur­ring as a result of car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease.

Participants who fol­lowed one of the study’s three health­ier diets con­sumed an aver­age of 4.1 to 4.8 serv­ings of fruits and veg­eta­bles per day and ate less than one serv­ing of red or processed meat.

People who adhered most closely to the unhealthy plant-based diet con­sumed less fruit and veg­eta­bles with a daily aver­age of 2.3 serv­ings of fruits and veg­eta­bles a day and 1.2 serv­ings of red or processed meat.

“Plant-based diets seem to be ris­ing in pop­u­lar­ity, and our study pro­vides more evi­dence sug­gest­ing that con­sum­ing a plant-based diet can be good for your heart health,” Casey Rebholz, a co-author and a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore told Reuters,

Earlier this year the Mediterranean diet was ranked as the ​“Best Plant-Based Diet” and hailed as the ​“Best Diet Overall” by the U.S. News and World Report, which took var­i­ous fac­tors into account includ­ing; nutri­tional value, safety and poten­tial to pre­vent car­dio­vas­cu­lar disease.

• Reuters


• Journal of the American Heart Association