Lower risk of heart disease by lowering LDL cholesterol

• LDL cholesterol increased with an animal-based/ketogenic diet, but decreased with a high quality plant-centered diet (that included legumes, fruits and whole grains).

• Gardner et al. Effect of a ketogenic diet vs. Mediterranean diet on glycated hemoglobin … the interventional Keto-Med randomized crossover trial. A, J Clin Nutr 2022.

• Setting the record straight (article from Harvard Nutrition Source) and advisory from the American Heart Association: Replacement of saturated with unsaturated fats lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, a cause of atherosclerosis, linking biological evidence with incidence of CVD in populations and in clinical trials. Taking into consideration the totality of the scientific evidence, satisfying rigorous criteria for causality, we conclude strongly that lowering intake of saturated fat and replacing it with unsaturated fats, especially polyunsaturated fats, will lower the incidence of CVD.

• Saturated fat is found primarily in animal products, coconut oil and palm oil.

Lower blood pressure

• In patients on the DASH diet (mostly plants), systolic bp was reduced by 11.4 and diastolic bp by 5.5

  Appel and DASH study group. N Engl J Med 1997.

Reduce risk of diabetes and improve glycemic control

• Vegetarians showed 35-53% reduction in risk of diabetes, compared with nonvegetarians.

  Chiu THT, Pan WH, Lin MN, Lin CL. Vegetarian diet, change in dietary patterns, and diabetes risk: a prospective study. Nutr Diabetes. 2018;8(1):12.

• 70% (14 M) of new cases of T2D globally may be attributed todietary factors. Specifically: insufficient whole grains, excess refined rice and wheat, and excess processed meat. 

  O’Hearn, Incident type 2 diabetes attributable to suboptimal diets in 184 countries. Nature Medicine 2023

Reduce risk of progression of diabetic eye disease

• Plant-based diets can improve glycemic control thereby reducing the risk of diabetic complications, including diabetic eye disease.

  Long, Menezes. A Broader Approach to Diabetes: Take 2 Minutes for Plants. Retina Today. 2023.

• Strict glycemic control resulted in a 1/3 reduction in the risk of DR progression

   Ferris III FL, Nathan DM. Preventing diabetic retinopathy progression. Ophthalmology. 2016;123(9):1840-1842.

Lower risk of dementia

• Patients following the MIND diet (mostly plants) had a 53% less risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

  Morris.MIND diet associated with reduced incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s Dement 2015.

• Plant-predominant diet (high quality Mediterranean/DASH diets, ie: MIND diet) as part of 5 healthy lifestyle factors, led to 60% less Alzheimer’s risk.

  Dhana et al. Healthy lifestyle and the risk of Alzheimer’s dementia. Neurology 2020.

Lower risk of heart disease

• lowered intake of dietary saturated fat and replaced with polyunsaturated vegetable oil reduced cardiovascular disease by ≈30%, similar to the reduction achieved by statin treatment.

  Sacks et al. Dietary fats and cardiovascular disease. A presidential advisory from the American Heart Association. Circulation 2017.

• 25 percentile higher plant based dietary score was associated with 10-20% lower risk of cardiovascular disease

  Shan (Harvard TH Chan School Public Health). Association between healthy eating patterns and risk of cardiovascular disease. JAMA 2020

• After their first heart attack, patients following Mediterranean-style diet had a 50-70% lower risk of recurrent heart disease vs. western type diet.

  Lyon Diet Heart Study Group. de Lorgeril M et al. Mediterranean diet, traditional risk factors, and the rate of cardiovascular complications after myocardial infarction: final report of the Lyon Diet Heart Study. Circulation. 1999; 99:779-785.