Vegetarian and vegan diets aren't necessarily more healthy


Eliminating meat from a terrible diet doesn’t really make it any healthier, according to a study released today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. In fact, the study found that participants whose mostly-plant-based diets (think vegetarian or vegan) included a lot of processed foods, such as sugary beverages and French fries, were more likely to develop heart disease or die during the study period than people who avoided processed food—even if that meant eating a little meat.

Previous studies have found that people who adhere to vegetarian or vegan dietshave better cardiovascular health. President Bill Clinton, who was once famous for jogs that detoured through McDonalds, went vegan to cope with heart disease. But those studies tend to lump all plant-based diets together into one group. The real world is a little more complicated.

“These studies of vegetarian and vegan diets haven't distinguished between different qualities of plant food,” says lead author Ambika Satija, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. “Certain plant foods, like whole grains and fruits and vegetables, are associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. But other plant foods, such as sugar sweetened beverages, are actually associated with increased risk.”......Read more

 

Source web page:Popsci.com


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