Vegan Diet Confers Cardiometabolic Benefits

TOPLINE:

Compared with a healthy omnivore diet, a healthy vegan diet led to significant improvement in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) as well as fasting insulin and weight loss in a randomized controlled trial of identical twins.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers randomly assigned 22 pairs of healthy adult identical twins (34 women, mean age 39 years, mean body mass index 25.9) to a healthy vegan or omnivore diet (1 twin per pair) for 8 weeks.
• For the first 4 weeks, diet-specific meals were provided via a meal delivery service. For the final 4 weeks, participants prepared their own diet-appropriate meals/snacks.
• The primary outcome was change in LDL-C; secondary outcomes included changes in body weight and fasting insulin.

TAKEAWAY:

• After 8 weeks, twins eating a vegan diet showed a significant mean decrease of 13.9 mg/dL in LDL-C compared with twins eating an omnivorous diet.
• The vegan diet also led to a significant mean decrease of 2.9 μIU/mL in fasting insulin and 1.9 kg in body weight after 8 weeks compared with the omnivore diet, although weight loss was observed in both diet groups.
• The vegan diet group also had a larger but nonsignificant absolute median decrease in fasting HDL-C, triglycerides, vitamin B12, glucose, and trimethylamine N-oxide levels at 8 weeks.

IN PRACTICE:

“Our results corroborate a previous finding showing that eating a vegan diet can improve cardiovascular health. Clinicians may consider recommending plant-based diets to reduce cardiometabolic risk factors, as well as aligning with environmental benefits,” the researchers concluded.

SOURCE:

The study, with first author Matthew J. Landry, PhD, RDN, Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, California, was published online November 30 in JAMA Network Open.

LIMITATIONS:

The adult twin population was generally healthy and findings may not be generalizable to other populations. The sample size was small, and the duration of intervention was short and there was no follow-up period, which limits insights on stability and sustainability of the diets.

DISCLOSURES:

Funding was provided by the Vogt Foundation, and grants from Stanford University and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Landry has no relevant disclosures. One author reported receiving funding from Beyond Meat outside of this study.