TY - JOUR
T1 - Vegetarian or vegan diets and blood lipids
T2 - a meta-analysis of randomized trials
AU - Koch, Caroline A
AU - Kjeldsen, Emilie W
AU - Frikke-Schmidt, Ruth
N1 - © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.
PY - 2023/7/21
Y1 - 2023/7/21
N2 - AIMS: Due to growing environmental focus, plant-based diets are increasing steadily in popularity. Uncovering the effect on well-established risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of death worldwide, is thus highly relevant. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to estimate the effect of vegetarian and vegan diets on blood levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and apolipoprotein B.METHODS AND RESULTS: Studies published between 1980 and October 2022 were searched for using PubMed, Embase, and references of previous reviews. Included studies were randomized controlled trials that quantified the effect of vegetarian or vegan diets vs. an omnivorous diet on blood lipids and lipoprotein levels in adults over 18 years. Estimates were calculated using a random-effects model. Thirty trials were included in the study. Compared with the omnivorous group, the plant-based diets reduced total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B levels with mean differences of -0.34 mmol/L (95% confidence interval, -0.44, -0.23; P = 1 × 10-9), -0.30 mmol/L (-0.40, -0.19; P = 4 × 10-8), and -12.92 mg/dL (-22.63, -3.20; P = 0.01), respectively. The effect sizes were similar across age, continent, duration of study, health status, intervention diet, intervention program, and study design. No significant difference was observed for triglyceride levels.CONCLUSION: Vegetarian and vegan diets were associated with reduced concentrations of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B-effects that were consistent across various study and participant characteristics. Plant-based diets have the potential to lessen the atherosclerotic burden from atherogenic lipoproteins and thereby reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
AB - AIMS: Due to growing environmental focus, plant-based diets are increasing steadily in popularity. Uncovering the effect on well-established risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of death worldwide, is thus highly relevant. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to estimate the effect of vegetarian and vegan diets on blood levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and apolipoprotein B.METHODS AND RESULTS: Studies published between 1980 and October 2022 were searched for using PubMed, Embase, and references of previous reviews. Included studies were randomized controlled trials that quantified the effect of vegetarian or vegan diets vs. an omnivorous diet on blood lipids and lipoprotein levels in adults over 18 years. Estimates were calculated using a random-effects model. Thirty trials were included in the study. Compared with the omnivorous group, the plant-based diets reduced total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B levels with mean differences of -0.34 mmol/L (95% confidence interval, -0.44, -0.23; P = 1 × 10-9), -0.30 mmol/L (-0.40, -0.19; P = 4 × 10-8), and -12.92 mg/dL (-22.63, -3.20; P = 0.01), respectively. The effect sizes were similar across age, continent, duration of study, health status, intervention diet, intervention program, and study design. No significant difference was observed for triglyceride levels.CONCLUSION: Vegetarian and vegan diets were associated with reduced concentrations of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B-effects that were consistent across various study and participant characteristics. Plant-based diets have the potential to lessen the atherosclerotic burden from atherogenic lipoproteins and thereby reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
KW - Plant-based diet
KW - Vegetarian
KW - Vegan
KW - Blood lipids
KW - Lipoproteins
KW - Meta-analysis
KW - Diet, Vegan
KW - Cardiovascular Diseases/prevention & control
KW - Humans
KW - Vegetarians
KW - Cholesterol, LDL
KW - Lipids
KW - Apolipoproteins
KW - Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
KW - Diet, Vegetarian
KW - Atherosclerosis
KW - Adult
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85167481667&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/eurheartj/ehad211
DO - 10.1093/eurheartj/ehad211
M3 - Review
C2 - 37226630
SN - 0195-668X
VL - 44
SP - 2609
EP - 2622
JO - European Heart Journal
JF - European Heart Journal
IS - 28
ER -