Plenty of narratives have floated around the internet about which diets are generally associated with better health, but a recent study put any doubt about one lifestyle to bed.
A study published in November in JAMA Network Open says a vegan diet is “significantly more protective” for heart health compared to a healthy methods for preparing and eating an animal-based diet.
The study included 22 sets of identical twins. One ate a plant-based diet while the other ate an animal-based diet. Researchers designed both diets to be balanced and heart-healthy before monitoring the participants’ cholesterol levels.
The healthy animal-based diet included at least one serving of fish, meat or chicken daily, as well as one egg and a half serving of a dairy product. The healthy plant-based diet consisted of a lot of beans and vegetables.
“Because we created a healthy omnivorous diet, I was surprised that we got the magnitude of change that we did,” Christopher Gardner, study co-author and Stanford professor, told Health.
Factors that can skew the data include genetics and exercise habits. Since identical twins have the same DNA, they made for a great group to study to get accurate results.
A vegan diet does not include meat, eggs, dairy or other animal products. The median participant age of this study was 40 years old, and none had diabetes or high blood pressure. More than 77 percent of the participants were women, 11 percent were Asian, 4.5 percent were Black, 2.3 percent were Hawaiian, 9 percent were Biracial and nearly 73 percent were White.
The vegan participants had a 20 percent drop in fasting insulin, a risk factor in developing diabetes. Weight loss was also higher among the vegan participants.
Gardner also clarified simply going vegan doesn’t automatically lead to a healthier lifestyle because lots of sugary candy can be categorized as vegan. Vegan diets that are high in beans are good for heart health. Vegan diets don’t include saturated animal fat, which is harmful to heart health.
Gardner also told the outlet that while plant-based diets might not be for everyone, cutting back on the amount of meat eaten and adding more vegetarian protein sources can go a long way.
