Ditching red meat for these common foods will help cut heart disease risk

22 November 2023 , 03:20

954     0

The study emphasized the potential health advantages of incorporating more plant-based foods into the diet (Image: Getty Images)

A thorough analysis has discovered that substituting animal-based foods like red and processed meat or eggs with plant-based foods like almonds or legumes may lower the chance of getting type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

The review's conclusions, according to Sabrina Schlesinger, head of the German Diabetes Center's systematic reviews research group in Düsseldorf, "emphasize the potential health advantages of incorporating more plant-based foods into the diet." It was published on November 16 in the journal BMC Medicine and examined the data from 37 prior studies.

Senior author Sabrina and researchers from other German universities worked together to produce this report, which they claim is the first systematic review to concentrate on a broad variety of health outcomes related to replacing animal-based diet with plant-based diet.

READ MORE: Longest-living people on Earth swear by 11 simple diet rules every day

Plant-based diets have already been linked to certain health benefits, according to earlier research (Getty Images)

This evaluation "fits with the pattern" of "a bigger collection of information that shapes our dietary guidelines," according to CNN, citing registered dietician Duane Mellor, a senior teaching fellow at the Aston Medical School in Birmingham, UK. “It’s adding to the picture that we are already fairly comfortable with,” she said.

Surprising symptom that 40% of women suffer weeks before a heart attack

Plant-based diets have already been linked to certain health benefits, according to earlier research. When comparing persons who consume both meat and plants to those who follow a plant-based diet, a May study revealed that total cholesterol decreased by 7%.

A daily substitution of 10 to 28 grams of nuts for 50 grams of meat can decrease risk of diabetes (Getty Images/500px)

Meanwhile, an August 2019 study discovered a link between eating less meat and more vegetables and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease as well as a longer lifespan.

This most recent assessment found that replacing 50 grams (1.8 ounces) of processed meat with 28 grams to 50 grams (1 ounce to 1.8 ounces) of nuts per day resulted in a 27% reduction in the overall incidence of heart disease, while replacing the meat with the same amount of legumes resulted in a 23% reduction.

A daily substitution of 10 to 28 grams of nuts for 50 grams of processed meat was also linked to a 22% decrease in the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Although substituting other dairy products, fish, seafood, or poultry did not clearly correlate with a lower incidence of heart disease, the research did find that replacing butter with olive oil and eggs with nuts also suggested a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

The primary strength of the review, according to Schlesinger, was that the results of the new research "do not rely on the results of a single study but systematically summarize all available evidence on the topic."

She pointed out that although using this method hasn't yielded "entirely novel" results, the "consistency" of past study results suggests "a robust level of confidence in the effect estimate."

Mataeo Smith