There is a fair amount of epidemiological data to suggest that vegetarians have, on balance, better long-term health prospects than people who consume meat. The usual caveats apply, in that vegetarianism in many wealthier study populations is correlated with a range of other potentially relevant line items, such as education, wealth, and better lifestyle choices. Further, the average vegetarian may well be mildly calorie restricted in comparison to the average meat eater, and that may be enough in and of itself to explain health effects. Other suggested contributing factors include dietary advanced glycation end-products, but as is usual in these matters the research community has yet to provide firm, line by line data on the relative importance of each of the underlying mechanisms in humans.
Vegetarians appear to have a healthier biomarker profile than meat-eaters, and this applies to adults of any age and weight, and is also unaffected by smoking and alcohol consumption, according to a new study. To understand whether dietary choice can make a difference to the levels of disease markers in blood and urine, researchers performed a cross-sectional study analysing data from 177,723 healthy participants (aged 37-73 years) in the UK Biobank study, who reported no major changes in diet over the last five years.
Participants were categorised as either vegetarian (do not eat red meat, poultry or fish; 4,111 participants) or meat-eaters (166,516 participants) according to their self-reported diet. The researchers examined the association with 19 blood and urine biomarkers related to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, liver, bone and joint health, and kidney function.
Even after accounting for potentially influential factors including age, sex, education, ethnicity, obesity, smoking, and alcohol intake, the analysis found that compared to meat-eaters, vegetarians had significantly lower levels of 13 biomarkers, including: total cholesterol; low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol - the so-called 'bad cholesterol; apolipoprotein A (linked to cardiovascular disease), apolipoprotein B (linked to cardiovascular disease); gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and alanine aminotransferase (AST) - liver function markers indicating inflammation or damage to cells; insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), a hormone that encourages the growth and proliferation of cancer cells; urate; total protein; and creatinine (marker of worsening kidney function).
However, vegetarians also had lower levels of beneficial biomarkers including high-density lipoprotein 'good' (HDL) cholesterol, and vitamin D and calcium (linked to bone and joint health). In addition, they had significantly higher level of fats (triglycerides) in the blood and cystatin-C (suggesting a poorer kidney condition).
Link: https://www.eurekale...t-vhh050621.php
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