According to a study, some vegetarian diets dramatically lower the risk of cancer, heart disease, and death.

A comprehensive "umbrella" study of over 20 years of data shows that eating a vegan, vegetarian, or lacto-ovo vegetarian diet considerably lowers the overall risk of heart disease, cancer, and early death from cardiovascular disease.

An umbrella review examines current metanalyses of substantial numbers of studies to offer a high-level overview of the body of knowledge for a certain subject.
Lead author Dr. Angelo Capodici, a graduate student in health science, technology, and management at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, Italy, said that the umbrella analysis found a "protective effect" for specific cancers, including "liver, colon, pancreas, lung, prostate, bladder, melanoma, kidney, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma," in addition to lowering cardiovascular risk factors like blood pressure and cholesterol.

Fruit juices, "full of sugars or sweetener," as Guaraldi put it, "have been demonstrated to have an even more detrimental impact on metabolism than white sugar."

There may be additional lifestyle factors that impact the results.
According to the study, scientists have long known that people who eat a plant-based diet typically lead better lives that include regular exercise, abstaining from sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, refined carbohydrates, snacking, alcohol, and tobacco.
Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine who created the nonprofit True Health Initiative, a global coalition of professionals committed to evidence-based lifestyle medicine, stated that "what is attributed to diet here may be in part due to other lifestyle practices." He did not participate in the research.

ut that is a small worry, Katz wrote in an email. "Even if some of the observed benefit is attributed to other lifestyle habits, the net effect of plant-predominant dietary patterns is clearly favorable to critical health outcomes.”

In fact, according to a November study on twins by Christopher Gardner, one of the coauthors of the overarching analysis published on Wednesday in the journal PLOS One, adopting a plant-based diet could still have health benefits even in the absence of further activity.

According to Gardner, a research professor at Columbia University, the 2023 study found that healthy twins who followed an eight-week vegan diet had lower levels of "bad" low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol, better blood sugar, and greater weight loss than siblings who followed a diet of meat and vegetables.

At the Stanford Prevention Research Center in Palo Alto, California, the researcher is a medical professor.

"Eating real food without animal products resulted in a 10% to 15% drop in LDL cholesterol, a 25% drop in insulin, and a 3% drop in body weight in just eight weeks," Gardner said to CNN at the time.
According to the authors, one explanation for this could be the nutritional boost that comes from plants, which also have a lower inflammatory impact than meat and processed foods. These compounds include high levels of vitamins, minerals, and other substances with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

In an email, Gardner stated, "Plants have more fiber (animal foods have zero), less saturated fat, and zero cholesterol (all animal foods have cholesterol)." Phytochemicals, which translate to mean "plant chemicals," include antioxidants and fall into a completely different group. Animal diets are by definition devoid of phytochemicals.

No fish, meat, or poultry, although dairy and eggs are acceptable
48 meta-analyses that looked into the relationship between eating a vegetarian or vegan diet and the risk of developing cancer, cardiovascular disease, and premature death were examined in the recent review.

Associate professor of biological and neuromotor sciences at the University of Bologna in Italy and research coauthor Dr. Davide Gori said, "We analyzed reviews considering vegan and vegetarian diets that completely exclude(ed) meat, poultry, and seafood."
"To be more specific about vegetarian diets, there were three types: lacto-ovo-vegetarian (which allowed whole eggs, egg whites, and egg-containing foods like mayonnaise, egg noodles, and some baked goods), lacto-vegetarian (which allowed certain dairy products like yogurt, cheese, and milk), and lacto-vegetarian diets,” Gori wrote in an email.

But he did not include vegetarian diets that restricted but did not entirely eliminate specific kinds of meat and fish, as pesco- or pollo-vegetarian diets.

According to the review, consuming these plant-based diets decreased the risk of diabetes, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease by influencing risk factors like body mass index, fasting glucose and other blood sugar control measures, and blood pressure measurements that show the top and bottom of the systolic and diastolic ranges.
Along with considerably lowering LDL and total cholesterol, the diets also reduced "C-reactive protein," an indicator of inflammation that is commonly elevated in metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, according to Gori. Metabolic disease is a group of symptoms that can lead to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. These symptoms include obesity, high blood pressure, poor blood sugar and cholesterol control, and poor blood pressure management.

However, Guaraldi of the IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences stated that there was no advantage to eating plants for expectant mothers, calling this a "intriguing finding" that warrants more investigation. Additionally, "we cannot rule out that participants took supplements during the study period that could have altered the impact of diet on the considered parameters." Pregnancy hormones may also have an impact on the results.
Particular aspects of diets based on plants

Experts advise vegetarians and vegans to take particular care when incorporating certain vitamins and minerals into their meals because they are more readily found and absorbed from meat, dairy, and fish.

The Mayo Clinic states that extra supplies of B12, calcium, iron, zinc, iodine, and vitamin
D may be required to prevent a deficiency unless the diet is meticulously tailored.
According to Gardner, diets that are strictly vegan may be lacking in vitamin B12. "Eating foods fortified with (vitamin) B12 is an easy way to remedy this, as B12 has the lowest recommended daily allowance of any vitamin or mineral.

Gardner continued, "Another nutrient that is more difficult to obtain from a strictly vegan diet is iron." Iron content in many plant meals is comparatively high (beans/legumes). Once more, vitamins may be beneficial.

Protein is another problem, but whole grains, legumes (including lentils, chickpeas, and beans), nuts, seeds, and soy products (like edamame, tempeh, and tofu) are good sources of the macronutrient.

Experts advise against substituting processed beef since it can be high in salt owing to processing. Instead, examine labels carefully.