Health Update: New Year, New You.
Hello and Happiest of New Year’s 2024 to You and Yours:
As we move into the New Year many of us have hopes and aspirations for better health. A good way to kick off the start of your healthy transformation is to follow the science. As the evidence for what makes up an optimal food plan progresses, more and more data is pointing to the same conclusions that this research found. Additionally, this type of review and meta-analysis is thought to be highly valid and reliable. First, here is some important background information as to why they did this study an, then the conclusions of their research findings:
The Western diet is replete with red and processed meats and other animal products. Experts worry that this eating pattern strains natural resources, triggers negative climate change, and contributes to an array of noncommunicable diseases. The environmental and health burdens associated with the Western diet are increasingly supporting the case for promoting plant-based dietary alternatives. Some studies have suggested that plant-based foods may help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and overall mortality.
So far, however, research has not considered the full cardiometabolic implications of switching out meats for plants in a systematic review and meta-analysis. To address this deficit, researchers from institutions in Germany collaborated on a paper exploring the topic. Their systematic review and meta-analysis article was published in BMC Medicine Trusted Source.
- Analyzing over 30 studies, German researchers found that swapping meats for plant-based alternatives may drastically reduce risks of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and all-cause mortality.
- Evidence showed that replacing 50 grams (1.8 ounces) of processed meat with plant-based foods on a daily basis lowered cardiovascular disease risk by 25%.
- Substituting processed meats was associated with a 21% lower risk of death from any cause.
Conclusions
“Our findings indicate that a shift from animal-based (e.g., red and processed meat, eggs, dairy, poultry, butter) to plant-based (e.g., nuts, legumes, whole grains, olive oil) foods is beneficially associated with cardiometabolic health and all-cause mortality.”
https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-023-03093-1
Bottom Line:
Start the New Year with a move to predominantly plant-based food patterns. Since cardiometabolic health concerns are the leading cause of death and disability (heart disease, vascular disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, overweight and obesity) and since inflammatory food patterns drive the progression of these diseases, it only makes sense to go towards this pro-active and preventive form of low inflammatory food choices.