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Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Human Health

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A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutritional Epidemiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 September 2021) | Viewed by 36321

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Dr. Surinder Baines

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Guest Editor

School of Health Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Interests: diet and chronic disease management; nutrition across the life span; plant based diets and health

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Vegetarian diets have become increasingly popular in recent years, with several surveys reporting an increase in the number of people adopting vegetarian style dietary practices and reducing their meat consumption.

People adopt vegetarian diets for a number of reasons, including health benefits, ethical, cultural or religious considerations, environmental concerns, or not liking the taste of meat and animal foods. The term “vegetarian” is non-specific and is used to describe a range of vegetarian-style diets with varying degrees of restriction of meat and animal foods. Some vegetarians consume a limited amount of animal products and select meats, such as red meat, while vegans eat no foods of animal origin.

Well-planned vegetarian diets can meet all nutritional requirements, but nutritionally unbalanced diets can have detrimental effects on health, growth, and development, especially in those who adopt poor-quality diets or follow very restrictive dietary practices.

The health benefits of vegetarian diets are well known. Numerous prospective epidemiological studies have shown a lower prevalence of a number of common diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and some cancers, among vegetarians. Mortality rates for vegetarians are also reported to be lower than those of the general population, whereas other studies have reported comparable all-cause mortality rates in vegetarians and nonvegetarians.

This Special Issue of Nutrients welcomes the submission of manuscripts that focus on vegetarian dietary patterns and their health and disease outcomes.

Dr. Surinder Baines
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

vegetarian
vegan
plant diets
nutritional status and vegetarian
vegetarian and health
chronic disease and vegetarian diets
vegetarian diets and pregnancy
vegetarian diets and children

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 849 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Association between Unhealthful Plant-Based Diets and Possible Risk of Dyslipidemia

by Sujin Song, Kyueun Lee, Soim Park, Nara Shin, Hyunju Kim and Jihye Kim

Nutrients 2021, 13(12), 4334; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13124334 - 30 Nov 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2996

Abstract

The relationship between the various types of diets derived from plants and vulnerability of dyslipidemia has rarely been investigated, and limited data exist in Asians whose dietary pattern is fairly different from that of the Western population. We aim to analyze the relationship between three plant-based diet indices (PDI) and the risk of dyslipidemia. Participants included 173,209 Korean adults who were aged ≥40 years from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study_Health Examination (2004–2013). A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess dietary intake. Three PDI were quantified for the study: overall PDI, healthful PDI (hPDI), and unhealthful PDI (uPDI). Among the 147,945 included, 48,166 (32.6%) of participants had dyslipidemia. Great adherence to uPDI was related with 15% greater odds of having dyslipidemia (OR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.11–1.20, p-trend < 0.0001). No significant association was observed between PDI, hPDI, and dyslipidemia. The association between uPDI and dyslipidemia was significantly stronger among participants aged ≥55 years when compared to participants aged <55 years (p-value for interaction = 0.001). The quality of plant foods is vital in preventing dyslipidemia among people consuming high plant-based food diets. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Human Health)

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12 pages, 859 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Risk of Incident Stroke among Vegetarians Compared to Nonvegetarians: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

by Jing-Wun Lu, Luo-Hua Yu, Yu-Kang Tu, Hung-Yu Cheng, Li-Yu Chen, Ching-Hui Loh and Tai-Li Chen

Nutrients 2021, 13(9), 3019; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13093019 - 29 Aug 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4957

Abstract

Vegetarian dietary patterns provide health benefits for cardiovascular health; however, the studies examining the association of vegetarian diets with stroke incidence showed inconsistent findings. We systematically evaluated the risk of incident stroke among vegetarians (diets excluding meat, poultry, fish, and seafood) compared among nonvegetarians. A systematic search of PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science was performed until 20 May 2021. Prospective cohort studies comparing the risk estimates for incident stroke between vegetarians and nonvegetarians were included. Of 398 articles identified in the database search, data from seven cohort studies (408 total stroke cases in 29,705 vegetarians and 13,026 total stroke cases in 627,728 nonvegetarians) were included. The meta-analysis revealed no significant association between adhering to the vegetarian dietary patterns and the risk of incident stroke (HR = 0.86; 95% CI = 0.67–1.11; I² = 68%, n = 7). Subgroup analyses suggested that studies conducted in Asia and those with a mean baseline age of participants 50–65 years showed a lower risk of stroke in vegetarians. Moreover, no significant association between vegetarian diets and the risk of ischemic stroke (HR = 0.56; 95% CI = 0.22–1.42; I² = 82%, n = 3) or hemorrhagic stroke (HR = 0.77; 95% CI = 0.19–3.09; I² = 85%, n = 2) was found. To be conclusive, no strong relationship between vegetarian diets and the incidence of stroke was observed. Given the limited certainty of evidence from NutriGrade, future well-designed studies are warranted to provide solid evidence on this topic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Human Health)

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10 pages, 304 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quality of Life of Brazilian Vegetarians Measured by the WHOQOL-BREF: Influence of Type of Diet, Motivation and Sociodemographic Data

by Shila Minari Hargreaves, Eduardo Yoshio Nakano, Heesup Han, António Raposo, Antonio Ariza-Montes, Alejandro Vega-Muñoz and Renata Puppin Zandonadi

Nutrients 2021, 13(8), 2648; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13082648 - 30 Jul 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3386

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the general quality of life (QoL) of Brazilian vegetarians. A cross-sectional study was conducted with Brazilian vegetarian adults (18 years old and above). Individuals were recruited to participate in a nationwide online survey that comprised the WHOQOL-BREF as well as sociodemographic and characterization questions related to vegetarianism. The WHOQOL-BREF is composed of 24 items which are divided into four domains (domain 1: physical health; domain 2: psychological well-being; domain 3: social relationships; and domain 4: environment), plus two general items which were analyzed separately, totaling 26 items. The answers from the questionnaire were converted into scores with a 0–100 scale range, with separate analyses for each domain. Results were compared among groups based on the different characteristics of the vegetarian population. A total of 4375 individuals completed the survey. General average score results were 74.67 (domain 1), 66.71 (domain 2), 63.66 (domain 3) and 65.76 (domain 4). Vegans showed better scores when compared to the other vegetarians, except in domain four, where the statistical difference was observed only for semi-vegetarians (lower score). Individuals adopting a vegetarian diet for longer (>1 year) showed better results for domains one and two, with no difference for the other domains. Having close people also adopting a vegetarian diet positively influenced the results for all domains. On the other hand, it was not possible to distinguish any clear influence of the motivation for adopting a vegetarian diet on the scores’ results. Adopting a vegetarian diet does not have detrimental effects on one’s QoL. In fact, the more plant-based the diet, and the longer it was adopted, the better the results were. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Human Health)

26 pages, 3922 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pork Liver Pâté Enriched with Persimmon Coproducts: Effect of In Vitro Gastrointestinal Digestion on Its Fatty Acid and Polyphenol Profile Stability

by Raquel Lucas-González, José Ángel Pérez-Álvarez, Manuel Viuda-Martos and Juana Fernández-López

Nutrients 2021, 13(4), 1332; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13041332 - 17 Apr 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3086

Abstract

Agrofood coproducts are used to enrich meat products to reduce harmful compounds and contribute to fiber and polyphenol enrichment. Pork liver pâtés with added persimmon coproducts (3 and 6%; PR-3 and PR-6, respectively) were developed. Therefore, the aim was to study the effect of their in vitro gastrointestinal digestion on: the free and bound polyphenol profile (HPLC) and their colon-available index; the lipid oxidation (TBARs); and the stability of the fatty acid profile (GC). Furthermore, the effect of lipolysis was investigated using two pancreatins with different lipase activity. Forty-two polyphenols were detected in persimmon flour, which were revealed as a good source of bound polyphenols in pâtés, especially gallic acid (164.3 µg/g d.w. in PR-3 and 631.8 µg/g d.w. in PR-6). After gastrointestinal digestion, the colon-available index in enriched pâté ranged from 88.73 to 195.78%. The different lipase activity in the intestinal phase caused significant differences in bound polyphenols’ stability, contributing to increased lipid oxidation. The fatty acids profile in pâté samples was stable, and surprisingly their PUFA content was raised. In conclusion, rich fatty foods, such as pâté, are excellent vehicles to preserve bound polyphenols, which can reach the colon intact and be metabolized by the intestinal microbiome. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Human Health)

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13 pages, 797 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Vegetarian Diet Is Associated with Lower Risk of Depression in Taiwan

by Yu-Chih Shen, Chiao-Erh Chang, Ming-Nan Lin and Chin-Lon Lin

Nutrients 2021, 13(4), 1059; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13041059 - 24 Mar 2021

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5626

Abstract

In order to determine whether Taiwanese vegetarian diets reduce the risks of depression, we analyzed data from the Tzu Chi Vegetarian Study (TCVS), which is a prospective cohort study following 12,062 participants from the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation of Taiwan since 2005. The cohort was prospectively followed by linking to the National Health Institute Research Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan and hazard ratios of depression between vegetarian and non-vegetarian groups were calculated by Cox proportional hazards regression. We assessed dietary intake using a detailed food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Incident depression was ascertained through linkage to NHIRD which had claim records with the International Classification of Diseases, and a total of 3571 vegetarians and 7006 non-vegetarians were included in this analysis. Compared with non-vegetarians, the vegetarian group had a lower incidence of depressive disorders (2.37 vs. 3.21 per 10,000 person-years; adjusted hazard ratio (aHR): 0.70; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.52–0.93). Thus, Taiwanese vegetarians had a lower risk of developing subsequent depressive disorders compared with non-vegetarians. This indicated that diet may be an important measure for the prevention of depression. However, to generalize to the global population requires further study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Human Health)

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Review

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19 pages, 644 KiB

Open AccessReview

Plant-Based Dietary Practices and Socioeconomic Factors That Influence Anemia in India

by Rohil S. Bhatnagar and Olga I. Padilla-Zakour

Nutrients 2021, 13(10), 3538; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13103538 - 09 Oct 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4128

Abstract

While rates of malnutrition have declined over the last decade in India due to successful government interventions, the prevalence of anemia remains high. Staple foods provide almost 70% of the daily iron intake. As staple foods are a rich source of phytate, this ingested iron is poorly absorbed. Currently, 59% of children below 3 years of age, 50% of expectant mothers and 53% of women aged 15–19 years are anemic. The most common intervention strategy has been through the use of iron supplements. While the compliance has been low and supplies irregular, such high rates of anemia cannot be explained by iron deficiency alone. This review attempts to fit dietary and cooking practices, field-level diagnostics, cultural beliefs and constraints in implementation of management strategies into a larger picture scenario to offer insights as to why anemia continues to plague India. Since the rural Indian diet is predominantly vegetarian, we also review dietary factors that influence non-heme iron absorption. As a reference point, we also contrast anemia-related trends in India to the U.S.A. Thus, this review is an effort to convey a holistic evaluation while providing approaches to address this public health crisis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Human Health)

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30 pages, 655 KiB

Open AccessReview

An Overview on Nutritional Aspects of Plant-Based Beverages Used as Substitutes for Cow’s Milk

by Isabel Fructuoso, Bernardo Romão, Heesup Han, António Raposo, Antonio Ariza-Montes, Luis Araya-Castillo and Renata Puppin Zandonadi

Nutrients 2021, 13(8), 2650; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13082650 - 30 Jul 2021

Cited by 63 | Viewed by 11220

Abstract

The presence of milk in meals and products consumed daily is common and at the same time the adoption of a milk-free diet increases due to milk allergy, lactose intolerance, vegan diets, and others. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for plant-based beverages, which present variable and, sometimes, unknown nutritional characteristics. This study sought to compare the nutritional aspects of plant-based beverages used as substitutes for cow’s milk described in scientific studies. Therefore, we used a review of the scientific literature on PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Patents, Embase, and ScienceDirect databases. The inclusion criteria were scientific studies referring to plant-based beverage used as an alternative to cow’s milk; published in the English language; present data on the serving size, ingredients, and nutritional composition, containing at least data on energy and macronutrients of plant-based beverages. Ingredients and data on energy, macronutrients, and, if available, dietary fiber and some micronutrients of plant-based beverages were collected. Data were obtained from 122 beverages of 22 different matrices, with soy being the most used (27.87%, n = 34). The variation in the amount of nutrients found was 6–183 Kcal/100 mL for energy value; 0.00–22.29 g/100 mL for carbohydrate; 0.06–12.43 g/100 mL for protein; 0.00–19.00 g/100 mL for lipid; 0.00–4.40 g/100 mL for dietary fiber; 0.00–1252.94 mg/100 mL for calcium; 0.04–1.40 mg/100 mL for iron; 0.84–10,178.60 mg/100 mL for magnesium; 0.00–343.43 mg/100 mL for sodium. Salt was the most commonly found added ingredient in plant-based beverages. Some beverages have reached certain amounts of cow’s milk nutrients. However, studies have pointed out differences in their qualities/types. Thus, attention is needed when replacing milk with these alternatives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Human Health)

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