Abstract
Vegetarians, those who avoid meat, and vegans, additionally avoiding dairy and eggs, represent 5% and 2%, respectively, of the US population. The aim of this review is to assess the effects of vegetarian diets, particularly strict vegetarian diets (i.e., vegans) on health and disease outcomes. We summarized available evidence from three prospective cohorts of Adventists in North America: Adventist Mortality Study, Adventist Health Study, and Adventist Health Study-2. Non-vegetarian diets were compared to vegetarian dietary patterns (i.e., vegan and lacto-ovo-vegetarian) on selected health outcomes. Vegetarian diets confer protection against cardiovascular diseases, cardiometabolic risk factors, some cancers and total mortality. Compared to lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets, vegan diets seem to offer additional protection for obesity, hypertension, type-2 diabetes, and cardiovascular mortality. Males experience greater health benefits than females. Limited prospective data is available on vegetarian diets and body weight change. Large randomized intervention trials on the effects of vegetarian diet patterns on neurological and cognitive functions, obesity, diabetes, and other cardiovascular outcomes are warranted to make meaningful recommendations.
Highlights
A recent Gallup Poll conducted in July 2012 reported that 5% of the American adult population is vegetarian
Are the health effects of those who adhere to strict vegetarian and lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets differ from non-vegetarians? the purpose of this review is to summarize available evidence from the Adventist cohorts of potential health effects for vegan and lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets on disease and mortality; and to discuss the limitations of these diets in order to provide practical dietary recommendations
The results extracted from these studies used various parameter estimates including means and standard deviation (SD), odd ratio (OR), relative risk (RR), hazard ratio (HR), and standard mortality ratio (SMR)
Summary
A recent Gallup Poll conducted in July 2012 reported that 5% of the American adult population is vegetarian. The position statement of American Dietetic Association showed reasonable doubts about the nutritional adequacy and benefits of vegetarian diets [6]. The committee has changed its positions on vegetarian dietary recommendations [4,7]. This is the results of much research on vegetarian diets in the past 30 years. The increased number of publications on vegetarian nutrition and major contributions in nutritional epidemiology have contributed to better understanding of the connections between diet and disease [8]. Studies of Adventists have provided compelling evidence that well-balanced vegetarian diets are nutritionally adequate, and associated with lower risk of chronic diseases [4]
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