Abstract
Background: The Hispanic/Latino population in the US is experiencing high rates of obesity and cardio-metabolic disease that may be attributable to a nutrition transition away from traditional diets emphasizing whole plant foods. In the US, plant-based diets have been shown to be effective in preventing and controlling obesity and cardio-metabolic disease in large samples of primarily non-Hispanic subjects. Studying this association in US Hispanic/Latinos could inform culturally tailored interventions.Objective: To examine whether the plant-based diet pattern that is frequently followed by Hispanic/Latino Seventh-day Adventists is associated with lower levels of adiposity and adiposity-related biomarkers.Methods: The Adventist Multiethnic Nutrition Study (AMEN) enrolled 74 Seventh-day Adventists from five Hispanic/Latino churches within a 20 mile radius of Loma Linda, CA into a cross-sectional study of diet (24 h recalls, surveys) and health (anthropometrics and biomarkers).Results: Vegetarian diet patterns (Vegan, Lacto-ovo vegetarian, Pesco-vegetarian) were associated with significantly lower BMI (24.5 kg/m2 vs. 27.9 kg/m2, p = 0.006), waist circumference (34.8 in vs. 37.5 in, p = 0.01), and fat mass (18.3 kg vs. 23.9 kg, p = 0.007), as compared to non-vegetarians. Adiposity was positively associated with pro-inflammatory cytokines (Interleukin-6) in this sample, but adjusting for this effect did not alter the associations with vegetarian diet.Conclusions: Plant-based eating as practiced by US-based Hispanic/Latino Seventh-day Adventists is associated with BMI in the recommended range. Further work is needed to characterize this type of diet for use in obesity-related interventions among Hispanic/Latinos in the US.
Highlights
The Hispanic/Latino population in the United States (US) is experiencing high rates of obesity and cardio-metabolic disease that may be attributable to a nutrition transition away from traditional diets emphasizing whole plant foods
We found that vegetarians tended to be older (p = 0.006) and more educated (p = 0.02) as compared to non-vegetarians (Table 1)
In linear regression models (Table 2), we tested the association between measures of adiposity (BMI, waist circumference (WC), fat mass, and percent body fat) as outcomes and vegetarian diet status as a main exposure
Summary
The Hispanic/Latino population in the US is experiencing high rates of obesity and cardio-metabolic disease that may be attributable to a nutrition transition away from traditional diets emphasizing whole plant foods. In the US, plant-based diets have been shown to be effective in preventing and controlling obesity and cardio-metabolic disease in large samples of primarily non-Hispanic subjects Studying this association in US Hispanic/Latinos could inform culturally tailored interventions. The analysis of a nationally representative sample of US Mexican adults found higher rates of overweight/obesity in those who had “transitioned” from traditional eating patterns emphasizing maize to patterns emphasizing red meat, processed meat, and processed foods [10,11,12] These emerging data support that a plant-based dietary intervention could be effective in primary and secondary prevention of obesity and obesity-related diabetes in the Hispanic/Latino population
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