The Impact of a Vegan Diet on Cholesterol Levels

We all know that eating vegetables is good, but according to research, cutting out meat and following a plant-based or vegan diet from an early age can do wonders for your health.

Vegetarian and vegan diets may be linked to lower levels of cholesterol and fat in your blood, according to a new study published in The Huffington Post.

After analyzing evidence from studies published since 1982, researchers found that plant-based diets play an important role in reducing artery blockage.

This means reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as strokes and heart attacks.

The study found that vegetarian and vegan diets were associated with a 14 percent reduction in all proteins that clog arteries.

In addition, the researchers found that it was associated with the effect of taking one-third of cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins.

Professor Ruth Frick Schmidt, chief physician at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark, conducted the study together with medical student Caroline Amalie Koch and Dr. Emily Westerlin Kildsen from the same hospital.

"We found that vegetarian and vegan diets were associated with a 14 percent reduction in all artery-clogging lipoproteins, as measured by apolipoprotein B (apoB)," Frick-Schmidt said.

"This corresponds to one-third the effect of taking cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins, and resulted in a 7% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease in people who followed a plant-based diet for five years," he adds.

Statin treatments, which are drugs that lower blood cholesterol levels, are better than plant-based diets in reducing fat and cholesterol levels.

"However, one diet does not rule out the other, and combining statins with plant-based diets is likely to have a synergistic effect, resulting in a greater beneficial effect," explains Frick-Schmidt.

"If people start eating a vegetarian or vegan diet at an early age, the risk of coronary heart disease caused by clogged arteries is very likely to be reduced," he continues.

"The important point is that we found similar results across continents, ages, different BMI ranges and among people in different health states," he adds.

The researchers reviewed 30 trials that were published between 1982 and 2022 with a total of 2,372 people.

They examined the effect of vegetarian or vegan diets versus diets that included meat on the levels of various types of cholesterol, bad cholesterol, triglycerides - a type of fat found in the blood, and apolipoprotein B - a protein that helps carry fat and cholesterol in the blood.

Participants in the study followed a vegetarian or vegan diet or continued to follow an omnivorous diet (which includes meat and dairy products). The duration of the diet varied from 10 days to five years with an average of 29 weeks.

This study, published in the European Heart Journal, shows that there was a 10% reduction in bad cholesterol levels and a 14% reduction in apolipoprotein B levels.

"Plant-based diets are a key tool for shifting food production to more environmentally sustainable forms while reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease," Frick-Schmidt said.

"We need to eat a varied, plant-rich diet, but not overdo it, and quench our thirst with water," he says.