Neuenschwander et al., 2023
- Neuenschwander et al., 2023
- Health effects of eggs
- Schwingshackl et al., 2017a
- health effects of dairy
- Red and processed meat are bad for you
https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-023-03093-1
Neuenschwander, M., Stadelmaier, J., Eble, J. et al. Substitution of animal-based with plant-based foods on cardiometabolic health and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. BMC Med 21, 404 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-023-03093-1
Abstract
Background
There is growing evidence that substituting animal-based with plant-based foods is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), type 2 diabetes (T2D), and all-cause mortality. Our aim was to summarize and evaluate the evidence for the substitution of any animal-based foods with plant-based foods on cardiometabolic health and all-cause mortality in a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Methods
We systematically searched MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science to March 2023 for prospective studies investigating the substitution of animal-based with plant-based foods on CVD, T2D, and all-cause mortality. We calculated summary hazard ratios (SHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) using random-effects meta-analyses. We assessed the certainty of evidence (CoE) using the GRADE approach.
Results
In total, 37 publications based on 24 cohorts were included.
- There was moderate CoE for a lower risk of CVD when substituting processed meat with:
- nuts (SHR (95% CI): 0.73 (0.59, 0.91), n = 8 cohorts),
- legumes (0.77 (0.68, 0.87), n = 8)
- whole grains (0.64 (0.54, 0.75), n = 7),
- as well as eggs with- nuts (0.83 (0.78, 0.89), n = 8)
- butter with olive oil (0.96 (0.95, 0.98), n = 3).
- Furthermore, we found moderate CoE for an inverse association with T2D incidence when:
- substituting red meat with whole grains/cereals (0.90 (0.84, 0.96), n = 6) Diet and diabetes
- red meat or processed meat with nuts (0.92 (0.90, 0.94), n = 6 or 0.78 (0.69, 0.88), n = 6),
- Replacing poultry with whole grains (0.87 (0.83, 0.90), n = 2) health effects of chicken
- Eggs with nuts or whole grains (0.82 (0.79, 0.86), n = 2 or 0.79 (0.76, 0.83), n = 2).
reduced risk of all-cause mortality when replacing:
- Red meat for nuts (0.93 (0.91, 0.95), n = 9)
- Red meat for whole grains (0.96 (0.95, 0.98), n = 3)
- Processed meat with nuts (0.79 (0.71, 0.88), n = 9)
- processed meat and legumes (0.91 (0.85, 0.98), n = 9),
- Dairy with nuts (0.94 (0.91, 0.97), n = 3)
- Eggs with nuts (0.85 (0.82, 0.89), n = 8)
- Eggs with legumes (0.90 (0.89, 0.91), n = 7)
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.
Insights
a reduction in type 2 diabetes of about 20% when 50g of processed meat daily was swapped for up to 28g of nuts, or when a daily egg was replaced with 30g of whole grains or 10g of nuts.
The risk of cardiovascular disease was about 25% lower when 50g of processed meat a day was replaced with nuts or legumes. Meanwhile, replacing one egg a day with 25g of nuts was linked to a 17% lower risk.
switching 50g of processed meat a day for 28-50g of nuts was associated with a 21% lower risk of death from any cause in the studies assessed.