Jury University Scientists revealed that the refusal of meat contributes, in general, a healthier profile of various biomarkers, regardless of age, weight and third-party habits. At the same time, vegetarianism can adversely affect some health indicators, including kidney function. This was reported in a press release published on the website MedicalXpress.
Specialists analyzed data on 177,723 healthy participants in a long-term study of UK Biobank at the age of 37-73 years, which for the past five years adhered to one diet. Volunteers were divided into two unequal groups: vegetarians (4111 people) and meatseeds (166,516 people) who used red meat, bird or fish. The researchers analyzed the relationship between the diet and 19 biomarkers of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, liver diseases, bones and joints, as well as kidneys.
Even after the accounting of such factors as age, gender, education, ethnicity, obesity and bad habits, in vegetarians, compared to the meathers, the level of 13 biomarkers, including total cholesterol, low density lipoproteins (or “bad cholesterol”) , apolipoprotein a (associated with cardiovascular disease), apolipoprotein B (associated with cardiovascular disease), gamma-glutamyl transferase and alanine aminotransferase (markers of liver function indicating inflammation or cell damage), insulin-like growth factor (hormone that stimulates the growth and The growth of cancer cells) and creatinine (the worsening marker of the kidney function).
At the same time, vegetarians have observed a lower level of useful biomarkers, including high density lipoprotein (“good” cholesterol), vitamin D and calcium associated with the health of bones and joints. In addition, they had significantly higher levels of fats (triglycerides) in the blood and cystatin-C (indicating that slightly more than poor kidney condition).
The choice in favor of meat or vegetarian food did not affect blood sugar levels (HBA1C), systolic blood pressure, aspartatenotransferase (liver cell damage marker) or C-jet protein (inflammation marker).
The authors emphasize that, since the study was observational (that is, observational, without active intervention of experimenters), it is impossible to accurately determine the causal relationship. The measurement of biomarkers for each participant was carried out once, although their level could change over time depending on the lifestyle change. Another limitation was the fact that the collection of data was carried out through samoanketirovanie that is not always reliable.