Processed plant-based foods may raise heart disease risk, while whole, unprocessed plant foods protect heart health, study warns.
A new study has revealed that a vegetarian diet based on processed foods increases the risk of heart disease, in contrast to healthy vegetarian diets based on whole, fresh foods.
The study, published in The Lancet, explained that the benefits of plant-based diets fade when they are based on ultra-processed foods , which often contain preservatives, fats, and added sugar.
The study, conducted on more than 63,800 middle-aged adults in France over a period of more than 9 years, showed that people who followed a complete, unprocessed plant-based diet were 44 percent less likely to develop coronary heart disease, compared to others.
In contrast, a vegetarian diet's reliance on ultra-processed foods increased the risk of coronary heart disease by 46 percent, and cardiovascular disease in general by 38 percent.
These participants tended to eat supermarket bread , ready-made pasta dishes, canned soups, and ready-made salads with heavy dressings.
"Our results show that reducing consumption of animal products alone is not enough, but we must also focus on eating unprocessed plant foods to maintain heart health," said Clementine Brio, the lead researcher on the study, from Sorbonne University.
The researchers pointed out that food quality and processing methods are more important than whether it is plant-based or animal-based. People who consumed some animal products and avoided ultra-processed foods were no more likely to develop heart disease than those who followed a healthy, plant-based diet rich in whole foods.
Experts recommended reducing the consumption of ultra-processed foods, whether plant-based or animal-based, and focusing on fresh, whole foods, along with a healthy lifestyle that includes physical activity and avoiding smoking, to reduce the risk of heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases.
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