New research is continuing to affirm the many healthy benefits of a plant-based diet, including a reduction in multiple conditions.
A new 11-year study published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity followed 407,618 adults in six European countries, tracking their eating habits and the instances of "multimorbidity," or multiple conditions occurring at the same time, like cancer, heart disease, and Type 2 diabetes, according to Earth.com.
Participants' diets were scored using a healthful, plant-based index that rewarded vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and coffee. Consuming refined grains, sweets, and animal products reversed points in the study. There was also an index of plant-based scores for refined plant foods and sugary drinks, accounting for the varying nutritional quality of plant-based foods.
The results showed that 6,604 people developed two of the three illnesses during follow-up, but there was an 11% lower risk in some participants.
"A healthy plant-based diet might reduce the burden of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases among middle-aged and older adults," concluded Reynalda Córdova, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Vienna who worked on the study.
A larger meta-study reported that sticking with a plant-based diet rich in quality foods was associated with a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.
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The study backs up more and more research showing that a plant-based diet offers myriad health benefits. The National Library of Medicine noted that a plant-based diet can lower body mass index, blood pressure, HbA1C, and cholesterol levels, as well as lower the number of medications needed for chronic conditions.
A study earlier this year from the Department of Health in the U.K. found that a diverse plant-based diet produces stronger cardiometabolic health results. Another study involving twins from last year by Stanford Medicine showed that a vegan diet offered lower insulin levels, reduced body weight, and lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels.
Plant-based diets are also beneficial for the environment. A study from Harvard's School of Public Health showed that a participant eating a plant-based diet had a lower polluting gas impact, as well as lower use of croplands, water for irrigation, and fertilizer than those consuming more meat-heavy diets.
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