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Is It Feasible to Predict Cardiovascular Risk among Healthy Vegans, Lacto-/Ovo-Vegetarians, Pescatarians, and
Izabela Kwiatkowska1, Jakub Olszak2, Alicja Brożek1
1Department of Medical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 61-701 Poznan, Poland.
Insights
Cardiovascular risk assessment in young adults is challenging. This study found dietary patterns influence cardiovascular disease risk, with omnivores showing higher risk and vegans lower risk, using novel metrics and biomarkers.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Nutritional Science
- Preventive Cardiology
Background:
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of mortality globally.
- Current cardiovascular (CV) risk assessment guidelines for young adults lack certainty.
- Earlier diagnostic tools for CVD are needed, especially for younger populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the feasibility of CV risk estimation in healthy individuals under 40.
- To compare CV risk across different dietary patterns (vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, omnivore).
- To explore the utility of novel risk metrics and biomarkers for early CV risk detection.
Main Methods:
- Development and application of four novel metrics with selected CV risk classifiers.
- Assessment of healthy participants (n=155) across four dietary groups during the pandemic.
- Analysis of relationships between created metrics and non-basic biomarkers (ApoA1, IL-6, HCY, hsCRP).
Main Results:
- Dietary patterns influenced CV risk predictions, with meat-consuming groups showing higher predicted risk.
- Statistically significant associations were found between metrics and biomarkers: ApoA1 (OMN), IL-6 (PESCA), HCY (VEGAN), and hsCRP (OMN+PESCA).
- The omnivore group exhibited the highest predicted future CV risk, while the vegan group showed the lowest.
Conclusions:
- Predicting CV risk in healthy young adults based on diet is challenging yet feasible using laboratory assessments and novel metrics.
- Dietary patterns play a significant role in modulating CV risk factors in younger populations.
- Findings suggest a potential gradient of CV risk from vegan to omnivore diets in individuals under 40.
Abstract:
Guidelines for cardiovascular (CV) risk assessment among young adults are uncertain. Researchers are still looking for new tools for earlier diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), the leading cause of mortality in the modern world. This study aimed to assess whether CV risk estimation is possible in groups of healthy individuals under the age of 40 on different dietary patterns (vegans-VEGAN (n = 48), lacto-/ovo-vegetarians-VEGE (n = 49), pescatarians-PESCA (n = 23), and omnivores-OMN (n = 35)) during the pandemic period. Four metrics containing selected risk classifiers were created, and participants were assessed using them. Groups including meat consumption showed increased CV risk predictions in the metrics assessment. The next analyzes showed statistically significant relationships between the results from the created metrics and selected non-basic biomarkers for ApoA1 (OMN group, p = 0.028), IL-6 (PESCA group, p = 0.048), HCY (VEGAN group, p = 0.05), and hsCRP (OMN + PESCA groups, p = 0.025). We found that predicting CV risk among healthy people under 40 adhering to different dietary patterns, taking into account basic and non-basic laboratory assessments and created metrics, is challenging but feasible. Furthermore, the OMN group appeared to be at the highest risk of increased CV risk in the future, while risk tended to be the lowest in the VEGAN group.
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