The type of provegetarian food pattern modifies long-term cardiovascular risk in young individuals

A provegetarian (PVG) food pattern is reportedly cardioprotective in older adults from non-Mediterranean populations, but scarce evidence is available for Mediterranean populations. We assessed the association between 3 different PVG food patterns and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra) cohort.

The SUN Project is a Mediterranean cohort study of relatively young Spanish university graduates. A PVG food pattern was calculated by assigning positive scores to plant-based foods and reverse scores to animal-based foods. Two additional patterns, healthful (hPVG) and unhealthful (uPVG), were derived based on the quality of plant-based foods.

The final analysis included 18 560 participants, with a mean±standard deviation baseline age of 38±12 years. During a median [interquartile range] follow-up of 16 [10-20] years, 227 cases of CVD were identified. Participants within the upper quartile of the PVG pattern had a 37% lower CVD risk (HR_Q4vsQ1, 0.63; 95%CI, 0.42-0.94) compared with the lowest quartile. This inverse association was similar for the hPVG (HR_Q4vsQ1, 0.60; 95%CI, 0.40-0.90), but not for the uPVG food pattern, which instead exhibited a 76% higher CVD risk between extreme quartiles (HR_Q4vsQ1, 1.76; 95%CI, 1.17-2.64).

Both a general PVG and hPVG food pattern were associated with a reduced CVD risk in a relatively young Mediterranean population. An uPVG food pattern was associated with an increased risk.