Here’s more good news about following a plant-based diet: It can boost “good” gut bacteria so as to lower heart disease risk.

Those are the findings of a recent study that appeared in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. It showed that eating fewer animal products, such as meat, milk and eggs, and following a mostly plant-based diet can reduce the amount of gut bacteria associated with an increased risk for coronary heart disease.

Why a plant-based diet is good for your heart

The gut is home to trillions of bacteria that are involved in many key metabolic processes, like nutrient absorption and the regulation of energy levels.

Gut bacteria produce a metabolite called trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) when they digest nutrients typically found in animal products, such as choline and carnitine. Previous studies have shown that high TMAO levels increase the risk for atherosclerosis, or the hardening or narrowing of the arteries. Atherosclerosis is a major cause of coronary heart disease, a common type of heart disease that can lead to heart attack.

In fact, atherosclerotic coronary heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States and around the world.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the amount of TMAO-producing bacteria in your gut goes up as your intake of red meat increases. In other words, the more red meat you eat, the more TMAO-producing gut bacteria you have. This could end up changing your gut microbiome for the worse and put you at risk for chronic health issues.

However, studies have shown that the opposite seems to be true for those eating a vegan or a vegetarian diet. These people tend to have fewer TMAO-producing gut bacteria than those who like to eat red meat.

To determine whether changes in TMAO levels are associated with the incidence of coronary heart disease, the researchers examined 760 women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study, a prospective cohort study of more than 121,000 female registered nurses between the ages of 30 and 55.

In particular, they analyzed the women’s dietary patterns, smoking status and physical activity, among other demographic data. The women also provided two blood samples taken 10 years apart.

The researchers found that women who developed coronary heart disease within a 10-year period had much higher amounts of TMOA in their blood than those who didn’t develop the disease.

Women who developed coronary heart disease also had a high body mass index (BMI) and a family history of heart attacks. They also followed a relatively unhealthy diet that included a lot of animal products.

After the researchers controlled for demographic variables, they found that women with the highest levels of TMAO in their blood at the end of the study had a 67 percent higher risk for coronary heart disease than women with the lowest TMAO levels.

In all, the findings of the study provide further proof for the role of TMAO as a biomarker for coronary heart disease. Such findings should encourage us to adopt healthier eating patterns and diets.

Plant-based diet can reduce risk of death from heart disease

In another study, researchers found that adding plant-based foods to your diet might just decrease your risk of dying from causes of premature death, such as heart disease.

They used data from 47,983 women with an average age of 64 who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study, as well as 25,737 men of the same average age who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, a prospective cohort study of more than 51,000 male health professionals. None of the participants had a history of cancer or heart disease when they entered their respective studies.

The researchers looked at changes in the participants’ diets over a 12-year period and devised three separate scales to measure how much plant-based foods people incorporated into their daily diets. The scales were overall plant-based diet, healthy plant-based diet and unhealthy plant-based diet.

They found that those with the largest increase in an overall plant-based diet had an eight percent lower risk of dying from all causes. Meanwhile, those who had a healthy plant-based diet had a 10 percent lower risk of death from heart disease. This diet involved replacing one serving each day of refined grains with whole grains. The diet also added one serving each day of fruits and vegetables and limiting sugary drinks to just one serving each day.

On the other hand, those who followed an unhealthy plant-based diet had an 11 percent higher chance of death. This diet included a lot of unhealthy food items, such as processed fruit juices, refined grains, sweets and potatoes, despite being plant-based.

So if you’re looking to live a long, healthy life, you may want to start incorporating more fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains and other plant-based foods into your diet. It would also help to cut back on unhealthy foods, such as refined grains, sweets and sugary drinks like processed fruit juices.

Sources:

NutraIngredients-USA.com

MyClevelandClinic.org

Newsroom.Heart.org