Plant-based diets linked to lower dementia risk for vulnerable heart patients
![doctor fruits vegetables vegetarian diet. Embracing a plant-based diet can improve a person’s cardiovascular health, according to a new commentary published in the American Journal of Cardiology.[1] The article, titled “Are We What We Eat? The Moral Imperative of the Medical Profession to Promote Plant-Based Nutrition,” also highlights multiple reasons that choosing plant-based nutrition over animal-based food can be viewed as being better for society as a whole.](/sites/default/files/styles/top_stories/public/2022-12/microsoftteams-image_12.png.webp?itok=RWBskBIY)
Plant-based diets may help adults with a history of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes or stroke reduce their long-term risk of dementia, according to new findings published in JACC: Advances.[1] Researchers called for additional studies to confirm this finding.
“There is increasing evidence that a whole food, plant-based (WFPB) diet, which minimizes both animal-based and processed foods, may lead to considerable cardiometabolic and cognitive benefits,” wrote first author Michelle M. Dunk, PhD, a researcher with the Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and colleagues. “For instance, randomized trials have reported greater improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors in those consuming a predominantly WFPB diet compared to both the Mediterranean diet and a healthy omnivorous diet. Moreover, a WFPB diet has been shown to stop progression and cause regression of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease and lead to successful remission of type 2 diabetes. However, investigations of a WFPB diet in the context of dementia are scarce.”
To learn more, Dunk et al. examined U.K. Biobank data from more than 71,000 patients older than 55 years old. Each participant received a plant-based diet index (PDI) based on the quality of their WFPB.
Overall, 13.5% of the study’s participants presented with a history of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes or stroke. After a median of 12.5 years, 1.2% of them went on to develop dementia.
The group noted that a history of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes or stroke were all associated with a significantly higher risk of dementia. This risk was reduced among the patients with a very healthy PDI and increased among the patients with a very unhealthy PDI. When patients with a somewhat healthy PDI took part in other healthy lifestyle factors—moderate to vigorous physical activity, for example—they were also linked to a reduced risk of dementia.
“These findings expand on the growing literature pointing to the importance of consuming a diet rich in whole plant foods and low in processed and animal-based foods for reducing dementia risk,” the group wrote. “To our knowledge, our study is among the first to investigate dementia risk in relation to plant-based diet quality among those with cardiometabolic diseases, an especially vulnerable group.”
The authors also noted that much more research is still needed before causality can be confirmed between plant-based diet quality and dementia.
“The extent to which plant-based diet quality may modify dementia risk through cardiometabolic risk factors also needs to be elucidated in future research,” they wrote.
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Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.