ENLIGHTENED DIET: Going Vegan May Have Fringe Benefits

What’s the best diet for preventing heart disease? Low fat, high carb? High fat, low carb? For years, champions of one diet or another have argued.
Now, scientists at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute have joined the fray by suggesting that removing all animal products from your diet — including milk and eggs — may have unexpected health benefits for your heart.
In their study, which was published in the medical journal Arthritis Research & Therapy, 66 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (people with rheumatoid arthritis are at increased risk for heart disease) were randomly assigned to either a vegan, gluten-free diet or a well-balanced, non-vegan diet. Here’s what they ate for three months:
The vegan diet consisted of 10 percent protein, 60 percent carbohydrates, and 30 percent fats (with no more than 10 percent in saturated fats). The vegans consumed vegetables, nuts, fruits, and sunflower seeds along with gluten-free grains and starches, such as buckwheat, millet, corn, and rice. They drank “sesame milk” made from unshelled sesame seeds to make sure they got enough daily calcium.
The non-vegan diet contained 10 to 15 percent protein, 55 to 60 percent carbohydrates, and the same fat intake as the vegan regimen. Non-vegans were encouraged to have five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables and to increase their intake of starch and other complex carbs, including whole-grain products.
As it turned out, going vegan and gluten-free for at least three months lowered cardiovascular and atherosclerosis risk factors, including total cholesterol, LDL (low-density lipoprotein, often called “bad cholesterol”), the ratio of LDL to HDL (high-density lipoprotein, or “good cholesterol”), weight, and body mass index (BMI).
What’s more, the vegan diet raised the level of natural antibodies that may keep disease processes from developing. “Our findings suggest a new mechanism by which the level of natural protective antibodies can be increased,” says Karolinska professor Johan Frostegård, who led the study. “They also show that diet can have effects on the immune system, with implications for the incidence of disease.”

Sheldon Lewis