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Vegetarian Diets: Planetary Health and Its Alignment with Human Health.

ABSTRACT: To maintain planetary health, human activities must limit the use of Earth's resources within finite boundaries and avoid environmental degradation. At present, food systems account for a substantial use of natural resources and contribute considerably to climate change, degradation of land, water use, and other impacts, which in turn threaten human health through food insecurity. Additionally, current dietary patterns, rich in animal products and excessive in calories, are detrimental to both population and planetary health. In order to resolve the diet-environment-health trilemma, population-level dietary changes are essential. Vegetarian diets are reported to be healthy options. Most plant-sourced foods are less resource intense and taxing on the environment than the production of animal-derived foods, particularly meat and dairy from ruminants. This review article explores simultaneously the environmental sustainability of vegetarian diets, and its alignment with people's health. In general, the progression from omnivorous to ovolactovegetarian and vegan diets is associated with increased environmental sustainability. Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from vegan and ovolactovegetarian diets are ?50% and ?35% lower, respectively, than most current omnivore diets, and with corresponding reductions in the use of natural resources. Concomitant health benefits could be obtained by shifting from current dietary patterns to sustainable vegetarian diets. Thus, there seems to be an alignment of health and environmental outcomes for vegetarian diets. Although this shows the human health and environmental sustainability benefits of vegetarian diets in high-income countries, questions remain about the challenges in other contexts and the political will to promote meat-free diets as the social norm.

SUBMITTER: Fresan U

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6855976 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Vegetarian Diets: Planetary Health and Its Alignment with Human Health.

Fresán Ujué U Sabaté Joan J

Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) 20191101 Suppl_4

To maintain planetary health, human activities must limit the use of Earth's resources within finite boundaries and avoid environmental degradation. At present, food systems account for a substantial use of natural resources and contribute considerably to climate change, degradation of land, water use, and other impacts, which in turn threaten human health through food insecurity. Additionally, current dietary patterns, rich in animal products and excessive in calories, are detrimental to both p ...[more]

PMID: 31728487

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Project description:BackgroundVegetarian diets are becoming increasingly popular in the USA. Limited research has examined the health consequences of vegetarian diets during pregnancy. We comprehensively examined associations of vegetarianism during pregnancy with maternal and neonatal outcomes.MethodsWe used data from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Fetal Growth Studies-Singletons, a prospective multi-site cohort of 1948 low-risk pregnant women of four races/ethnicities (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander) in the USA (2009-2013). Vegetarianism was self-reported and also defined based on dietary patterns measured using a self-administered first-trimester food-frequency questionnaire (full [lacto-ovo and vegan], pesco-, semi- and non-vegetarians). Neonatal outcomes included birthweight and neonatal anthropometric measures, small for gestational age, small for gestational age with neonatal morbidity and preterm delivery. Maternal outcomes included gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and gestational anaemia.ResultsNinety-nine (6.2%) women self-reported being vegetarian. The diet-based definition identified 32 (2.0%) full vegetarians, 7 (0.6%) pesco-vegetarians and 301 (17.6%) semi-vegetarians. Neonates of diet-based full vegetarians had higher odds of being small for gestational age [adjusted odds ratio (ORadj) = 2.51, 95% confidence interval: 1.01, 6.21], but not of being small for gestational age with a postnatal morbidity. Full vegetarians had marginally increased the odds of inadequate second-trimester gestational weight gain (ORadj = 2.24, 95% confidence interval: 0.95, 5.27).ConclusionVegetarian diets during pregnancy were associated with constitutionally smaller neonatal size, potentially via the mothers' reduced gestational weight gain. Notably, vegetarianism was not associated with small-for-gestational-age-related morbidities or other adverse maternal outcomes.

Project description:The cardiovascular and other health benefits and potential harms of protein and micronutrient deficiency of vegetarian diets continue to be debated.Study participants included urban migrants, their rural siblings and urban residents (n = 6555, mean age - 40.9 yrs) of the Indian Migration Study from Lucknow, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Information on diet (validated interviewer-administered semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire), tobacco, alcohol, physical activity, medical histories, as well as blood pressure, fasting blood and anthropometric measurements were collected. Nutrient databases were used to calculate nutrient content of regional recipes. Vegetarians ate no eggs, fish, poultry and meat. Using multivariate linear regression with robust standard error model, we compared the macro- and micro-nutrient profile of vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets.Vegetarians, (32.8% of the population), consumed greater amounts of legumes, vegetables, roots and tubers, dairy and sugar, while non-vegetarians had a greater intake of cereals, fruits, spices, salt (p?<?0.01), fats and oils. Vegetarians had a higher socioeconomic status, and were less likely to smoke, drink alcohol (p?<?0.0001) and engage in less physical activity (p?=?0.04). On multivariate analysis, vegetarians consumed more carbohydrates (??=?7.0 g/day (95% CI: 9.9 to 4.0), p?<?0.0001), vitamin C (??=?8.7 mg/day (95% CI: 4.3 to13.0), p?<?0.0001) and folate (??=?8.0 mcg/day (95% CI: 3.3 to 12.7), p?=?0.001) and lower levels of fat (??=?-1.6 g/day (95% CI: -0.62 to -2.7), p?=?0.002), protein (??=?-6.4 g/day (95% CI: -5.8 to -7.0), p?<?0.0001), vitamin B12 (??=?-1.4 mcg/day (95% CI: -1.2 to -1.5), p?<?0.0001) and zinc (??=?-0.6 mg/day (95% CI: -0.4 to -0.7), p?<?0.0001).Overall, Indian vegetarian diets were found to be adequate to sustain nutritional demands according to recommended dietary allowances with less fat. Lower vitamin B12 bio-availability remains a concern and requires exploration of acceptable dietary sources for vegetarians.

Project description:BackgroundVegetarian diets may promote weight loss, but evidence remains inconclusive.MethodsPubMed, EMBASE and UpToDate databases were searched through September 22, 2014, and investigators extracted data regarding study characteristics and assessed study quality among selected randomized clinical trials. Population size, demographic (i.e., gender and age) and anthropometric (i.e., body mass index) characteristics, types of interventions, follow-up periods, and trial quality (Jadad score) were recorded. The net changes in body weight of subjects were analyzed and pooled after assessing heterogeneity with a random effects model. Subgroup analysis was performed based on type of vegetarian diet, type of energy restriction, study population, and follow-up period.ResultsTwelve randomized controlled trials were included, involving a total of 1151 subjects who received the intervention over a median duration of 18 weeks. Overall, individuals assigned to the vegetarian diet groups lost significantly more weight than those assigned to the non-vegetarian diet groups (weighted mean difference, -2.02 kg; 95 % confidence interval [CI]: -2.80 to -1.23). Subgroup analysis detected significant weight reduction in subjects consuming a vegan diet (-2.52 kg; 95 % CI: -3.02 to -1.98) and, to a lesser extent, in those given lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets (-1.48 kg; 95 % CI: -3.43 to 0.47). Studies on subjects consuming vegetarian diets with energy restriction (ER) revealed a significantly greater weight reduction (-2.21 kg; 95 % CI: -3.31 to -1.12) than those without ER (-1.66 kg; 95 % CI: -2.85 to -0.48). The weight loss for subjects with follow-up of <1 year was greater (-2.05 kg; 95 % CI: -2.85 to -1.25) than those with follow-up of ≥1 year (-1.13 kg; 95 % CI: -2.04 to -0.21).ConclusionsVegetarian diets appeared to have significant benefits on weight reduction compared to non-vegetarian diets. Further long-term trials are needed to investigate the effects of vegetarian diets on body weight control.

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Vegetarian Diets: Planetary Health and Its Alignment with Human Health.

Publications

Vegetarian Diets: Planetary Health and Its Alignment with Human Health.

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