OBJECTIVES Cardiometabolic diseases are increasing disproportionately in South Asia compared with other regions of the world despite high levels of vegetarianism. This unexpected discordance may be explained by differences in the healthfulness of vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets in South Asia compared with the United States. The aim of this study was to compare the food group intake of veget...

Background: There is convincing evidence that vegetarians have lower incidence of coronary heart disease, but there is a debate as to why this is the case. Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate whether a shift from a mixed diet to a lacto-vegetarian diet would lead to a decrease in risk for coronary heart diseases indicated by surrogate markers. Design: Twenty volunteers participat...

In this issue of American Family Physician, Walker and Reamy review many of today’s most popular diets.1 In addition to inquiries about these specific diets, physicians may be asked about vegetarian diets in general. Patients may have many reasons for their interest in a vegetarian diet, including health issues, spiritual beliefs, environmental effects, or animal welfare concerns. Dr. Dean Orni...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) are in positive phosphorus balance, but phosphorus levels are maintained in the normal range through phosphaturia induced by increases in fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23) and parathyroid hormone (PTH). This provides the rationale for recommendations to restrict dietary phosphate intake to 800 mg/d. However, the pro...

The number of studies comparing nutritional quality of restrictive diets is limited. Data on vegan subjects are especially lacking. It was the aim of the present study to compare the quality and the contributing components of vegan, vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian and omnivorous diets. Dietary intake was estimated using a cross-sectional online survey with a 52-items food frequenc...

INTRODUCTION Vegetarian diets have been shown to improve glucose metabolism and reduce risk for diabetes in Westerners but whether Chinese vegetarian diets have the same benefits is unknown. METHODS We evaluated the association between diet and diabetes/impaired fasting glucose (IFG) among 4384 Taiwanese Buddhist volunteers and identified diabetes/IFG cases from a comprehensive review of medi...

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that a low-fat, vegetarian diet reduces dysmenorrhea and premenstrual symptoms by its effect on serum sex-hormone binding globulin concentration and estrogen activity. METHODS In a crossover design, 33 women followed a low-fat, vegetarian diet for two menstrual cycles. For two additional cycles, they followed their customary diet while taking a supplement plac...

In a study of influences on meat consumption, over 700 South Australians answered questions on frequency of meat consumption, beliefs about meat and nutrition, perceived difficulties with and benefits of vegetarian diets, personal values, number of vegetarian significant others, use in and trust of health/nutrition/food information sources, and demography. Perceived difficulties with vegetarian...

To study how a vegetarian or low meat diet influences the risk of colorectal cancer compared to a high meat diet, and to assess the explanatory role of factors associated with these diets. In the Netherlands Cohort Study - Meat Investigation Cohort (NLCS-MIC) (cohort of 10,210 individuals including 1040 self-defined vegetarians), subjects completed a baseline questionnaire in 1986, based on whi...

The number of vegetarian athletes is increasing nowadays, but in parallel with this increment, the literature can be very limited. Vegetarian individuals often change their food consumption suddenly, without undergoing health checks and dietitian consultation. By removing animal foods from diet an athlete who decides to become a vegetarian, it possible that daily energy some nutrient intakes in...