The term “biomarker” refers to a broad subcategory of medical signs that can be measured accurately and reproducibly, and people who don’t eat meat appear to have healthier ones.
At this week’s European Congress on Obesity, researchers from the University of Glasgow will present their findings of their observational study of more than 166,000 adults in the United Kingdom.
According to the researchers, vegetarians appear to have a healthier biomarker profile than meat eaters, “and this applies to adults of any age and weight, and is also unaffected by smoking and alcohol consumption.”
To learn if dietary choices can make a difference to the levels of disease markers in blood and urine, the researchers did a cross-sectional study analyzing data from 177,723 healthy participants ages 37-73 in the UK Biobank study who reported no major changes in diet over the past five years.
Participants were categorized as either vegetarian (do not eat red meat, poultry or fish; 4,111 participants) or meat eaters (166,516 participants) according to their self-reported diet. The researchers examined the association with 19 blood and urine biomarkers related to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, liver, bone and joint health, and kidney function.
Even after accounting for age, sex, education, ethnicity, obesity, smoking and alcohol intake — any of which could affect results — the analysis found that, compared to meat eaters, vegetarians had significantly lower levels of 13 biomarkers, including: total cholesterol; low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol — the so-called “bad cholesterol”; apolipoprotein A (linked to cardiovascular disease), apolipoprotein B (linked to cardiovascular disease); gamma-glutamyl transferase and alanine aminotransferase — liver function markers indicating inflammation or damage to cells; insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1; a hormone that encourages the growth and proliferation of cancer cells); urate; total protein; and creatinine (marker of worsening kidney function).
It wasn’t all good news for vegetarians, however.
The study showed they had lower levels of beneficial biomarkers, including high-density lipoprotein (HDL) “good” cholesterol, and vitamin D and calcium (linked to bone and joint health). In addition, they had a significantly higher level of triglycerides in the blood and cystatin-C, suggesting a poorer kidney condition.
“Our findings offer real food for thought,” said Dr. Carlos Celis-Morales from the University of Glasgow, UK, who led the research. “As well as not eating red and processed meat, which have been linked to heart diseases and some cancers, people who follow a vegetarian diet tend to consume more vegetables, fruit and nuts, which contain more nutrients, fibre and other potentially beneficial compounds. These nutritional differences may help explain why vegetarians appear to have lower levels of disease biomarkers that can lead to cell damage and chronic disease.”
The researchers acknowledged no conclusions can be drawn from their study because it was small and observational. They also noted they relied on participants to report their dietary intake using food frequency questionnaires, which are not always reliable.
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