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vegetarians have a better antioxidant status and coronary heart disease risk
profile than do apparently healthy omnivores
<<snip>>
Nutrition. 2004 Oct;20(10):863-866. Related Articles, Links
Effects of a long-term vegetarian diet on biomarkers of antioxidant status and
cardiovascular disease risk.
Szeto YT, Kwok TC, Benzie IF.
Antioxidant Research Team, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic
University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
OBJECTIVE: We compared plasma biomarkers of antioxidant status, oxidative
stress, inflammation, and risk for coronary heart disease in long-term
vegetarians and age- and sex-matched omnivores. METHODS: Thirty vegetarians
(mean age +/- standard deviation: 44.2 +/- 9.0 y) were recruited. The subjects
had been vegetarian for 5 to 55 y (21.8 +/- 12.2 y). The control group
comprised 30 adults selected by age-stratified sampling from a community health
project (mean age: 44.0 +/- 9.2 y). Fasting plasma total antioxidant status
(ferric-reducing antioxidant power), ascorbic acid (AA), alpha-tocopherol
(total and lipid standardized), malondialdehyde, total cholesterol,
triacylglycerol, uric acid (UA), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein
(hsCRP) were measured. RESULTS: Plasma AA was significantly higher in the
vegetarians than in the omnivores (90.5 +/- 21.0 and 61.8 +/- 17.0 μM; P <
0.001). The vegetarians had lower concentrations of triacylglycerol, UA, and
hsCRP. Plasma total and lipid-standardized alpha-tocopherol concentrations were
also lower in the vegetarians: 22.0 +/- 5.9 and 27.0 +/- 7.9 μM versus 3.76
+/- 0.57 and 4.23 +/- 0.58 μM per millimoles per liter of total cholesterol
plus triacylglycerol, respectively. There was a significant inverse correlation
between AA and UA (r = -0.343, P < 0.01; n = 60) and between AA and hsCRP (r =
-0.306, P < 0.05; n = 55). Plasma ferric-reducing antioxidant power and
malondialdehyde did not differ significantly between groups; however, the
contribution of AA to the total antioxidant capacity of plasma was
approximately 50% greater in the vegetarians. CONCLUSIONS: A long-term
vegetarian diet is associated with markedly higher fasting plasma AA
concentrations and lower concentrations of TAG, UA, and hsCRP. Long-term
vegetarians have a better antioxidant status and coronary heart disease risk
profile than do apparently healthy omnivores. Plasma AA may act a useful marker
of overall health status.
PMID: 15474873 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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