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Jul 18

Study Finds Switching From Animal Fats to Plant-based Fats Reduces Risk of Disease – vegconomist – the vegan business magazine

Diet Comments Off on Study Finds Switching From Animal Fats to Plant-based Fats Reduces Risk of Disease – vegconomist – the vegan business magazine

Switching from a diet high in saturated animal fats to a diet rich in plant-based unsaturated fats influences the fat composition in the blood. This in turn influences the long-term risk of disease, finds a recent study.

The study, published in Nature Medicine, conducted by a team of researchers from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrcke (DIfE), Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and several other universities, shows that it is possible to accurately measure diet-related fat changes in the blood. These can then be directly linked to the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Our study confirms with even greater certainty than before the health benefits of a diet with a high proportion of unsaturated vegetable fats, such as those found in the Mediterranean diet. This could help to formulate targeted dietary recommendations for those who would benefit most from changing their eating habits, says Dr Clemens Wittenbecher, head of research at Chalmers University of Technology and lead author of the study.

Part of this research was conducted in a dietary intervention study from the University of Reading in the UK, involving 113 men and women. Over 16 weeks, one study group consumed a diet high in saturated animal fats, while the other followed a diet rich in unsaturated vegetable fats. The blood samples were analysed using lipidomics to identify specific lipid molecules that reflected the different diets of the subjects.

We summarised the effects on blood lipids with a multi-lipid score (MLS). A high MLS indicates a healthy blood lipid profile. A high intake of unsaturated vegetable fats and a low intake of saturated animal fats can contribute to achieving such positive MLS values, says first author Dr Fabian Eichelmann from DIfE and scientist at the German Centre for Diabetes Research (DZD).

The WHO recommends replacing saturated animal fats, such as those found in butter, with vegetable unsaturated fats, such as those found in olive oil, in order to reduce cardiometabolic risk. However, the safety of these guidelines has so far been moderate due to limitations in existing studies.

The study described here overcomes these limitations by precisely analysing the fats in the blood, also known as lipids, using a method called lipidomics. These very detailed lipid measurements allowed the researchers to link diet and disease in an innovative combination of different study types. This novel approach combines nutritional intervention studies which use highly controlled diets and existing cohort studies with long-term health monitoring.

The research team statistically linked the MLS results from the dietary intervention study to the incidence of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in large, previously conducted observational studies. The joint data analysis of both study types showed that participants with a higher MLS, which indicates a favourable composition of dietary fats, had a significantly reduced risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases.

In addition, the current study investigated whether people with low MLS values, which indicate a high intake of saturated fats, specifically benefit from a healthier diet. The Mediterranean diet, which focuses on providing more unsaturated vegetable fats, was used in the large nutritional intervention study PREDIMED. Using this study, researchers found that the prevention of type 2 diabetes was actually most pronounced in individuals who had low MLS scores at baseline.

Nutrition is so complex that it is often difficult to draw conclusive evidence from a single study. Our approach of using lipidomics to combine intervention studies with tightly controlled diets with prospective cohort studies with long-term health follow-up can overcome the current limitations in nutrition research, explains Wittenbecher.

Further information: dife.de

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Study Finds Switching From Animal Fats to Plant-based Fats Reduces Risk of Disease - vegconomist - the vegan business magazine

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