Vegan Diet Health Benefits in Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

Plant-based diets (PBDs) are increasingly consumed by the Italian population and around the world. In particular, among PBDs, the vegan diet is a food pattern characterized by the exclusion of all animal-origin foods. What drives people to adopt this model are mainly ethical, health and environmental reasons. A vegan diet, if well-balanced and varied, can help in achieving and maintaining an optimal state of health. However, this nutritional approach, if not well-balanced, can cause deficiencies in proteins, ω-3 fatty acids, iron, vitamin D and calcium, zinc, iodine and, above all, vitamin B12. Oral food supplements especially fortified foods are recommended in these cases to restore the nutritional deficiencies. A vegan diet generally reduces the risk of developing chronic non-communicable degenerative diseases, such as metabolic syndrome (MetS) and, in addition, requires fewer natural resources for food production than an omnivorous diet. The aim of this review is to analyze the possible impact of the vegan diet on MetS onset and its treatment.

Untargeted metabolomic and lipid metabolism-related gene expression analyses of the effects and mechanism of aged Liupao tea treatment in HFD-induced obese mice

“…The prevalence of obesity and lipid metabolism disorder has increased sharply in recent years; obesity has become a common problem worldwide, and a high-fat and high-sugar diet is the main reason. 1,2 Therefore, the prevention of obesity and improvement of lipid metabolism are urgent matters. Tea, made from the dried buds and leaves of Camellia sinensis L., is one of the most popular beverages consumed in the world.…”

Nutritional Approaches for the Management of Metabolic Acidosis in Chronic Kidney Disease

“…In fact, the vegan LPD exploits the complementarity between amino acids of cereals and legumes. For example, if cereals are low in lysine content and high in methionine content, legumes contain high levels of lysine and low levels of methionine; for this reason, a balanced mixture of these foods provides the correct intake of amino acids, according to the recommended daily allowance (RDA) [ 130 ]. Evidence has shown that a diet with plant-based proteins favors the hemodynamics in the glomerulus [ 131 ].…”

Diversity of Plant Sterols Metabolism: The Impact on Human Health, Sport, and Accumulation of Contaminating Sterols

“…Most studies about the supplement of phytosterols are devoted to their efficacy in lowering of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) [ 1 ]. When discussing the role of phytosterols in diet, several fundamental aspects affecting their clinical efficiency are considered, including factors associated with the delivery of phytosterols, food matrix, dosage, frequency of intake, and chemical forms of these compounds, i.e., sterols or stanols [ 2 ]. The responsiveness to plant sterols and their bioavailability also depends on age and gender, and are determined by nutrigenetic differences in metabolic factors affecting the uptake of cholesterol, activity of cytochrome CYP7A1 and APOE gene expression [ 3 ].…”

“…In this respect, plant sterols are readily recommended as adjustments to diet and as dietary agents that can lower risk of cardiovascular disease, render anti-atherogenic effect, preserve oxidative stress, and adjust or normalize endogenous cholesterol uptake. Experts in diet and nutrition agree that plant sterols are the most proper and abundantly occurring agents for balancing health and might be considered as a functional food supplement [ 2 ]. On the other side, there are plenty of reports about the possible adverse effect of sterols on women’s health and their transformation to anabolic-like human steroids.…”