Effect of vegan diet on cardiovascular health

Abstract Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death globally, and in the United States, regardless of socioeconomic strata. Current diet guidelines in the US endorse the consumption of animal products, but research show retrospective, prospective and cross-sectional studies that a vegan diet is more effective at reducing BP, cholesterol, blood sugar levels, and body mass index (BMI) as compared to a non-vegan diet. This paper will focus on the benefits of a vegan diet (I) in reducing CVD risk (O) in adults (P) as compared to a non-vegan diet (C). It is the hope that increased focus on the benefits of a vegan diet will lead to amendments to global dietary guidelines and ultimately to better health outcomes. Methods: A literature search was conducted through PubMed and Google Scholar in November 2019. Six articles were selected based on a publication date within the past 10 years and nature of intervention. The results of these RCT, retrospective, prospective and cross-sectional studies will be discussed in this paper. Results: Five of the six studies discussed above found that the vegan diet has a significant effect in increasing cardiovascular health by reducing BP (Appendix A). Jenkins et al., Lajous et al. Jakse et al. and Campbell, Fidahusain and Campbell found that BP was significantly (p \u3c .001) reduced after each respective intervention. Discussion: While the majority of the research in this meta-analysis found the vegan diet to be effective in reducing BP, weaknesses if the studies include study design and limited generalizability of results. Additional research is needed to solidify the implications found in the studies discussed in this paper