In a recent study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , researchers conducted an eight-week-long randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impacts of consuming a plant-based meat analog (PBMA) diet (PBMD) versus one composed of an omnivorous animal-based one (ABMD). Using linear mixed-effects models, their study comprising 82 participants revealed that while the dietary exposures did differ in their effects on dietary fiber, potassium, sodium (all presenting increases in the PBMD cohort), and dietary trans-fat (increased in the ABMD cohort), no significant improvements in cardiometabolic health biomarkers (lipid-lipoproteins) could be observed. Contrary to marketing promises and the authors' a priori hypothesis, these findings highlight that in the Asian cohort under investigation, PBMD does not project any statistically notable cardiovascular health benefits over conventional ABMD.
Together, these results call for a focus on nutritional quality when developing future PBMAs. Study: Plant-Based Meat Analogs and Their Effects on Cardiometabolic Health: An 8-Week Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Plant-Based Meat Analogs With Their Corresponding Animal-Based Foods . Image Credit: Antonina Vlasova / Shutterstock Despite being naturally omnivorous, religious and cultural edicts have historically resulted in many geographically diverse human communities primarily consuming plant-based diets (PBDs).
This observation is particularly prevalent in Asian and In.
