St. Michael's Hospital has reported that there may be health benefits from making a daily switch of one or two servings of animal proteins with plant proteins. This could lead to a small decrease in the three primary cholesterol markers for cardiovascular disease prevention.
Dr. Sievenpiper, who lead this research, says the study has indicated that replacing one to two servings of animal proteins with plant proteins daily may lower the primary cholesterol markers by approximately 5 percent. Good plant proteins include chickpeas, beans, soy and nuts.
Past studies have demonstrated the cholesterol-lowering benefits of individual foods or of food groups. However, this study investigated the benefits of making substitutions of any plant proteins for animal proteins. As noted by Dr. Sievenpiper we now have more confidence than ever that plant-based diets from Mediterranean diets and vegetarian diets in the supermarket are heart healthy.
This study has been published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. There has been an increase in interest in plant‐based diets for prevention of cardiovascular disease. Researchers have determined switching plant for animal protein lowers the established lipid targets low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, non–high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B. Replacing animal based proteins in your diet with plant based proteins benefits heart health.
