The impact of a plant-based diet on indices of cardiovascular health in African Americans: a cross-sectional study

Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, Ahead of Print. African-American (AA) individuals are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular diseases. Plant-based diets (PBD) may be cardioprotective in part through their high antioxidant capacity and low inflammatory load. We tested the hypothesis that AA individuals adhering to a 100% PBD would have better vascular health than AA individuals following a typical American diet (TAD). Eighteen AA individuals participated; 9 (24  ± 4 years; 6 females) were following a PBD for 2.4 ± 0.8 years and 9 (21 ± 2 years; 5 females) were following a TAD. Blood lipids and C-reactive protein (CRP) were assessed. Peripheral and central blood pressure (BP) were measured, and vascular function tests included cerebrovascular reac tivity to hypercapnia, brachial artery flow-mediated dilation and reactive hyperemia, and local heating-induced cutaneous hyperemia. Total (TC) and low‐density lipoprotein (LDL‐C) serum cholesterol was lower (TC: 142 ± 30 vs. 174 ± 36 mg/dL; LDL‐C: 76 ± 17 vs. 106 ± 33 mg/dL; p  <  0.05 and d >  0.80 for both) and serum CRP tended to be lower (0.38 ± 0.18 mg/L vs. 0.96 ± 0.89 mg/L; p = 0.05, d = 0.91) in the PBD cohort. Brachial (b) and central (c) mean arterial BP (MAP) were lower in the PBD cohort (bMAP: 86 ± 5 vs. 91 ± 7 mm Hg; cMAP: 81 ± 5 vs. 87 ± 7 mm H g; p <  0.05 and d >  0.80 for both). All indices of vascular function wer...
Source: Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism - Category: Physiology Authors: Source Type: research