A new study shows that a plant-based diet reduces the risk of many diseases

Nutrition is a matter of faith. Various forms of nutrition are practiced and defended with religious fervour. We knew that the mainly or purely plant-based form makes sense in many respects. A new study from Germany now confirms this thesis.

Switching to a completely plant-based diet is of great benefit to health. A team of researchers has now taken a closer look at this and published the results in "BMC Medicine".

Cardiovascular diseases

Somehow it is clear that a plant-based diet improves cholesterol-related cardiovascular diseases, as the reason for increased LDL (i.e. "bad") cholesterol is largely due to animal fats.

To evaluate the actual effect of a change in diet from fish, eggs, poultry, dairy products and meat to fruit, vegetables, whole grains and nuts, 37 published studies were analyzed.

There are signs of a decline in cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes.

According to theGuardian, the risk of cardiovascular disease is reduced by around 25 percent if, for example, 50 grams of meat (or processed meat) per day are replaced by nuts or pulses.

The risk was 17 percent lower when the daily egg was replaced by 25 grams of nuts.

However, when poultry or fish were replaced by pulses or nuts, there was no clear evidence of a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

Type 2 diabetes

Replacing 50 grams of processed meat per day with up to 28 grams of nuts reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 20 percent.

The same applies to replacing one egg a day with 30 grams of whole grain products or ten grams of nuts.

Unsurprisingly, the most significant health benefits occurred when replacing processed or red meat - but it's still a good idea to keep this in mind.