For Heart Health, Veganism is NOT Enough

For Heart Health, Veganism is NOT Enough

I am a dietary vegan.  There – I wrote it.  But if that is all I told you about my diet, all you would know is which foods I don’t eat. (i.e., no meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy)   I try  very hard to avoid using the term “vegan” to describe my diet. It’s quite an incomplete description.

Foods containing added fats and added sugar can fit perfectly into a vegan diet.  However, they don’t fit very well into a whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet.

Vegan Studies

In the scientific literature, when vegan diets are studied, the composition of  vegan diets is often not considered. Participants in a vegan study group can be eating a junky diet. Therefore, a study often compares unhealthy vegan diets with unhealthy non-vegan diets. This can account for the times when vegan diets don’t show many health benefits.

Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) Study

In a prospective series, researchers sought to examine the relationship to Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) between healthy and unhealthy plant-based diets.  Here was their conclusion: “ Higher intake of a plant-based diet index rich in healthier plant foods is associated with lower CHD risk, whereas a plant-based diet index that emphasizes less-healthy plant foods is associated with higher CHD risk.” 

It is no surprise that a plant based diet dominated by whole and minimally-processed plant foods is protective against CHD.  But this study shows that if you follow a 100% plant based diet that is loaded with junky foods, not only will you NOT be protected against CHD, your CHD risk may actually go up.

If you follow a vegan diet, but you are not following a diet dominated by fruits, veggies, whole grains and legumes, you may not be as heart attack-proof as you think you are. If you are going to be a vegan, be a whole food vegan.

Dr. Kim Williams is the chair of the division of cardiology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. For his thoughts on the study, click here.

Stay Healthy and Strong