Vegan Diet Shown to Improve Cardiovascular Health in Identical Twin Study

Vegan Diet Shown to Improve Cardiovascular Health in Identical Twin Study

Stanford Medicine researchers conducted a study to investigate the impact of a vegan diet on cardiovascular disease (CVD) status. The study was unique in its approach, focusing on 44 individuals who were identical twins. This design allowed the researchers to control for common factors such as family history and ethnicity, which are often variables in diet studies.

In each pair of twins, one followed a vegan diet while the other maintained an omnivorous diet. The vegan diet excluded all animal products, while the omnivorous diet included meat, eggs, and milk. The first four weeks of the study involved a meal service providing 21 meals per week to the participants. After this period, the participants prepared their own meals.

The findings of the study were significant. The vegan participants showed considerable health improvements compared to their omnivorous counterparts. They had lower levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), also known as ‘bad cholesterol', and reduced insulin levels. They also experienced more weight loss.

At the beginning of the study, the average LDL-C level for the vegan group was approximately 110.7 mg/dL. Over the course of the study, this figure dropped to around 95.5 mg/dL. This reduction was much more significant than the minor changes observed in the omnivorous group. The vegan participants also experienced a reduction of about 20 percent in their fasting insulin levels. In terms of weight loss, the vegans lost an average of 4.2 pounds more than the omnivores.

The senior author of the study, Christopher Gardner, highlighted the rapidity of these changes. He stated that most changes would be noticeable within the first month of adopting a vegan diet, with further improvements observable within two months. This study, therefore, provides compelling evidence that a vegan diet can lead to significant improvements in CVD status in just eight weeks.