Plant based or carnivore diet for heart health?
While plant based diets have become more popular as of late, so has the carnivore diet, which is an exclusively animal based diet devoid of plant foods including vegetables. Carnivore seems like a more extreme version of the keto diet (which is typically animal based, but can be plant based as well).
However, which diet is better for heart health? While humans have eaten meat for hundreds of thousands of years (and included plant foods), there are very little to no long term studies on humans eating exclusively animal foods for decades at a time.
Humans have always traditionally included plants in their diets throughout the globe when available. According to the following review of literature: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6089671/, plant based diets may lower coronary heart disease mortality by 24%. It makes sense. Less saturated fat, more fiber, less cholesterol, and typically, lower body weight to name a few possible explanations for the benefit of a plant based diet.
Is an exclusive plant based diet appropriate and realistic for everyone? Maybe not. However, increasing the proportion of plant based whole foods in the diet has heart health and possibly cancer preventative benefits that should be considered as well.
It does make sense to increase intake of non starchy vegetables, fruits, some nuts and seeds, legumes and unprocessed grains instead of refined ones and personalized for weight loss and health goals.
Have a healthy day!
Kevin