In addition, they had significantly higher level of fats (triglycerides) in the blood and cystatin-C (suggesting a poorer kidney condition). However, vegetarians also had lower levels of beneficial biomarkers including high-density lipoprotein 'good' (HDL) cholesterol, and vitamin D and calcium (linked to bone and joint health). The researchers examined the association with 19 blood and urine biomarkers related to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, liver, bone and joint health, and kidney function.Įven after accounting for potentially influential factors including age, sex, education, ethnicity, obesity, smoking, and alcohol intake, the analysis found that compared to meat-eaters, vegetarians had significantly lower levels of 13 biomarkers, including: total cholesterol low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol - the so-called 'bad cholesterol apolipoprotein A (linked to cardiovascular disease), apolipoprotein B (linked to cardiovascular disease) gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and alanine aminotransferase (AST) - liver function markers indicating inflammation or damage to cells insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1 a hormone that encourages the growth and proliferation of cancer cells) urate total protein and creatinine (marker of worsening kidney function). Participants were categorised as either vegetarian (do not eat red meat, poultry or fish 4,111 participants) or meat-eaters (166,516 participants) according to their self-reported diet. To understand whether dietary choice can make a difference to the levels of disease markers in blood and urine, researchers from the University of Glasgow did a cross-sectional study analysing data from 177,723 healthy participants (aged 37-73 years) in the UK Biobank study, who reported no major changes in diet over the last five years. However, evidence of the metabolic benefits associated with being vegetarian is unclear. Biomarkers can have bad and good health effects, promoting or preventing cancer, cardiovascular and age-related diseases, and other chronic conditions, and have been widely used to assess the effect of diets on health.
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