Partial substitution of red or processed meat with plant-based foods and the risk of cardiovascular disease
Simojoki M, Kaartinen NE, Maukonen M, Harald K, Tapanainen H, Albanes D, Eriksson JG, Jousilahti P, Koskinen S, Pajari AM, Männistö S
European journal of epidemiology · 2 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Cohort study (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Clinical events such as disease or death
- Intake measured by
- Food frequency questionnaire
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Government
- Academy of Finland
- Nonprofit
- Suomen Kulttuurirahasto
- Government
- Strategic Research Council
- Government
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
- Grants
- Strategic Research Council (352481); Strategic Research Council (327698); Strategic Research Council (352483); Academy of Finland (361740); Suomen Kulttuurirahasto (00250090); Strategic Research Council (327699); Suomen Kulttuurirahasto (00231071)
Based on 4 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2025-05-01 · Eur J Epidemiol · vol. 40 · issue 5 · pp. 517–525
- Publisher
- Springer Science+Business Media
- Cited
- 3 citations · more than 86% of similar papers · 2.3× the field average
- References
- 37 works
- Access
- Open access (hybrid journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact · Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability · Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling
- Keywords
- Medicine, Red meat, Hazard ratio, Confounding, Proportional hazards model, Confidence interval, Cohort, Cohort study, Population, Lower risk, Disease, Environmental health, Internal medicine
- MeSH
- humans, vegetables, cardiovascular diseases, diet, proportional hazards models, risk factors, cohort studies, diet, vegetarian, meat products, adult, aged, middle aged, finland, female, male, red meat
11 authors
From FI, US, SG
- Meri Simojoki · correspondingFinnish Institute for Health and Welfare
- Niina E. KaartinenFinnish Institute for Health and Welfare
- Mirkka MaukonenFinnish Institute for Health and Welfare
- Kennet HaraldFinnish Institute for Health and Welfare
- Heli TapanainenFinnish Institute for Health and Welfare
- Demetrius AlbanesNational Institutes of Health; National Cancer Institute
Abstract
A shift towards more plant-based diets may promote human and planetary health. This modelling study aimed to assess the impact of moderate partial substitution of red or processed meat with plant-based foods on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. We used pooled data from five Finnish cohorts (42,868 participants aged ≥ 25 years, 78% men). Median follow-up time was 12.7 years, with 11,031 incident CVD cases. Diet was assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire. We modelled substitutions of red meat (100 g/week) or processed meat (50 g/week) with corresponding amounts of plant-based foods. Cohort-specific hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards multivariate models adjusted for relevant confounding factors and pooled together using a random effects model. There was a suggestive reduction in CVD risk in men when processed meat was substituted with vegetables or the combination of plant-based foods (HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.99-1.00, P < 0.05). In women, there was an increase in CVD risk when red meat was substituted with legumes (HR 1.10, 95% CI 1.01-1.20, P < 0.05). However, when all cohorts were followed for the same length of time (7.9 years), several plant-based foods reduced CVD risk and none of them increased the risk when partially replacing red or processed meat. Even a small, easily implemented change towards a more plant-based diet may contribute to cardiovascular health at the population level. These findings support global strategies towards healthy and environmentally sustainable diets.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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