The risk of developing metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms including elevated blood pressure, triglycerides, and fasting glucose along with a poor blood cholesterol level, might be reduced by maintaining a high intake of plant-based proteins, a new population-based observational study appearing in Nutrients suggests.
 
“Considering the effects of macronutrients on cardiometabolic health, dietary protein has received little attention compared with dietary fats and carbohydrates,” the authors of the study said. “Adherence to vegetarian dietary patterns has been associated with a lower risk of developing metabolic syndrome abnormalities, diabetes, and CVD mortality. However, the benefits of plant protein intake cannot be inferred from studies on vegetarians because other components of their diets such as macronutrients, vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and fiber individually or in combination can influence cardiometabolic health outcomes.”
 
The research accounted for the health outcomes of 518 participants of the Adventist Health Study 2, which tracked various lifestyle factors including dietary patterns through six 24-hour dietary recalls spanning six months. The metabolic syndrome outcomes in the participants were tracked with multiple measurements of fasting blood glucose and cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and triglycerides concentrations, and blood pressure – metabolic syndrome was defined in this study as the presence of three out of the five components of metabolic syndrome, which includes high waist circumference, fasting glucose, blood pressure, triglycerides, and HDL.
 
According to the authors, the participants of the AHS study were a highly homogenous population that tended to be non-smokers, have lower body weights, and generally healthful diets, reducing the likelihood of cofounding factors when comparing animal-plant protein ratios, and a large subgroup of vegetarians in the cohort offered a wide range of average plant protein intakes (between 14 and 80 grams/day) to assess.
 
While total protein, animal protein, and animal-plant protein ratios were not associated with definitive metabolic syndrome in the present study, they were directly associated with a higher waist circumference and increased fasting blood glucose, two key symptoms of metabolic syndrome.
 
The authors noted that the study population had an average protein intake of 67 g/d in men and 52 g/d in women, significantly lower than the average for the U.S. population, and had a significantly lower animal-plant protein ratio (34% and 65%) compared to the U.S. population (62% and 30%). Although dietary plant protein intake of AHS-2 is almost two times of that of the U.S. population, the absolute amount of dietary plant protein was not associated with metabolic syndrome in this population which highlights the necessity of considering the effects of […] different food sources and the total quantity of protein intake on metabolic syndrome or its components. Our study demonstrates that the total dietary protein intake can lower the likelihood of metabolic syndrome when plant protein is its major constituent.
 
“The main focus should be on meeting the adequate amount of protein, however, to ensure greater benefits and avoid detrimental effects, limiting animal protein sources while increasing a wide variety of plant-based proteins may be helpful,” the authors of the study concluded.