This is the diet that can improve cholesterol
Improve cholesterol – Through this diet, based on a new study, you can achieve improvement in cholesterol.
Food is among the essential things in life. This is one of the necessities of man. Through food, one can get stronger, healthier, and even happier. However, eating sometimes has negative effects on the body.
At some point, foods, especially unhealthy ones, can be detrimental to the body. However, through specific diets, improvements can be made.
Based on the article in The Healthy, there is a diet that can improve cholesterol. These past years, the vegan diet gained popularity, especially since some celebrities vocally admitted that they follow this kind of diet.
A vegan diet excludes any food that comes from an animal or animal product. Backed by science, this diet can contribute to heart health and weight loss. It was also said that it improves other health values which can be a factor for longer and healthier life.
Researchers from Stanford University conducted a unique study and this involved examining pairs of identical twins with an average age of 40 to analyze what would happen if one followed a vegan diet and the other didn’t, to establish a more concrete fact to support this diet.
With twins as subjects, it would be proven that it is not their genetics but their diet that will influence the outcome of the study.
On November 30, 2023, this study was published in the American Medical Association’s Nutrition, Obesity, and Exercise journal. This involved 22 sets of twins and one was randomly assigned to follow a vegan diet while the other a healthy omnivore diet.
Participants were relatively healthy and of average body mass index (BMI). None of them were underweight or suffering from high cholesterol. They were not told to lose weight, instead, just ate until they were no longer hungry.
For eight weeks, the twins strictly followed the diet that was assigned to them. Their blood and other biomarkers, such as weight, blood sugar, and blood pressure were monitored throughout the study.
Researchers discovered that those who followed the vegan diet were seen with significant improvements when it comes to certain markers of health, particularly cholesterol.
Participants who followed the vegan diet had a significant reduction in LDL cholesterol numbers. They showed significant improvement in their cholesterol numbers as early as four weeks into the study. Fasting insulin also improved more for those who had a vegan diet.
Vegans experienced greater losses on average compared to the weight loss of those who had an omnivore diet. Although the vegan diet showed a remarkable improvement in the health of participants, it still had a negative side.
Vegans reported that they were not satisfied with what they ate. With this, they suggested that this diet can be observed for a specific period because it would be hard for those to let go of animal products.