The association between a vegetarian diet and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in India: the Indian Migration Study.

<h4>Background</h4>Studies in the West have shown lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among people taking a vegetarian diet, but these findings may be confounded and only a minority selects these diets. We evaluated the association between vegetarian diets (chosen by 35%) and CVD ris...

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Main Authors: Krithiga Shridhar, Preet Kaur Dhillon, Liza Bowen, Sanjay Kinra, Ankalmadugu Venkatsubbareddy Bharathi, Dorairaj Prabhakaran, Kolli Srinath Reddy, Shah Ebrahim, Indian Migration Study Group
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110586
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author Krithiga Shridhar
Preet Kaur Dhillon
Liza Bowen
Sanjay Kinra
Ankalmadugu Venkatsubbareddy Bharathi
Dorairaj Prabhakaran
Kolli Srinath Reddy
Shah Ebrahim
Indian Migration Study Group
author_facet Krithiga Shridhar
Preet Kaur Dhillon
Liza Bowen
Sanjay Kinra
Ankalmadugu Venkatsubbareddy Bharathi
Dorairaj Prabhakaran
Kolli Srinath Reddy
Shah Ebrahim
Indian Migration Study Group
author_sort Krithiga Shridhar
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Studies in the West have shown lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among people taking a vegetarian diet, but these findings may be confounded and only a minority selects these diets. We evaluated the association between vegetarian diets (chosen by 35%) and CVD risk factors across four regions of India.<h4>Methods</h4>Study participants included urban migrants, their rural siblings and urban residents, of the Indian Migration Study from Lucknow, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Bangalore (n = 6555, mean age-40.9 yrs). Information on diet (validated interviewer-administered semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire), tobacco, alcohol, physical history, medical history, as well as blood pressure, fasting blood and anthropometric measurements were collected. Vegetarians ate no eggs, fish, poultry or meat. Using robust standard error multivariate linear regression models, we investigated the association of vegetarian diets with blood cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides, fasting blood glucose (FBG), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP).<h4>Results</h4>Vegetarians (32.8% of the study population) did not differ from non-vegetarians with respect to age, use of smokeless tobacco, body mass index, and prevalence of diabetes or hypertension. Vegetarians had a higher standard of living and were less likely to smoke, drink alcohol (p<0.0001) and were less physically active (p = 0.04). In multivariate analysis, vegetarians had lower levels of total cholesterol (β =  -0.1 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.03 to -0.2), p = 0.006), triglycerides (β =  -0.05 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.007 to -0.01), p = 0.02), LDL (β =  -0.06 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.005 to -0.1), p = 0.03) and lower DBP (β =  -0.7 mmHg (95% CI: -1.2 to -0.07), p = 0.02). Vegetarians also had decreases in SBP (β =  -0.9 mmHg (95% CI: -1.9 to 0.08), p = 0.07) and FBG level (β =  -0.07 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.2 to 0.01), p = 0.09) when compared to non-vegetarians.<h4>Conclusion</h4>We found beneficial association of vegetarian diet with cardiovascular risk factors compared to non-vegetarian diet.
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spelling doaj-art-5d61a3a19ea841af854ee282b94ca64e2025-08-20T02:22:37ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-01910e11058610.1371/journal.pone.0110586The association between a vegetarian diet and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in India: the Indian Migration Study.Krithiga ShridharPreet Kaur DhillonLiza BowenSanjay KinraAnkalmadugu Venkatsubbareddy BharathiDorairaj PrabhakaranKolli Srinath ReddyShah EbrahimIndian Migration Study Group<h4>Background</h4>Studies in the West have shown lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk among people taking a vegetarian diet, but these findings may be confounded and only a minority selects these diets. We evaluated the association between vegetarian diets (chosen by 35%) and CVD risk factors across four regions of India.<h4>Methods</h4>Study participants included urban migrants, their rural siblings and urban residents, of the Indian Migration Study from Lucknow, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Bangalore (n = 6555, mean age-40.9 yrs). Information on diet (validated interviewer-administered semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire), tobacco, alcohol, physical history, medical history, as well as blood pressure, fasting blood and anthropometric measurements were collected. Vegetarians ate no eggs, fish, poultry or meat. Using robust standard error multivariate linear regression models, we investigated the association of vegetarian diets with blood cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides, fasting blood glucose (FBG), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP).<h4>Results</h4>Vegetarians (32.8% of the study population) did not differ from non-vegetarians with respect to age, use of smokeless tobacco, body mass index, and prevalence of diabetes or hypertension. Vegetarians had a higher standard of living and were less likely to smoke, drink alcohol (p<0.0001) and were less physically active (p = 0.04). In multivariate analysis, vegetarians had lower levels of total cholesterol (β =  -0.1 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.03 to -0.2), p = 0.006), triglycerides (β =  -0.05 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.007 to -0.01), p = 0.02), LDL (β =  -0.06 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.005 to -0.1), p = 0.03) and lower DBP (β =  -0.7 mmHg (95% CI: -1.2 to -0.07), p = 0.02). Vegetarians also had decreases in SBP (β =  -0.9 mmHg (95% CI: -1.9 to 0.08), p = 0.07) and FBG level (β =  -0.07 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.2 to 0.01), p = 0.09) when compared to non-vegetarians.<h4>Conclusion</h4>We found beneficial association of vegetarian diet with cardiovascular risk factors compared to non-vegetarian diet.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110586
spellingShingle Krithiga Shridhar
Preet Kaur Dhillon
Liza Bowen
Sanjay Kinra
Ankalmadugu Venkatsubbareddy Bharathi
Dorairaj Prabhakaran
Kolli Srinath Reddy
Shah Ebrahim
Indian Migration Study Group
The association between a vegetarian diet and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in India: the Indian Migration Study.
PLoS ONE
title The association between a vegetarian diet and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in India: the Indian Migration Study.
title_full The association between a vegetarian diet and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in India: the Indian Migration Study.
title_fullStr The association between a vegetarian diet and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in India: the Indian Migration Study.
title_full_unstemmed The association between a vegetarian diet and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in India: the Indian Migration Study.
title_short The association between a vegetarian diet and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in India: the Indian Migration Study.
title_sort association between a vegetarian diet and cardiovascular disease cvd risk factors in india the indian migration study
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110586
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