The association between a plant-based diet and weight loss and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) has not been fully elucidated. We performed a pooled analysis and Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to investigate this question.
We searched for randomized controlled trials on the effects of a plant-based diet on weight loss compared with a non-plant-based diet. In addition, a two-sample MR study was conducted. IVs were obtained from the genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on the exposures, and we obtained summary statistics on the outcomes. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was used as the main analysis and other MR methods were performed as supplementary analyses.
Individuals on the plant-based diet lost more weight than the non-plant-based diet group (WMD −0.96 kg; 95% CI: −1.32 to −0.60). Population conditions and energy restriction were identified as the study-level factors that influenced the pooling results in the subgroup analyses. Increased consumption of raw vegetables was significantly associated with lower BMI (IVW, β −0.35, 95% CI: −0.62 to −0.08,
The present findings suggest that raw vegetable intake is beneficial for weight loss and prevention of ASCVD.