ABSTRACTBackgroundFollowing a vegetarian diet is considered to be beneficial for overall health and is associated with a lower risk of chronic disease.ObjectiveThis study examined whether South Asians in the United States who consume a vegetarian diet have a lower prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors.MethodsData from the Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America study, which included 892 South Asians (47% women), with an age range of 40–83 y and a mean ± SD age of 55 ± 9.4 y, were used. Participants were classified as vegetarian if they reported no consumption of meat, poultry, or fish in the previous year on a validated and culturally appropriate food-frequency questionnaire. Adjusted linear and logistic regression models were used to examine associations of a vegetarian diet with cardiometabolic risk factors.ResultsThirty-eight percent of the cohort participants were classified as vegetarian. Vegetarians reported more frequent weekly eating occasions of whole grains (median frequency/wk: 10 compared with 9, P = 0.012) and beans and legumes (median frequency/wk: 8.5 compared with 5.1, P < 0.001), and less frequent weekly eating occasions of sweets and desserts (median frequency/wk: 1.9 compared with 2.3, P < 0.001). Consuming a vegetarian diet was associated with lower body mass index (P = 0.023), fasting glucose (P = 0.015), insulin resistance (P = 0.003), total cholesterol (P = 0.027), and LDL cholesterol (P = 0.004) and lower odds of fatty liver (OR: 0.43; 95% CI: 0.23, 0.78, P = 0.006). The odds of having any coronary artery calcium were lower for vegetarian men (OR: 0.53; 95% CI: 0.32, 0.87, P = 0.013); however, no significant associations were observed among women.ConclusionsAmong US South Asians, a vegetarian diet was associated with fewer cardiometabolic risk factors overall and with less subclinical atherosclerosis among men.
Health disparities in cardiometabolic risk among Black and Hispanic youth in the United States
