Background

Dietary habits play an important role in the development of atherosclerosis, the most important cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. The objective of this study was to verify if vegetarian (VEG) diet could be related a better profile of subclinical vascular disease evaluated by arterial stiffness and functional and structural properties of carotid arteries, compared to omnivorous (OMN) diet.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, 44 VEG and 44 OMN apparently healthy men ≥ 35 years of age, in order to not have confounding risk factors of subclinical atherosclerosis, were assessed for anthropometric data, blood pressure, blood lipids, glucose, C reactive protein (CRP), and arterial stiffness determined by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV). Also, carotid intima-media thickness (c-IMT) and distensibility were evaluated.

Results

VEG men had lower body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, fasting serum total cholesterol, LDL and non-HDL-cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, glucose and glycated hemoglobin values in comparison with OMN individuals (all p values < 0.05). Markers of vascular structure and function were different between VEG and OMN: PWV 7.1 ± 0.8 m/s vs. 7.7 ± 0.9 m/s ( p < 0.001); c-IMT 593 ± 94 vs. 661 ± 128 μm ( p = 0.003); and relative carotid distensibility 6.39 ± 1.7 vs. 5.72 ± 1.8% ( p = 0.042), respectively. After a multivariate linear regression analysis, a VEG diet was independently and negatively associated with PWV ( p value 0.005).

Conclusions

A VEG diet is associated with a more favorable cardiovascular diseases biomarker profile and better vascular structural and functional parameters.