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Adopting a plant-based diet may slash the risk of cardiovascular heart disease in African Americans, a new study published in the American Heart Association has shown.
The preliminary research included 50 African Americans who were asked to only eat prepared meals delivered to their homes. All food was plant-based, low calorie, and free from dietary cholesterol.
For 36 participants who had pre and post-diet risk scores, their risk dropped by around 19 percent.
‘The leading killer’
“Heart disease is the leading killer of Americans, and African Americans have the highest risk of cardiovascular disease,” said the study’s Senior Investigator Dr. Kim Allan Williams.
“We did this study to see what we can do about it.”
‘Excess risk’
Williams also pointed out the results almost completely removed the ‘excess risk’ of heart disease that African Americans face and lowered their LDL cholesterol levels by 14 percent.
According to Heart.org, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology Marcia Otto said that more research into disease reversal was needed, stating that the findings ‘need to be confirmed by additional investigations including a larger, more representative sample of African Americans to provide a stronger body of evidence supporting statements about [the] long-term reduction in health disparities’.
You can read the full study here
