These Two Heart Health Diets Compete Head-To-Head (who won?)

The vegetarian diet often triggers very heated (sometimes vicious) discussions.

Some people rave about it (and are maybe even a little judgmental sometimes). Others say it’s nothing but a fad and they could never follow such a diet.

So, a new study published in the Journal Circulation put the vegetarian diet in a race with a popular non-vegetarian diet to see which one was indeed heart healthier.

And the results will probably surprise you.

The research team compared the Mediterranean diet, which includes a lot of fish and only moderate amounts of meat, eggs and dairy, with a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, which includes eggs and dairy but excludes meat and fish.

They recruited 107 overweight but otherwise healthy people between the ages 18 and 75.

They were split into two groups: one group eating a low-calorie vegetarian diet and the other a low-calorie Mediterranean diet for three months. After the three months, the groups switched diets.

The researchers could then compare each participant’s medical information between their normal diet, the Mediterranean diet, and the vegetarian diet.

Regardless of which diet they were on, the participants lost around 1.80 kilograms (more than three pounds) of both body weight and body fat.

The vegetarian diet was better at reducing LDL cholesterol, while the Mediterranean diet was better at reducing triglycerides.

Since both of these put us at risk of clogged arteries, heart attack, and stroke, both these diets are useful in this regard.

There was no difference in the markers of oxidative stress and inflammation between the two diets.

The researchers explained the effect with reference to the similarities between the two diets.

Both diets include a lot of fruit, vegetables, legumes, and nuts, and they both limit meat and dairy and especially empty calories in the form of refined carbohydrates.

But if you want to completely clear out cholesterol plaque from your arteries, you must cut out this ONE ingredient (that has nothing to do with vegetarianism)…

Or if your blood pressure is high, discover how 3 easy exercises drop it below 120/80 – starting today…