Vegetarian diets and cardiovascular risk factors in black members of the Adventist Health Study-2

Objective To compare cardiovascular risk factors between vegetarians and non-vegetarians in black individuals living in the USA. Design A cross-sectional analysis of a sub-set of 592 black women and men enrolled in the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) cohort of Seventh-day Adventists. Setting Members of the AHS-2 cohort, who lived in all states of the USA and provinces of Canada. Subjects Black/African-American members of two sub-studies of AHS-2 where blood and physiological measurements were obtained. Results Of these women and men, 25 % were either vegan or lacto-ovo-vegetarians (labelled vegetarian/vegans'), 13 % were pesco-vegetarian and 62 % were non-vegetarian. Compared with non-vegetarians, the vegetarian/vegans had odds ratios for hypertension, diabetes, high blood total cholesterol and high blood LDL-cholesterol of 056 (95 % CI 036, 087), 048 (95 % CI 024, 098), 042 (95 % CI 027, 065) and 054 (95 % CI 033, 089), respectively, when adjusted for age, gender, education, physical activity and sub-study. Corresponding odds ratios for obesity in vegetarian/vegans and pesco-vegetarians, compared with non-vegetarians, were 043 (95 % CI 028, 067) and 047 (95 % CI 027, 081), respectively; and for abdominal obesity 054 (95 % CI 036, 082) and 050 (95 % CI 029, 084), respectively. Results for pesco-vegetarians did not differ significantly from those of non-vegetarians for other variables. Further adjustment for BMI suggested that BMI acts as an intermediary variable between diet and both hypertension and diabetes. Conclusions As with non-blacks, these results suggest that there are sizeable advantages to a vegetarian diet in black individuals also, although a cross-sectional analysis cannot conclusively establish cause.