Diet, more vegetables and less meat to protect against chronic diseases

Red meat, especially if processed and consumed regularly, they significantly increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, while a diet that gives large space to vegetables could exert a protective action against multiple sclerosis. Once again, therefore, two different studies, published on the same days, accuse the excess of processed meats, and enhance a diet that places plant foods at the center, as regards the effects on health.

In the first case, the role of sausages in the onset of heart or blood vessel disease is suggested by a large new meta-analysis by Oxford University researchers, published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. British researchers have in fact searched the scientific literature of the last 30 years, identifying 13 large population studies involving over 1.4 million people. They have thus come to the conclusion that relatively modest doses of red meat, when consumed every day, make a difference. Specifically, for every 50 grams of beef, lamb or pork per day, the cardiovascular risk increases by 9% for unprocessed meats, and by 18% for processed ones. On the other hand, an equally stringent association with poultry cannot be demonstrated.

According to the authors the habit, typical of Anglo-Saxon and Northern European countries, of including sausages such as bacon in breakfast, should therefore be put aside, if you want to protect the heart. Also because it is necessary to take into account all the meals consumed during the day, and the relative possible presence, on the table, of other red meats.

The second study, published in the same days on Science Advances, shows another aspect of the question: the protective effect of a diet rich in foods of plant origin against a very serious, autoimmune, neurodegenerative disease, against which the available therapies are not yet satisfactory, namely multiple sclerosis.

In this case, researchers at the University of Iowa evaluated the differences between different types of diets in animal models of the disease, showing that the more plant foods such as legumes are eaten, the more protection is evident. However, in this case, the authors took another, important step forward. In fact, they have shown that, in addition to a specific diet, in order to have a protection it is essential that animals host, in their microbiota, specific bacteria capable of metabolizing the antioxidant isoflavone, present in legumes. If this is not the case, the effectiveness of the diet is reduced to almost zero. This data coincides with an observation made by the same researchers in previous years, namely that patients often do not have the bacterial species in question and, for this reason, they do not metabolize isoflavone.

This has two types of consequences: first of all it highlights the need for a balanced and healthy microbiota in addition to an adequate diet. It also suggests that the latter can be corrected and therefore, with this type of interventions, the probability of fighting the disease can be increased. Furthermore, the researchers have discovered a specific isoflavone metabolite, generated by the bacterial species investigated, the equole, which is therefore a candidate for a leading role in the fight against multiple sclerosis.

My left possible therapeutic developments, this study, like the previous one, reinforces the idea that one of the most powerful tools to prevent different types of non-communicable diseases is also one of the most accessible to anyone: a balanced diet, with little meat (preferably white) and many fresh vegetables and legumes.

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