Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
PLoS One. 2020 Aug 12;15(8):e0237065. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237065. eCollection 2020.
Vegetarian diets adapted for various reasons that may include religious, ethical, and health considerations have reasonable health benefits including weight loss, and favorable metabolic changes. However, studies that assessed health benefits associated with vegan diet practices during the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian (EOC) Lenten fasting remains limited. This study has, therefore, assessed how short-term vegan diet associated with metabolic traits, including weight, body mass index (BMI), circumference, blood pressure, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), through longitudinal cross-sectional study design.
Seventy-five subjects (34 females and 41 males) with a mean age of [+SD] 27.3 + 5.8 years (range, 18 and 35) took part in the study. The study followed three assessment sessions: at baseline, during the Lenten (week 7), and 7 weeks after the end of the Lenten (week 14). An automatic chemistry analyzer (Mindray, BE-2000, China) used for lipid profile analysis. We used paired sample t-test in pre and post-performance and repeated measures ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc adjustment between time points. The statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.
The EOC fasting with vegan diet induced significantly lower blood pressure, weight, BMI, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, and TC: HDL-C ratios, during Lenten (that is vegan diet consumption), but a regain noted in these parameters 7-weeks after Lenten (that is omnivore diet). On gender differences, vegan diet associated with significantly lower blood pressure, TC, and LDL-C in females compared with age-matched male counterparts. Some methodological limitations of this study are discussed with particular reference to lack of a randomized control group and self-reported data that limit this study in establishing a causal relationship through observed associations.
Vegan diet consumption even for short period corroborate ideal metabolic traits, with more favorable changes noted in women than age-matched men counterparts. These findings might help to define vegetarian diets as part of religious fasting (beyond its spiritual goals) as a non-pharmacological prescription in different populations, and our findings add to growing evidence in these subjects.
出于各种原因，如宗教、伦理和健康考虑，素食者的饮食已经被证明具有合理的健康益处，包括减轻体重和改善代谢变化。然而，评估埃塞俄比亚东正教（EOC）大斋节期间纯素饮食实践与健康益处相关的研究仍然有限。因此，本研究通过纵向横断面研究设计，评估了短期纯素饮食与代谢特征（包括体重、体重指数（BMI）、腰围、血压、总胆固醇（TC）、甘油三酯（TG）、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL-C）和低密度脂蛋白胆固醇（LDL-C））之间的关系。
共有 75 名参与者（34 名女性和 41 名男性）参与了这项研究，平均年龄为 27.3 ± 5.8 岁（范围为 18 至 35 岁）。研究分为三个评估阶段：基线时、大斋节期间（第 7 周）和大斋节后的第 7 周（第 14 周）。使用自动化学分析仪（Mindray，BE-2000，中国）进行血脂分析。我们使用配对样本 t 检验比较前后变化，以及重复测量方差分析（Bonferroni 事后调整）比较不同时间点之间的差异。统计显著性水平设定为 p < 0.05。
EOC 大斋节期间的纯素饮食显著降低了血压、体重、BMI、TC、HDL-C、LDL-C 和 TC:HDL-C 比值，而在大斋节后的第 7 周（即杂食饮食）这些参数有所恢复。在性别差异方面，与年龄匹配的男性相比，女性的纯素饮食与血压、TC 和 LDL-C 显著降低有关。本研究存在一些方法学限制，特别是缺乏随机对照组和自我报告数据，这限制了通过观察到的关联来建立因果关系的能力。
即使是短期的纯素饮食也能证实理想的代谢特征，女性的变化比年龄匹配的男性更为有利。这些发现可能有助于将素食饮食定义为宗教斋戒（超越其精神目标）的一部分，作为不同人群的非药物处方，并且我们的发现增加了这些人群的证据。
