Plant-Based Diets Reduce Risk of Dementia, Heart Disease, Study Finds

A new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association found an association between consuming protein from plant-based sources rather than animal proteins and fewer deaths related to dementia and heart disease, reports ABC News . The researchers looked at more than 100,000 post-menopausal women over nearly 20 years. Those who had more protein from plant-based sources in their diet had an associated lower risk of deaths related to heart disease and dementia, and a lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to women who ate more red meat, dairy, and eggs. ABC News chief medical correspondent Jennifer Ashton said two working theories in medical and nutritional science literature seek to explain this effect. "One of them has to do with inflammatory metabolites, so these are by-products of animal protein that can then affect the heart and the brain and our blood vessels," she noted. "Another theory has to do with the gut microbiome, that good bacteria, and obviously what we eat is related to that."