Not all plant-based diets are created equal
In prior studies of the impact of a plant-based diet, there were several limitations. Plant-based diets were defined as " vegetarian " which consist of a variety of dietary patterns that exclude some or all animal foods. These studies treat all plant foods equally, even though certain plant foods like refined grains and sugar sweetened beverages are associated with a higher risk of cardio-metabolic disease. To overcome these limitations, the researchers created three versions of a plant-based diet: an overall plant-based diet which emphasized the consumption of all plant food and reduced (but did not eliminate) animal food intake; a healthful plant-based diet that emphasized the intake of healthy plant foods such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables; and an unhealthful plant-based diet which emphasized consumption of less healthy plant foods such as refined grains. Researchers used a baseline sample of 73,710 women from the Nurses' Health Study, 92,320 women from ...