Effects of a vegetarian diet combined with exercise on lipid profiles and blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Yanlong Niu, Hui Cao, Haitao Zhou, Jianmin Cao, Zhen Wang

Critical reviews in food science and nutrition 2024

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We aimed to evaluate the combined effects of a vegetarian diet (VD) and exercise on total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglyceride (TG), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) parameters. A literature search was conducted in electronic databases from build to February 27, 2022. Data were synthesized using random effects model and were expressed as standardized mean difference (SMD)/weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Overall, 27 trials with 9,251 participants were included. Pooled results indicated that the combination of a VD and exercise significantly reduced TC (SMD: -0.524; 95% CI: -0.602, -0.446; p < 0.001), LDL-C (SMD: -0.379; 95% CI: -0.471, -0.287; p < 0.001), HDL-C (SMD: -0.213; 95% CI: -0.299, -0.126; p < 0.001), TG (SMD: -0.090; 95% CI: -0.160, -0.020; p = 0.012), SBP (WMD: -7.664 mm Hg; 95% CI: -9.219, -6.109 mm Hg; p < 0.001), and DBP (WMD: -4.347 mm Hg; 95% CI: -5.099, -3.596 mm Hg; p < 0.001). These parameters were reduced more following a low-fat VD, or a mixed high-frequency exercise, especially under strict supervision. Surprisingly, the decreased HDL-C due to VD was observed to recover with the prolongation of exercise.

Citation

Yanlong Niu, Hui Cao, Haitao Zhou, Jianmin Cao, Zhen Wang. Effects of a vegetarian diet combined with exercise on lipid profiles and blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition. 2024;64(8):2289-2303