Plant Protein Intake Linked to Lower Mortality

Greater intake of plant-based protein is associated with lower mortality risk, according to the results of a recent study.

In order to examine the effects of animal and plant protein intake on mortality risk, researchers conducted a prospective cohort study involving 70,696 participants in the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Cohort. All participants were aged 45 to 74 years and were free from cancer, cerebrovascular disease, or ischemic heart disease at baseline.

Dietary intake data were collected through a validated food frequency questionnaire which was used to estimate protein intake.

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Overall, consumption of animal protein was not associated with total or cause-specific mortality. However, intake of plant protein was associated with lower total mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.89 for quintile 2, 0.88 for quintile 3, 0.84 for quintile 4, and 0.87 for quintile 5). Plant protein intake was also associated with cardiovascular-related morality (HRs 0.84 to 0.70).

“In this large prospective study, higher plant protein intake was associated with lower total and CVD-related mortality. Although animal protein intake was not associated with mortality outcomes, replacement of red meat protein or processed meat protein with plant protein was associated with lower total, cancer-related, and CVD-related mortality,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Budhathoki S, Sawada N, Iwasaki M, et al. Association of animal and plant protein intake with all-cause and cause-specific mortality [published online August 26, 2019]. JAMA Intern Med. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.2806.