High Protein Diet and Metabolic Acidosis: Health Risks Correlations
Written By: Milos Pokimica
Medically Reviewed by: Dr. Xiùying Wáng, M.D.
Updated June 10, 2023Key Takeaways:
– Western-style diet dominated by animal products promotes the accumulation of non-metabolizable anions.
– Even extremely mild levels of metabolic acidosis prompt serious health diseases like skeletal muscle insulin resistance and kidney failure.
– The acid burden might be a significant variable in the cardiovascular disease risk for the entire population on top of the risk of obesity.
– Calcium loss as a consequence of a high-quality animal protein-rich diet is a scientific consensus.
– Muscle wasting appears to be an adaptive response, to acidosis in calcium deficiency.
– Metabolic acidosis by itself is correlated to type 2 diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, connective tissue loss, fibromyalgia, hyperuricemia and gout, kidney function damage, and decline, kidney stones, dehydration, decreased exercise performance…
– Balance your DAL with fruits and vegetables if you don’t want to change your diet. Add nutrient-dense, mineral-rich, antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables on the top of your SAD diet as a first step.
Standard American Diet.
The standard Western-type diet is a processed food-dominated diet with high levels of animal product consumption. This type of diet is severely lacking in not just green leafy vegetables but also in all types of nutrient-dense and antioxidant-rich whole food sources and contains extreme amounts of high-quality animal protein.
One of the results of this type of diet is the promotion and accumulation of non-metabolizable anions and a condition that significantly worsens in aging because of the physiological decrease in kidney function.
In response to this type of diet-induced metabolic acidosis, the kidneys will implement different metabolic pathways that aim at reestablishing the acid-base equilibrium.
This will have a negative health correlation in the long run.
Metabolic processes.
Some metabolic processes in diet-induced acidity (metabolic acidosis) include the extraction of the non-metabolizable anions, the preservation of citrate, and the increase in kidney ammoniagenesis and urinary excretion of ammonium particles.
These metabolic processes will bring down the urinary pH but will also promote a broad change in urinary synthesis, including hypercalciuria, hypocitraturia, and nitrogen and phosphate removal.
The negative side effect of this is the promotion of calcium stone development.
What is even worse than stones is the fact that even extremely mild levels of metabolic acidosis prompt serious health diseases like skeletal muscle insulin resistance and kidney failure.
Results of observational studies had proven the health risk correlation in insulin resistance and diabetes with all metabolic acidosis markers, including low serum bicarbonate, high serum anion gap, hypocitraturia, and low urine pH. Also, the acid burden might be a significant variable in the cardiovascular disease risk for the entire population on top of the risk of obesity (Adeva and Souto, 2011).
Most people when they hear “acid-forming food” just think about calcium loss not realizing the scope of the problem.
Calcium loss.
Calcium loss as a consequence of a high-quality animal protein-rich diet is a scientific consensus (Thorpe and Evans, 2011). And it is a reasonable hypothesis that by eating acid-forming food (like meat), our body will use calcium to buffer it and as a result, we were, fundamentally, in danger of urinating our bones out. This hypothesis was backed by the fact that when we do eat high protein diet we get an increase in urinary calcium concentrations.
Calcium testing showed in all situations that when we add high protein sources like meat or eggs or dairy the rise in calcium will correspond to the amount of protein added. The hypothesis due to the testing was introduced, and this was at beginning of the 20th century, that animal products, not just meat are acid-forming food. Later testing showed that plant-based whole foods are both acid forming and alkaline but mostly alkaline.
In acid reflux, people will use calcium pills to try to buffer the stomach acid so this is nothing new. Calcium carbonate (chalk) treats heartburn and upset stomach, or other conditions caused by too much stomach acid.
But what about the rest of the body in a standard American animal products-dominated diet?
Sulfur-containing amino acids.
Meat and eggs have a great deal of sulfur-containing amino acids. Amino acids are building blocks of protein and not all of them are made equal. Meat has two to in some cases four times more sulfur-containing amino acids than beans or grains for example and much more than in common vegetables.
That sulfur creates sulfuric acid by oxidation of protein, which needs to be neutralized by the kidneys (Brosnan & Brosnan, 2006).
There was even a debate about dairy for a long time because of this. Milk was considered to be a good source of calcium but also a source of protein that needs to be buffered by calcium. In the end, dairy might not be a good source of calcium when we calculate calcium loss due to metabolic acidosis.
One step further will be a question of how much calcium we need to consume on a standard protein-dominated Western diet if we have to calculate calcium loss.
If we don’t take enough calcium and calcium deficiency is a common deficiency then where will our body pull the calcium from? The logical answer will be from the bones.
This is especially problematic for people with already-developed osteoporosis. For every 40 grams of protein we add to our diet, and in the SAD (standard American diet) average is 90 grams a day, the loss of calcium in our urine will be around 50mg. If you are already calcium deficient or in a risk group for osteoporosis, this would translate into a two percent loss in a year. We just have around two pounds of calcium in total stored whiting our body including bones. Our bodies need 30 grams of protein at max rest of the protein goes for gluconeogenesis, around 60 grams in SAD. At average. That is 75mg a day of calcium loss multiplied by 365 is 27375mg of calcium loss. This is 27 grams and we have a total of around 2000 grams for about 1,5 to 2 percent of total loss annually.
If you are calcium deficient and on a high protein diet especially a high-quality protein diet this can be one of the problems. If you are not calcium deficient then the body will just pull more of the calcium from the diet as a defense mechanism (Calvez et al., 2011).
There was a study that proved that if there is calcium in the food our body will pull additional amounts to buffer the acids. They gave subjects radioactive calcium and also increased protein in their diet (Cao et al., 2011). Then scientists measure an increase in urinary calcium loss with a special emphasis on radioactivity.
The calcium loss did increase but all of the urinary calcium or most of it around 90 percent was radioactive.
An increase in dietary protein created an increase in calcium retention from 20% to 26%. There is still no consensus among scientists on how dietary protein helps calcium assimilation but if there is calcium in the meal it will be more bioavailable due to protein.
Calcium deficiency.
The problem arises in situations with already preexisting calcium deficiency.
One other problem is aging.
If there is already preexisting calcium deficiency where will our body pull additional calcium to buffer the acids and also what happens in aging? As we age our blood gets more acidic due to renal decline (Frassetto et al., 1996). The worst scenario is in patients with renal disease. They have strictly regulated protein intake monitored by certified dietitians.
In these situations, excess acids will be buffered from calcium that has to be pulled from our body, and the first on the line is not bone calcium.
It is pulled from the muscles.
Catabolism of the muscle tissue.
Catabolism of the muscle tissue will be a primary source for acid neutralization. Muscle wasting appears to be an adaptive response, to acidosis (Mann et al., 2021). When our body catabolizes muscle protein it would have a source of the amino acid l-glutamine that will come out of a catabolized protein (Gurina, 2022). Then it will use glutamine to neutralize acids.
Glutamine is a common anti-catabolic muscle-building supplement that bodybuilders like to use.
It might be a good idea if you don’t have an adequate intake of calcium to at least add glutamine as a supplement if for any reason you don’t want to decrease protein consumption. Also, glutamine is predominantly a renal gluconeogenic substrate, whereas alanine gluconeogenesis is essentially confined to the liver (Stumvoll et al., 1999). And no you cannot eat calcium carbonate chalk or any other mineral as a supplement. Minerals are only able to be fully bioavailable for biochemical processes if they are small enough in physical size or if they are in the monoatomic form that plants create.
In sarcopenia due to protein wasting in aging the common practice is to increase protein requirements for the elderly and also to add a calcium supplement. This is done because calcium is needed to buffer the metabolic acidosis that will be a consequence of an increase in dietary protein. If not corrected this low level of chronic metabolic acidosis will contribute to both osteoporosis and muscle wasting in old age.
For people eating SAD the amount of calcium needed to buffer acidity is a minimum of 800mg a day.
In correlation, African women in rural parts of the continent don’t get osteoporosis on average of 300mg of calcium a day. In aging, you don’t have to drink milk to get calcium or eat meat to get protein. Beans for example have as much protein as meat but are not acid-forming. Poppy seeds have 1,4 times more calcium in 100 grams than 1 liter of milk and sesame seeds have the same amount of calcium in 100 grams as 1 liter of milk. Grains and some seeds like sunflower seeds are mildly acidic, not at the same level as meat but also sunflower seeds are one of the rarely available sources of vitamin E and it is a must in most diet plans.
The one solution will be to stop eating a high-quality protein diet because there are other health risk factors correlated with it than just metabolic acidosis that can be easily corrected if it exists in the first place.
Dietary acid load (DAL).
In evolutionary terms, all hominin diets were plant-based. This means that our body unlike the bodies of carnivores species had not evolved to cope well with a chronic acid-forming diet. Hominin diets based on whole food plant-based sources were more base than acid-forming.
There are two categories basically.
Animal protein-rich foods that promote acid formation and metabolic acidosis and fruits and vegetables are base-inducing foods.
More about alkaline diets will be discussed in correlated articles. Dietary acid load (DAL) is calculated as the sum of all of the food we have eaten during the day. DAL is calculated based on the intake of acid-forming and base-forming foods, such as animal proteins and fruits and vegetables, respectively. Two common methods for estimating DAL are potential renal acid load (PRAL) and net endogenous acid production (NEAP). PRAL is based on the intake of protein, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, while NEAP is based on the intake of protein and potassium. DAL needs to be in normal ranges because it is correlated to more serious diseases like kidney damage, (Osuna-Padilla et al., 2019).
“Diets high in PRAL induce a low-grade metabolic acidosis state, which is associated with the development of metabolic alterations such as insulin resistance, diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, bone disorders, low muscle mass and other complications.“
(Osuna-Padilla et al., 2019)
Other correlations include independently of any other factor of insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease (Krupp et al., 2018),
“Diets rich in fruits and vegetables, like the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-diet, are usually characterized by high potassium intake and reduced dietary acid load, and have been shown to reduce blood pressure (BP).”
“PRAL was significantly associated with higher systolic BP (p = 0.0002) and higher hypertension prevalence (Odds ratio [OR] high vs. low PRAL = 1.45, p = 0.0004) in models adjusted for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), estimated sodium intake, kidney function, relevant medication, and further important covariates. “
“Our results show, for the first time in a comparative analysis of a large representative population sample, significant relationships of BP and hypertension prevalence with questionnaire- and biomarker-based estimates of potassium intake and with an estimate of dietary acid load.“
(Krupp et al., 2018)
It is not just a question of calcium loss. You can read more about health risk correlations with a high protein diet in a correlated article about this (High protein diet- Health risk correlations).
Food source | PRAL value |
---|---|
Meat | 9.5 |
Cheese | 26.8 |
Eggs | 8.2 |
Fruits | -3.1 |
Vegetables | -2.8 |
Metabolic acidosis health risk correlations:
When we consider just chronic low-level acidity caused by a Western-type diet without any other correlation, just metabolic acidosis by itself is correlated to (DiNicolantonio and O’Keefe, 2021):
- Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
- Increased gluconeogenesis (conversion of amino acids to glucose).
- Hypertension.
- Bone loss in calcium deficient individuals.
- Osteoporosis/osteopenia/sarcopenia in calcium deficient individuals.
- Muscle loss and reduced muscle strength in calcium deficient individuals.
- Connective tissue loss in calcium deficient individuals.
- Fibromyalgia.
- Hyperuricemia (too much uric acid in your blood) and gout.
- Kidney function damage and decline.
- Kidney stones independent from renal decline.
- Less citrate to bind to calcium and more calcium to oxalic acid increasing calcium oxalate stone formation.
- Reduced urine pH increasing uric acid stone formation.
- Negative sodium and chloride balance.
- Salt loss and mineral deficiencies.
- Increased loss of sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfate, and phosphate out of the urine.
- The sodium and potassium loss are due to a decrease in the reabsorption of these minerals by the kidneys, which likely reduces the reabsorption of taurine
- The loss of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate is from bone losses
- Taurine loss
- Increased water loss out of the urine.
- Dehydration.
- Decreased exercise performance.
Low-grade acidosis.
Why low-grade acidosis is so common in the standard American diet:
- The average diet in the Western world leads to a net acid excretion of 50–100 mEq/day.
- The kidneys must be relied on to prevent low-grade acidosis as the lungs cannot affect acid-base status over the long run.
- The kidneys of a healthy person can only excrete 40–70 mEq of acid per day before the acid is retained in the body.
- Animal-based, keto, or carnivore-type diets typically provide 150–250 mEq of acid per day.
- Once the kidneys reach their threshold approximately 1 mEq of acid is retained per 2.5 mEq of acid above the threshold.
- If the diet does not contain enough bicarbonate (bicarbonate-forming substances or citrate) and minerals (sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium) to neutralize the excess acid then negative consequences to numerous bodily systems take place.
Solution:
The solution for this is simple as it can be. Balance your DAL with fruits and vegetables if you don’t want to change your diet. Add nutrient-dense, mineral-rich, antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables on the top of your SAD diet as a first step. Add sesame seeds to your muesli and eat kale in salads and it would help your body to neutralize some of the metabolic acidosis. This will be a step to prevent acidity from the diet and nothing else. Add glutamine supplement.
Food | Calcium per serving |
---|---|
Poppy seeds (30g) | 432 mg |
Sesame seeds (30g) | 201 mg |
Chia seeds (30g) | 189 mg |
Calcium-fortified soy milk (200ml) | 240 mg |
Calcium-fortified oat milk (200ml) | 240 mg |
Calcium-fortified almond milk (200ml) | 240 mg |
Calcium-fortified coconut milk (200ml) | 240 mg |
Calcium-set tofu (100g) | 350 mg |
Kale (80g cooked) | 185 mg |
Figs (30g dried) | 75 mg |
Almonds (30g whole kernels) | 81 mg |
However, other health consequences of high-quality protein-dominated diets cannot be so easily avoided.
Conclusion:
- A Western-style diet dominated by animal products promotes the accumulation of non-metabolizable anions.
- This accumulation significantly worsens in aging because of the physiological decrease in kidney function.
- In response to this type of diet-induced metabolic acidosis, the kidneys will implement different metabolic pathways that aim at reestablishing the acid-base equilibrium.
- Metabolic processes in diet-induced acidity (metabolic acidosis) include the extraction of the non-metabolizable anions, the preservation of citrate, and the increase in kidney ammoniagenesis and urinary excretion of ammonium particles.
- These metabolic processes will bring down the urinary pH but will also promote a broad change in urinary synthesis, including hypercalciuria, hypocitraturia, and nitrogen and phosphate removal.
- The negative side effect of this is the promotion of calcium stone development.
- Even extremely mild levels of metabolic acidosis prompt serious health diseases like skeletal muscle insulin resistance and kidney failure.
- The acid burden might be a significant variable in the cardiovascular disease risk for the entire population on top of the risk of obesity .
- Calcium loss as a consequence of a high-quality animal protein-rich diet is a scientific consensus.
- Meat and eggs have a great deal of sulfur-containing amino acids.
- That sulfur creates sulfuric acid by oxidation of protein, which needs to be neutralized by the kidneys.
- If you consume a calcium-deficient diet and a high protein diet especially a high-quality protein diet additional calcium will be lost.
- As we age our blood gets more acidic due to renal decline.
- The worst scenario is in patients with renal disease.
- Muscle wasting appears to be an adaptive response, to acidosis in calcium deficiency.
- In sarcopenia due to protein wasting in aging the common practice is to increase protein requirements for the elderly and also to add a calcium supplement.
- For people eating SAD the amount of calcium needed to buffer acidity is a minimum of 800mg a day.
- Hominin diets based on whole food plant-based sources were more base than acid-forming.
- Dietary acid load (DAL) is calculated as the sum of all of the food we have eaten during the day.
- DAL needs to be in normal ranges because it is correlated to more serious diseases like kidney damage.
- Animal protein-rich foods that promote acid formation and metabolic acidosis and fruits and vegetables are base-inducing foods.
- Balance your DAL with fruits and vegetables if you don’t want to change your diet.
FAQ
References:
- Adeva, M. M., & Souto, G. (2011). Diet-induced metabolic acidosis. Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland), 30(4), 416–421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2011.03.008
- DiNicolantonio, J. J., & O’Keefe, J. H. (2021). Low-grade metabolic acidosis as a driver of chronic disease: a 21st century public health crisis. Open Heart, 8(2), e001730. https://doi.org/10.1136/openhrt-2021-001730
- Thorpe, M. P., & Evans, E. M. (2011). Dietary protein and bone health: harmonizing conflicting theories. Nutrition reviews, 69(4), 215–230. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-4887.2011.00379.x
- Calvez, J., Poupin, N., Chesneau, C., Lassale, C., & Tomé, D. (2012). Protein intake, calcium balance and health consequences. European journal of clinical nutrition, 66(3), 281–295. https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2011.196
- Kerstetter, J. E., O’Brien, K. O., Caseria, D. M., Wall, D. E., & Insogna, K. L. (2005). The impact of dietary protein on calcium absorption and kinetic measures of bone turnover in women. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 90(1), 26–31. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2004-0179
- Cao, J. J., Johnson, L. K., & Hunt, J. R. (2011). A diet high in meat protein and potential renal acid load increases fractional calcium absorption and urinary calcium excretion without affecting markers of bone resorption or formation in postmenopausal women. The Journal of nutrition, 141(3), 391–397. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.110.129361
- Ausman, L. M., Oliver, L. M., Goldin, B. R., Woods, M. N., Gorbach, S. L., & Dwyer, J. T. (2008). Estimated net acid excretion inversely correlates with urine pH in vegans, lacto-ovo vegetarians, and omnivores. Journal of renal nutrition : the official journal of the Council on Renal Nutrition of the National Kidney Foundation, 18(5), 456–465. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.jrn.2008.04.007
- Schwalfenberg G. K. (2012). The alkaline diet: is there evidence that an alkaline pH diet benefits health?. Journal of environmental and public health, 2012, 727630. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/727630
- Dawson-Hughes, B., Harris, S. S., & Ceglia, L. (2008). Alkaline diets favor lean tissue mass in older adults. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 87(3), 662–665. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/87.3.662
- Chauveau, P., Combe, C., Fouque, D., & Aparicio, M. (2013). Vegetarianism: advantages and drawbacks in patients with chronic kidney diseases. Journal of renal nutrition : the official journal of the Council on Renal Nutrition of the National Kidney Foundation, 23(6), 399–405. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.jrn.2013.08.004
- Uribarri, J., & Oh, M. S. (2012). The key to halting progression of CKD might be in the produce market, not in the pharmacy. Kidney international, 81(1), 7–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/ki.2011.331
- Sherman, H. C., & Gettler, A. O. (1912). THE BALANCE OF ACID-FORMING AND BASE-FORMING ELEMENTS IN FOODS, AND ITS RELATION TO AMMONIA METABOLISM. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 11(4), 323–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0021-9258(18)88738-5
- Calcium requirement of maintenance in man. J. Biol. Chem. 1920, 44:21-27 [PDF]
- Kerstetter, J. E., O’Brien, K. O., & Insogna, K. L. (2003). Low protein intake: the impact on calcium and bone homeostasis in humans. The Journal of nutrition, 133(3), 855S–861S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/133.3.855S
- Frassetto, L. A., Morris, R. C., Jr, & Sebastian, A. (1996). Effect of age on blood acid-base composition in adult humans: role of age-related renal functional decline. The American journal of physiology, 271(6 Pt 2), F1114–F1122. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.1996.271.6.F1114
- Goraya, N., Simoni, J., Jo, C. H., & Wesson, D. E. (2013). A comparison of treating metabolic acidosis in CKD stage 4 hypertensive kidney disease with fruits and vegetables or sodium bicarbonate. Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN, 8(3), 371–381. https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.02430312
- Sebastian, A., Frassetto, L. A., Sellmeyer, D. E., Merriam, R. L., & Morris, R. C., Jr (2002). Estimation of the net acid load of the diet of ancestral preagricultural Homo sapiens and their hominid ancestors. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 76(6), 1308–1316. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/76.6.1308
- Deriemaeker, P., Aerenhouts, D., Hebbelinck, M., & Clarys, P. (2010). Nutrient based estimation of acid-base balance in vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Plant foods for human nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands), 65(1), 77–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-009-0149-5
- Taylor, L., & Curthoys, N. P. (2004). Glutamine metabolism: Role in acid-base balance*. Biochemistry and molecular biology education : a bimonthly publication of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 32(5), 291–304. https://doi.org/10.1002/bmb.2004.494032050388
- Brosnan, J. T., & Brosnan, M. E. (2006). The Sulfur-Containing Amino Acids: An Overview ,. Journal of Nutrition, 136(6), 1636S-1640S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/136.6.1636s
- Calvez, J., Poupin, N., Chesneau, C., Lassale, C., & Tomé, D. (2012). Protein intake, calcium balance and health consequences. European journal of clinical nutrition, 66(3), 281–295. https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2011.196
- Gurina, T. S. (2022, December 11). Biochemistry, Protein Catabolism. StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556047/
- Mann, G., Mora, S., Madu, G., & Adegoke, O. A. J. (2021). Branched-chain Amino Acids: Catabolism in Skeletal Muscle and Implications for Muscle and Whole-body Metabolism. Frontiers in physiology, 12, 702826. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.702826
- Stumvoll, M., Perriello, G., Meyer, C., & Gerich, J. E. (1999). Role of glutamine in human carbohydrate metabolism in kidney and other tissues. Kidney International, 55(3), 778–792. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1755.1999.055003778.x
- Osuna-Padilla, I. A., Leal-Escobar, G., Garza-García, C. A., & Rodríguez-Castellanos, F. E. (2019). Dietary Acid Load: mechanisms and evidence of its health repercussions. Carga ácida de la dieta; mecanismos y evidencia de sus repercusiones en la salud. Nefrologia, 39(4), 343–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nefro.2018.10.005
- Krupp, D., Esche, J., Mensink, G. B. M., Klenow, S., Thamm, M., & Remer, T. (2018). Dietary Acid Load and Potassium Intake Associate with Blood Pressure and Hypertension Prevalence in a Representative Sample of the German Adult Population. Nutrients, 10(1), 103. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10010103
Related Posts
Do you have any questions about nutrition and health?
I would love to hear from you and answer them in my next post. I appreciate your input and opinion and I look forward to hearing from you soon. I also invite you to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for more diet, nutrition, and health content. You can leave a comment there and connect with other health enthusiasts, share your tips and experiences, and get support and encouragement from our team and community.
I hope that this post was informative and enjoyable for you and that you are prepared to apply the insights you learned. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your friends and family who might also benefit from it. You never know who might need some guidance and support on their health journey.
– You Might Also Like –
Learn About Nutrition
Milos Pokimica is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, medical health and nutrition writer, and nutritional science advisor. Author of the book series Go Vegan? Review of Science, he also operates the natural health website GoVeganWay.com
Medical Disclaimer
GoVeganWay.com brings you reviews of the latest nutrition and health-related research. The information provided represents the personal opinion of the author and is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information provided is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY SEEKING MEDICAL TREATMENT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH GoVeganWay.com
NEVER APPLY ANY LIFESTYLE CHANGES OR ANY CHANGES AT ALL AS A CONSEQUENCE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ IN GoVeganWay.com BEFORE CONSULTING LICENCED MEDICAL PRACTITIONER.
In the event of a medical emergency, call a doctor or 911 immediately. GoVeganWay.com does not recommend or endorse any specific groups, organizations, tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned inside.
Editor Picks –
Milos Pokimica is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, medical health and nutrition writer, and nutritional science advisor. Author of the book series Go Vegan? Review of Science, he also operates the natural health website GoVeganWay.com
Latest Articles –
Plant Based News
-
Wildlife Populations Have Plunged 73% In 50 Years
on October 14, 2024
-
How To Make A Vegan Autumn ‘Everything Bowl’
on October 14, 2024
-
UK Brand Unveils Powdered Dairy-Free Milk
on October 14, 2024
-
Asda Launches Vegan Cake Pops
on October 14, 2024
-
Are Air Fryers Safe To Use?
on October 13, 2024
-
30-Minute Vegan Malai Kofta
on October 13, 2024
-
Roasted Pepper Thyme And Butter Bean Tray Bake
on October 13, 2024
Top Health News — ScienceDaily
- Targeting ‘undruggable’ diseases: New levels of detail in targeted protein degradationon October 11, 2024
Targeted protein degradation has opened up a new field of drug discovery with potential to treat previously ‘undruggable’ diseases. The work means new drugs can be much more accurately targeted at the molecular level, creating and hitting a metaphorical ‘bull’s eye.’
- Researchers identify signs tied to more severe cases of RSVon October 11, 2024
Clinician-scientists analyzed samples from patients’ airways and blood, finding distinct changes in children with severe cases of RSV, including an increase in the number of natural killer (NK) cells in their airways. The descriptive study, which focuses on understanding the underpinnings of severe disease, may help to lay groundwork for identifying new targets for future treatments.
- New paradigm of drug discovery with world’s first atomic editing?on October 11, 2024
Researchers have successfully develop single-atom editing technology that maximizes drug efficacy.
- Defective sperm doubles the risk of preeclampsiaon October 11, 2024
Researchers have linked specific frequent defects in sperm to risk of pregnancy complications and negative impacts on the health of the baby. The study shows that high proportion of father’s spermatozoa possessing DNA strand breaks is associated with doubled risk of preeclampsia in women who have become pregnant by IVF. It also increases the risk of the baby being born prematurely.
- Cord blood cells can build a better human immune system into miceon October 11, 2024
Researchers have developed a new method to recreate a robust and functional human immune system in mice using mononuclear cells from the cord blood. This new kind of mice, that count with most of the human immune cell types with lower host-versus-graft disease, are a better experimental platform to study the subtle interactions between the immune system, cancer cells and the tumour microenvironment, in healthy conditions and in disease.
- Protein blocking bone development could hold clues for future osteoporosis treatmenton October 11, 2024
Scientists have identified a protein that blocks the activity of bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) by stopping them from maturing during the journey to sites of bone formation, a new study has found.
- Tiny magnetic discs offer remote brain stimulation without transgeneson October 11, 2024
Novel magnetic nanodiscs could provide a much less invasive way of stimulating parts of the brain, paving the way for stimulation therapies without implants or genetic modification, researchers report.
PubMed, #vegan-diet –
- Examining the effectiveness of promotional nudges increasing plant-based food choices in a post-secondary education dining hall: a pilot studyon October 10, 2024
CONCLUSIONS: The combination of nudges was effective at significantly increasing the selection of plant-based options over meat-based options in a post-secondary dining hall setting.
- Reduction in Lp(a) after a medically supervised, prolonged water-only fast followed by a whole-plant-food diet free of added salt, oil, and sugar: a case reporton October 9, 2024
Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is a low-density lipoprotein (LDL) associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. High Lp(a) levels are genetically determined and lack effective pharmacotherapy. This case report describes a 67-year-old, vegan male with elevated blood pressure (BP), total cholesterol (TC), LDL, and Lp(a) who underwent a 10-day, medically supervised water-only fast followed by a 6-week SOS-free diet (free of added salt, oil, and sugar). At the 6-week-follow-up visit, he…
- Ultra-processed vegan foods: Healthy alternatives to animal-source foods or avoidable junk?on October 8, 2024
Animal-source foods (ASFs), namely, meat, milk, eggs, and derived products, are crucial components of a well-balanced diet owing to their contribution with multiple essential nutrients. The benefits of the consumption of ASFs in terms of hedonic responses, emotional well-being, and mood are also widely documented. However, an increasing share of consumers decide to exclude ASFs from their diets. Some of these vegan consumers are inclined to consume so-called “meat” and/or “dairy analogs,” […]
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of functional vitamin B12 status among adult veganson October 7, 2024
The dietary intake of vitamin B12 among unsupplemented vegans is notably lower compared to both vegetarians and omnivores. Prolonged low intakes of vitamin B12, such as seen in those adhering to a vegan diet, lead to physiological deficiency of vitamin B12 and an elevated risk of B12-related morbidity. However, while serum B12 serves as a conventional biomarker for assessing B12 status, its utility is limited given its sensitivity and specificity in ascribing physiological deficiency of B12 […]
- The Veg∗n Eating Motives Inventory Plus (VEMI+): A measure of health, environment, animal rights, disgust, social, pandemic and zoonotic diseases, and farm workers’ rights motiveson October 5, 2024
Health, environmental concern, and animal rights are established motives for reduced meat consumption that can be measured by the Vegetarian Eating Motives Inventory (VEMI). This preregistered study aimed to expand the VEMI to include four less-studied motives: disgust, social, concern about zoonotic diseases and pandemics, and concern for workers’ rights. We had three objectives: to combine the seven motives into a comprehensive model, to test if the VEMI+ scales function equivalently across…
Random Posts –
Featured Posts –
Latest from PubMed, #plant-based diet –
- Identification of Chinese dietary patterns and their relationships with health outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysisby Xue Feng Hu on October 14, 2024
CONCLUSION: Multiple dietary patterns identified reflect the diversity and transitioning of the Chinese diet. A healthy Chinese diet, comprising both the Traditional WG and Plant-based diets, was associated with reduced risks of specific undesirable health outcomes. Promoting this healthy diet will improve public health among the Chinese populations.
- Arctigenin ameliorates high-fat diet-induced metabolic disorders by reshaping gut microbiota and modulating GPR/HDAC3 and TLR4/NF-kappaB pathwaysby Nana Wang on October 13, 2024
CONCLUSION: This study first demonstrated that AG could modulate the gut microbiota and derived metabolites to repair intestinal damage and regulate hepatic metabolic pathways, thereby ameliorating metabolic disorders induced by HFD. These findings support the great potential of AG as a novel prebiotic to fight obesity and chronic metabolic diseases by targeting the gut microbiota.
- Nutritional and potential health benefits of chufa oil, olive oil, and anhydrous milk fat against gallstone disease in a C57BL/6N mouse modelby Mohsen A Zommara on October 11, 2024
Dietary lipids play a major role in many diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases. Recently, the health value of plant oils, particularly heart health, has been recognized. Despite these facts, limited information is available on the potential nutritional and anti-arteriolosclerosis effects of chufa oil, olive oil, and anhydrous milk fat in C57BL/6N mice. In the present study, the effects of olive oil (OO), chufa oil (CO), and anhydrous milk fat (AMF) on 4-week-old C57BL/6N male mice, a…
- Interactions between polygenic risk of obesity and dietary factors on anthropometric outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studiesby Hannah Yang Han on October 11, 2024
CONCLUSIONS: Current observational evidence suggests a moderating role of overall diet quality in polygenic risk of obesity. Future research should aim to identify genetic loci that interact with dietary exposures on anthropometric outcomes and conduct analyses among diverse ethnic groups.
- Examining the effectiveness of promotional nudges increasing plant-based food choices in a post-secondary education dining hall: a pilot studyby Jennifer Joy Anderson on October 10, 2024
CONCLUSIONS: The combination of nudges was effective at significantly increasing the selection of plant-based options over meat-based options in a post-secondary dining hall setting.
- Telomere length and 4-year changes in cognitive function in an older Mediterranean population at high risk of cardiovascular diseaseby María Fernández de la Puente on October 10, 2024
CONCLUSIONS: Longer baseline TL could protect from cognitive decline and be used as a useful biomarker of brain ageing function in an older Mediterranean population at risk of cardiovascular disease and cognitive impairment.