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Gajski G, Gerić M, Jakaša I, Peremin I, Domijan AM, Vučić Lovrenčić M, Kežić S, Bituh M, Moraes de Andrade V. Inflammatory, oxidative and DNA damage status in vegetarians: is the future of human diet green? Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2021:1-33. [PMID: 34634971 DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2021.1986464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The health benefit of a vegetarian diet is still under debate as it may result in a higher intake of some beneficial micronutrients, while others may be reduced, thus influencing various metabolic pathways and health-related biomarkers. This scoping review discusses inflammatory, oxidative and DNA damage status in vegetarians and vegans compared to omnivores. Most of the reviewed studies indicated favorable effects of a vegetarian diet on oxidative status compared to omnivores but did not clearly associate particular dietary habits to genome damage. The evidence on the effect of vegetarian diet on the inflammatory and immunological biomarkers is poor, which could at least partly be explained by methodological constraints such as small sample size, short duration of vegetarianism and inconsistent definitions of the omnivorous diet. The only inflammatory biomarker that seems to be associated with the vegetarian diet was inflammatory mediator C-reactive protein, which in several studies showed lower values in vegetarians as compared to omnivores. There were very few studies on immunological markers and the results on the difference between vegetarians and omnivores were inconclusive. Although several biomarkers involved in oxidative stress and inflammation showed a beneficial association with the vegetarian diet, further research in well-defined and sufficiently sized cohorts is needed to provide more evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Goran Gajski
- Mutagenesis Unit, Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Marko Gerić
- Mutagenesis Unit, Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Ivone Jakaša
- Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Ines Peremin
- Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Ana-Marija Domijan
- Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | | | - Sanja Kežić
- Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Martina Bituh
- Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, Department of Food Quality Control, Laboratory for Food Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Vanessa Moraes de Andrade
- Health Sciences Unit, Translational Biomedicine Laboratory, University of Southern Santa Catarina, Criciúma, Brazil
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