• Posted March 24, 2025

Heart Disease, Diabetes, Obesity? A Plant-Based Diet Can Extend Your Life, Study Says

People dealing with heart disease, diabetes or obesity are behind the eight ball when it comes to their chances of living longer.

But they can improve their odds if they start following a healthy plant-based diet, according to a study scheduled for presentation Saturday in Chicago at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

Closer adherence to a healthy plant-based diet is linked to a 17% to 24% reduced risk of premature death from any cause, heart disease or cancer, researchers report.

“These findings may help individuals with cardiometabolic disorders make heathier lifestyle choices,” lead researcher Dr. Zhangling Chen of the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in Changsha, China, said in a news release.

Not all plant-based foods are healthy, however.

Refined grains, potatoes and sugary drinks can pack on extra pounds and cause blood sugar to spike, researchers noted.

As a result, people who have an unhealthy plant-based diet with more of those foods have a 28% to 36% increased risk of early death from any cause, heart disease or cancer, results show.

“More intake of healthy plant-based foods, less intake of unhealthy plant-based foods and less intake of animal-based foods are all important,” Chen said.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 78,000 people with obesity, heart disease or diabetes who participated in large studies in the U.K., U.S. and China.

All participants filled out dietary questionnaires, and researchers rated the healthiness of their diet based on their responses.

Healthy plant-based diets included vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, tea and coffee, researchers said.

The health benefits of such a diet held consistent even after accounting for other factors like age, sex, race, smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity and nationality.

In a separate study that only used data on 18,000 U.S. adults, researchers also found that sticking to healthy beverages is linked to a lower risk of death.

Healthy beverages include tea, coffee and low-fat milk, researchers said. An unhealthy beverage pattern would have higher levels of alcohol, whole-fat milk, fruit juice, sugary drinks and artificially sweetened beverages.

Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

Harvard Medical School has more on plant-based diets.

SOURCE: American College of Cardiology, news release, March 18, 2025