Plant protein substitution for animal protein and its association with cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory biomarkers in elderly men: A substitution analysis

BACKGROUND: Substituting different types of protein intake may be associated with cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory biomarkers. However, there are few studies conducted on elders and the findings are contradictory. OBJECTIVE: We decided to examine the association of substituting plant protein for animal protein with cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory biomarkers among elderly men. METHOD: The current cross-sectional study included 357 elderly men chosen from health centres in southern Tehran, Iran. They provide written consent to be included in the study. We used a validated and reliable food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to assess dietary intake. All biochemical factors like lipid profile, fasting blood sugar (FBS), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin 6 (IL6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were measured. Waist circumference (WC) and blood pressure (BP) were also assessed. The substitution analysis by STATA was used to examine the aforementioned association. RESULTS: Substituting animal protein with plant protein had significant beneficial association with WC (OR: –4.28; 95% CI: –8.51, –0.62; Ptrend = 0.047) and LDL/HDL (OR: –0.26; 95% CI: –0.48, –0.05; Ptrend = 0.018). CONCLUSION: In elderly men, substituting animal protein with plant protein had favorable association with some of cardiovascular risk factors including WC and LDL/HDL but there was no significant association for inflammatory biomarkers.