Impact of Vegan Diet upon Premature Aging, Metabolic Syndrome and Health

Objective: The efficiency of the vegetarian diet on the health state highlighted through the monitoring of the biochemical parameters to persons of different ages and therapeutic approach variants in the treatment of the metabolic syndrome and premature aging. Material and method: The patient group consisting of 150 patients diagnosed with metabolic syndrome has followed a vegetarian diet (approximately 2100 calories/day), designed to prevent and fight the cholesterol level in the serum, the level of glucose in the serum and the level of uric acid in the serum. The group was subjected to an intensive program that has included, besides the vegetarian diet and physical activity (physical therapy), an anti-stress program, a smoke-quitting program, weight controlling, blood pressure management, diabetes management, psychological counseling and group therapy. Results: The patient group which has taken part into the study has followed a vegetarian diet which included 65% carbohydrates, mostly complex, 52.4 g dietary fibers, ≤ 23% lipids with a 2.24/1 ratio between polyunsaturated fats and saturated fats; 3.8 mg essential linoleic fatty acid and 0 mg cholesterol and 15% proteins, with an intake of 2100 calories/day. This diet has been designed taking into consideration the recommendations of the American Dietetic Association, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Diabetes Association, which recommend that the total energy intake should consist of 45-65% carbohydrates, 20-35% lipids and 10-35% proteins. Conclusions: We could identify a series of major factors in the people’s lifestyle which are important for maintaining a good health state, but diet and physical activity are ranking on the first two places. 10 days after the start of the therapies we have observed the following: the level of total serum cholesterol has decreased in average by 41.21 mg/dL; serum triglycerides dropped in average with 72.86 mg/dL; LDL cholesterol dropped with 26.24 mg/dL in average; Glycemia dropped by 30.4mg/dL in average; body mass dropped by 2.99 kg in average; systolic blood pressure dropped by 10.82 mmHg in average, and the diastolic blood pressure dropped by 6.44 mmHg in average. In conclusion, through the results of this study, we can say that the total vegetarian diet has a positive impact on patients with metabolic syndrome in particular, but also on the human health and on the premature aging in general.