Dietary intake of total, animal and plant proteins and the risk of coronary heart disease and hypertension: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.
Level 1 - systematic review of randomized trials
Systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.
PubMed 33131293 · doi:10.1080/10408398.2020.1841730
What was done
Systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies searching PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and Google Scholar up to April 2020. The authors evaluated associations between consumption of dietary total, animal, and plant protein and the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and hypertension (HTN) in general adult populations. Pooled relative risks (RR) were calculated using random-effects models, and dose-response relationships were evaluated using restricted cubic splines.
What was found
Thirteen prospective cohort studies comprising 547,303 participants (11,590 CHD cases and 5,620 HTN cases) were included: - Dietary total protein intake was not significantly associated with total CHD risk (RR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.90–1.05) or HTN risk (RR: 1.01; 95% CI: 0.90–1.14). - Plant and animal protein intakes were also not significantly related to CHD or HTN risk (numerical estimates not reported in the abstract). - Dose-response analysis demonstrated no significant change in CHD or HTN risk as total protein intake ranged from 10% to 25% of total energy intake.
Why it matters
This meta-analysis consolidates prospective observational evidence showing that neither protein quantity (within standard intake ranges) nor protein source is associated with coronary heart disease or hypertension risk in adults.
Limits
Analysis is restricted to observational prospective cohorts, which are subject to residual confounding and exposure misclassification from dietary assessment methods. The abstract omits numerical point estimates and confidence intervals for plant and animal protein subgroups, as well as measures of study heterogeneity.
Cited by
- contradicts Diets with high protein intake, particularly from animal sources, promote atherosclerosis and induce systemic inflammation.