TABLE 1.
Summary of participants’ demographic and metabolic characteristics
| Characteristic | Value [mean ± SD or no. (%)] for: |
P valuea | q value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetarians (n = 23) | Omnivores (n = 23) | |||
| Age (yr) | 58.83 ± 17.68 | 51.04 ± 4.95 | ||
| <65 | 16 (73.9) | 22 (95.7) | ||
| ≥65 | 6 (26.1) | 1 (4.3) | ||
| Gender | ||||
| Male | 10 (43.5) | 10 (43.5) | ||
| Female | 13 (56.5) | 13 (56.5) | ||
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 23.18 ± 0.56 | 23.52 ± 2.24 | 0.70 | 0.94 |
| Body fat (%) | 29.53 ± 11.67 | 30.47 ± 12.02 | 0.62 | 1.00 |
| Male | 23.46 ± 1.06 | 26.33 ± 0.78 | 0.17 | 1.00 |
| Female | 34.20 ± 4.95 | 36.66 ± 11.88 | 0.76 | 0.92 |
| Blood pressure (mm Hg) | ||||
| Systolic | 124.09 ± 4.95 | 121.39 ± 14.85 | 0.45 | 0.95 |
| Diastolic | 75.17 ± 19.80 | 73.09 ± 9.90 | 0.47 | 0.85 |
| Plasma biochemical datab | ||||
| Fasting blood glucose (mg/dL) | 100.57 ± 12.73 | 95.00 ± 0.71 | 0.21 | 1.00 |
| HbA1c (%) | 5.79 ± 0.71 | 5.48 ± 0.21 | 0.07 | 1.00 |
| Triglyceride (mg/dL) | 119.57 ± 44.55 | 144.22 ± 69.30 | 0.25 | 1.00 |
| Total cholesterol (mg/dL) | 169.22 ± 36.06 | 202.17 ± 28.99 | 0.08* | 0.23 |
| LDL-C (mg/dL) | 107.13 ± 25.46 | 127.17 ± 17.68 | 0.08 | 1.00 |
| AST (IU/L) | 23.61 ± 10.61 | 21.30 ± 3.54 | 0.31 | 0.91 |
| ALT (IU/L) | 27.09 ± 0.71 | 28.87 ± 2.12 | 0.73 | 0.92 |
| BUN (mg/dL) | 9.04 ± 2.12 | 9.43 ± 4.95 | 0.64 | 1.00 |
| Creatinine | 0.80 ± 0.14 | 0.79 ± 0.35 | 0.86 | 0.98 |
| Uric acid (mg/dL) | 4.98 ± 0.71 | 5.07 ± 0.92 | 0.77 | 0.96 |
a
The P value is the comparison between vegetarian and omnivore volunteers using Student’s t test. *, P < 0.05.
b
HbA1c, glycated hemoglobin; LDL-C, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; BUN, blood urea nitrogen.