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Plant-Based Diet Protects Against Multiple Chronic Illnesses

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Aug 29, 2025.

FRIDAY, Aug. 29, 2025 — Shifting to a plant-based diet can help keep people from being plagued by multiple health problems as they age, a new study says.

People whose diets included more veggies, fruits, whole grains, legumes and plant-based foods had 32% lower odds of developing two or more chronic illnesses, researchers report in The Lancet Healthy Longevity.

Specifically, people who adhered more strongly to a healthy plant-based diet had a lower risk of cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, researchers said.

“You don’t have to cut out animal products entirely,” lead researcher Reynalda Córdova, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Vienna, said in a news release. “Shifting towards a more plant-based diet can already have a positive impact.”

For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than 400,000 people between 37 and 70 years of age from six European countries who were participating in two large-scale health research projects.

During a follow-up of around 11 years, more than 6,600 participants fell ill with cancer, heart disease or diabetes.

Results showed that a person’s risk for multiple chronic illnesses fell by 11% to 18% for every 10-point increase in a score assessing healthy plant-based eating.

Middle-aged folks younger than 60 got more benefit from shifting toward a plant-based diet, researchers said. Their risk of developing multiple chronic ailments fell 29% for every 10-point increase in their plant-based diet score.

By comparison, seniors 60 and older had 14% lower odds for multiple illnesses for every 10-point increase in their diet score.

“Our study highlights that a healthy, plant-based diet not only influences individual chronic diseases but can also reduce the risk of developing multiple chronic diseases at the same time, in both middle-aged and older people," Córdova said.

A diet consisting mainly of healthy plant foods and small amounts of meat and meat products can contribute to maintaining good health into old age, researchers concluded.

“A higher adherence to a healthy plant-based diet is associated with lower bodyweight, lower inflammation, and better insulin sensitivity than a lower adherence to a healthy plant-based diet, all of which have a role in the development of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer,” researchers wrote in their paper.

These foods also are rich in fiber, which improves immune function and reduces intestinal inflammation, researchers wrote.

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted August 2025

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