Plant-Based Diet May Improve Heart Health, Lower Cancer Risk

• Recent research suggests that a plant-based diet may help lower the risk of prostate cancer and heart disease.
• Other studies have shown that the Portfolio diet may help reduce the risk of death from heart disease.
• A new study found that following a plant-forward diet may help reduce the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

A plant-based diet focuses on foods that are primarily from plants. This is more than just fruits and vegetables; it includes nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, and oils.

Plant-based diets don’t necessarily mean you can’t ever eat meat or dairy. Following these eating patterns simply means you choose more foods derived from plant sources.

Research has shown that adhering to plant-based or plant-forward diets may have various health benefits.

A 2024 review found that following a vegetarian or vegan diet may help reduce the risk of ischemic heart disease, prostate cancer, and gastrointestinal cancer.

Here’s what you need to know about the health benefits of plant-based and plant-forward diets.

The findings also suggest this eating pattern could help improve cardiometabolic risk factors, such as:

The researchers reviewed 48 studies spanning 23 years. When they compiled the data, they found a strong association between vegan and vegetarian diets and cardiometabolic risk factors.

However, the review’s findings had limitations, including variations in diet, patient demographics, and study length.

While this review focused on vegetarian and vegan diets, some experts caution that these diets may not be the best way to eat a plant-based diet.

“Research shows that vegan and vegetarian diets are often deficient in essential fatty acids — such as EPA and DHA— Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, and iodine. These are all important nutrients for human health,” said Faith Krisht, a registered dietitian nutritionist, who was not involved in the review.

Krisht told Healthline that a flexitarian diet may be a better option for following a plant-based eating plan, as it can help you get all the vital nutrients you need.

A flexitarian diet emphasizes plant-based proteins while occasionally adding animal-based proteins.

A 2025 study found that the Portfolio diet helps lower cardiovascular disease risk, including stroke and heart disease.

The researchers found that moderate adherence to the Portfolio diet could decrease the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 12% and coronary heart disease by 14%.

Moderate adherence also lowered overall mortality by 12%.

However, the study also found that the closer a person adhered to the diet, the greater the increase in those numbers.

For cardiovascular disease, the risk of death decreased by 16% for those who followed the diet the closest compared to those who adhered the least, and for coronary heart disease by 18%. Overall mortality dropped by 14%.

The Portfolio diet gets its name because it calls for substituting foods already in your diet with those from a “portfolio” of cholesterol-lowering ingredients that fall into four categories:

• Soy/plant proteins: These help to displace saturated fat, while also helping to lower cholesterol.
• Plant Sterols: These block cholesterol absorption.
• Tree nuts: These provide heart-healthy unsaturated fats.
• Soluble fiber: It binds and removes bile and cholesterol.

Erin Sheenan, a cardiovascular dietitian at Wellstar, told Healthline the combination of ingredients included in the Portfolio diet create an “additive” effect in lowering cholesterol. Sheenan wasn’t involved in the study.

“When it comes to looking specifically at lowering (bad) LDL cholesterol, that’s where the portfolio diet really shines,” she said.

“What we’re doing with this diet is combining a whole bunch of these foods to compound on top of each other and maximize that LDL-lowering effect.”

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects about 10% of the global population, according to 2022 information. It’s estimated to become the fifth leading cause of death worldwide by 2040.

A recent study found that following the EAT-Lancet planetary diet was associated with a reduced risk of CKD.

“These findings aren’t surprising given the well-established benefits of nuts, vegetables, and legumes for kidney health,” said Michelle Routhenstein, a preventive cardiovascular dietitian at Entirely Nourished, who was not involved in the study.

“These foods provide fiber, potassium, magnesium, antioxidants, and plant compounds that help reduce inflammation, oxidative stress, and excess acid load in the diet, all of which can strain the kidneys over time,” she told Healthline.

This study was based on the UK Biobank. It involved 179,508 eligible participants ages 40 to 69 from England, Scotland, and Wales. The dietary information was collected through a questionnaire. Over the median follow-up of 12 years, 2.7% of participants developed CKD.

“Greater adherence to the EAT–Lancet planetary health diet was significantly associated with a reduced risk of incident CKD,” study co-author Xianhui Qin, MD, of Nanfang Hospital and Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, said in a press release.

“This protective association was particularly evident among individuals with low residential green space exposure and specific genetic variants,” Qin continued.

The EAT-Lancet planetary health diet stands out from other plant-based diets by encompassing both human health and environmental sustainability. It emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and legumes, as well as some meat and dairy, and limits added fats and sugars.

“A plant-forward, minimally processed diet helps keep blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar in a healthy range, which is critical since hypertension and diabetes are the leading causes of kidney damage,” Routhenstein said.

“Better control of these factors lowers pressure inside the kidneys’ filtering units and slows the wear and tear that can lead to chronic kidney disease. This way of eating also supports healthier blood flow and lowers inflammation, helping the kidneys filter waste more efficiently over time,” Routhenstein concluded.