Plant-basedHealth Sustainability

Alpro Foundation is a non-profi t organisation promoting scientifi c research in the fi eld of plant-based nutrition and sustainability.More info on www.alprofoundation.org

Publication 4th quarter 2014

At Alpro Foundation we are passionate about supporting and promoting scientifi c knowledge and research in the areas of plant-based nutrition, its impact on human health and the sustainability of the planet.We have just launched a new website to inform you more regularly with new scientifi c updates and our activities.

The annual student symposia in Northern Ireland, The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany have just taken place in October and November 2014. These annual stu-dent symposia focus on the latest scientifi c evidence for plant-based eating and health and its practical implica-tions. These events are free to attend and an excellent opportunity to hear from leading experts about the emerging science and how this translates to dietary advice. The presentations and pictures of these events can be viewed on www.alprofoundation.org.

Alpro Foundation aims to support academics and re-searchers by funding research to encourage greater un-

derstanding of plant-based nutrition in human health and sustainability. In this new publication we report on the re-sults of three fi nished research grants.

Soy protein intake and the metabolic syndrome

Dr. Marco Mensink, Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.Partly exchanging meat for soya protein is a moderate high-pro-tein diet, could be important in preventing certain aspects of the metabolic syndrome.

The metabolic syndrome is a clustering of (clinical) features associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Major features are a disturbed glucose homeostasis and insulin resist-ance. In recent years, high-protein diets have become increasingly popular as a means to reduce obesity and improve insulin resistance and glucose homeostasis. However, beside the total protein content of the diet, the dietary protein source could be of relevance. In this project the central objective was to elucidate the im-pact of total and plant – in particular soy – protein con-sumption on aspects of the metabolic syndrome.

Dietary Protein Intake and Incidence of Type 2 DiabetesIn a first observational study, the long-term association between total, plant and animal protein intake and type 2 diabetes incidence was investigated, using data of the EPIC InterAct case-cohort study. In total, 12,403 inci-dent type 2 diabetes cases and a stratified subcohort of 16,154 individuals from 8 European countries, with an average follow-up time of 12.0 years were included. Af-ter adjustment for important diabetes risk factors and dietary factors the incidence of type 2 diabetes was high-er in those with high intake of total protein (per 10g:HR 1.06;95%CI 1.02-1.09,P-trend30 kg/m2. Plant protein intake was not as-sociated with type 2 diabetes (per 10g:HR 1.04;95%CI 0.93-1.16,P-trend=0.098). So, a high total and animal protein intake was associated with a modest elevated risk of type 2 diabetes in a large cohort of European adults.

Exchanging soy protein for meat and other protein sourcesAs not only total protein content, but also protein source could be relevant for the metabolic syndrome, subsequently a strictly controlled intervention study investigated the effects of weight-maintaining moder-ate high-protein diet, rich in soy, on insulin sensitivity and other cardio-metabolic risk factors. In this rand-omized cross-over trial of two 4-week diet periods, 15 postmenopausal women with abdominal obesity were included to test diets with 22en % protein, 27en % fat and 50en % carbohydrate. One diet contained protein of mixed origin (mainly meat, dairy and bread), the other diet partly replaced meat for soy meat analogues and soy nuts containing 30g soy protein per day. At the end of both periods an intravenous glucose tolerance test was performed (FSIGT). Compared with the mixed-pro-tein diet, the soy-protein diet resulted in greater insu-lin sensitivity (FSIGT-SI: P=0.048). In addition, after the soy-protein diet total cholesterol was 4% less than af-ter the mixed-protein diet (4.9 + 0.7 vs. 5.1 + 0.6mmol/L, P=0.001) and LDL cholesterol was 9% less (2.9 + 0.7 vs. 3.2 + 0.6mmol/L, P=0.004). So, partly replacing meat by soy in a moderate high-protein diet has clear ad-vantages regarding insulin sensitivity and total and LDL cholesterol.

Role for inflammation?Low-grade inflammation is associated to insulin re-sistance and diabetes. Prior research has found that soy protein can lower CRP. In the intervention study a non-significant decrease in CRP (-60%) was observed by partly replacing meat by soy products. Additional analyses of changes in a set of pro- and anti-inflam-matory cytokines did note reveal any significant effect.

ConclusionsIn view of the rapidly increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, caution in pro-moting iso-energetic diets high in dietary proteins, particularly from animal sources, should be consid-ered. In addition partly exchanging meat for soy protein in a moderate high-protein diet, could be important in preventing certain aspects of the metabolic syndrome.

Publications:• Monique van Nielen, Edith J.M. Feskens, Marco Men-

sink, et al. for the InterAct Consortium. “Dietary Protein Intake and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in Europe: The EPIC-INTERACT Case-Cohort Study”, Diabetes Care. 2014 Jul;37(7):1854-62. doi: 10.2337/dc13-2627. Epub 2014 Apr 10.

• Monique van Nielen, Edith Feskens, Annemarie Riet-man, Els Siebelink and Marco Mensink “Exchanging soy protein for meat and other protein sources alters insulin resistance and blood lipids in postmenopau-sal women with abdominal obesity” , J Nutr. 2014 Sep;144(9):1423-9. doi: 10.3945/jn.114.193706. Epub 2014 Jul 9

Alpro Foundation is a non-profit organisation promoting scientific research in the field of plant-based nutrition and sustainability.More info on www.alprofoundation.org

Isofl avones in breast tissue

Dr. Selin Bolca, Ghent University.The aim of this study was to evalu-ate the effects of soy consumption on the differential activation of es-trogen-responsive genes in breast tissue.

“Phyto-estrogen”, what’s in a name?Phytoestrogens are naturally occuring polyphenolic, non-steroidal plant compounds. More than 300 plant species contain phytoestrogens.Soy is a particularly rich source of the isoflavones genistein and daidzein. Upon soy consumption, isofla-vones reach levels in human breast tissue at which they can compete with 17ß-estradiol for ERß binding. To clarify the effectsin breast tissue , the differential ac-tivation of estrogen-responsive genes between dietary isoflavones, tamoxifen, and combined estrogen-pro-gestogen therapy (EPT) was evaluated in women un-dergoing (contralateral) breast surgery by a controlled dietary intervention trial (n >10 per group).

Following eligibility assessment, healthy volunteers were randomly allocated to soydrink or control group. In addition, women on EPT or taking tamoxifen, and undergoing a (contralateral) breast reduction or cor-rection, were recruited. After a run-in phase without isoflavones (>4d), participants of the soymilk group drank 250 mL soydrink (16.98 mg genistein and 5.40 mg daidzein aglycone eq.) at breakfast, lunch, and din-ner during 5 days preceding surgery. The control, ta-moxifen, and EPT groups were asked to abstain from soy-based products from recruitment until surgery.

First, the intake of and in situ-exposure to isoflavones and estrogens were assessed. Next, the epigenetic reg-ulation and expression of estrogen-responsive genes in glandular breast tissue were studied.

For the epigenomics study, glandular breast DNA-methylomes of the soydrink group were com-pared to those of 10 controls. At a FDR

Alpro Foundation is a non-profit organisation promoting scientific research in the field of plant-based nutrition and sustainability.More info on www.alprofoundation.org

About Alpro Foundation

At Alpro Foundation we are passionate about supporting and promoting scientific knowledge and research in the areas of plant-based nutrition, its impact on human health and the sustainability of the planet.

What we do

• Organizing conferences and student symposia on emerging science in relation to plant-based nutrition;

• Funding research to encourage greater understanding of plant-based nutrition in human health by awarding Alpro Foundation Research Grants to academics;

• Giving prestigious awards to young scientists for a paper relating to the impact of plant-based eating on health or the environment

• Providing topical, scientific updates on plant-based nutrition and sustainability.

Scientific Advisory Committee

The Scientific Advisory Committee is an international group of experts in the field of nutrition.

Prof Anna Arnoldi (Milan), Prof Peter Clarys (VUBrussels), Prof Stefaan De Henauw (UGent), Dr André Franck (Ant-werp), Prof Helmut Heseker (Parderborn), Prof Sander Ker-sten (Wageningen), Prof Ian Rowland (Reading), Prof Cesare Sirtori (Milan), Prof Greet Vansant (KULeuven), Prof Kurt Widhalm (Vienna)

Main findings and concluding remarks• Over the two weeks, subjects lost similar amounts

of weight, on average 2.41 and 2.27 kg on the high-soy-protein weight loss and meat based high-protein weight loss diets respectively, with similar reduction in fat-mass and preservation of fat-free mass

• The high-soy-protein weight loss diet had a similar impact on appetite and motivation to eat as the meat based high-protein weight loss diet.

• Blood biomarkers improved with weight loss for both high protein diets (plasma cholesterol, (LDL), (HDL), triglycerides and glucose)

• There was a greater reduction in total cholesterol with the plant based diet for cholesterol and LDL choles-

terol. This finding could be attributed to the compo-sition of soy-based meals, (i.e. fibre, phytochemicals, and other micro- and macronutrients).

• Since appetite control and weight loss was similar in both weight loss diets, plant-based high-protein diet could be a healthier alternative to meat based high-pro-tein weight loss diets, achieving desired results .

PublicationNeascu M, Fyfe C, Horgan G, Johnstone AM. Appetite con-trol and biomarkers of satiety with vegetarian (soy) and meat-based high-protein diets for weight loss in obese men: a randomized crossover trial. Am J Clin. Nutr. 2014 Jun 18; 100(2):548-558.