Plant and Animal-Based Dietary Patterns and Cardiometabolic Diseases in the Brazilian Population: Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Brazilian National Health Survey.

Background: Brazil's dietary patterns and significant socioeconomic and geographic diversity present unique challenges for the prevention of cardiometabolic diseases. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed data from a nationwide representative survey to understand how dietary patterns related to cardiometabolic diseases. We classified the dietary pattern of participants as whole plant-based, processed plant-based, and animal-based. Then, they were categorized into high, intermediate, and low consumption. Logistic regression analysis was used to test the prevalence of obesity, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, stroke, and heart diseases according to the level of intake of each of the three dietary patterns. Results: Compared to the low intake of a whole plant-based dietary pattern, a high intake was associated with a lower prevalence of obesity (OR 0.64; 95% CI 0.54, 0.75) and hypercholesterolemia (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.56, 0.85). A processed plant-based dietary pattern (including items such as soda and sweets) was inversely associated with the prevalence of obesity (OR 0.90; 95% CI 0.83, 0.97), hypertension (OR 0.82; 95% CI 0.76, 0.88), hypercholesterolemia (OR 0.81; 95% CI 0.74, 0.88), and diabetes (OR 0.53; 95% CI 0.48, 0.59). A high intake of animal-based dietary patterns was associated with a lower prevalence of heart diseases (OR: 0.60; 95% CI 0.40, 0.90). Conclusions: In this cross-sectional analysis, greater adherence to specific dietary patterns was associated with differences in the prevalence of cardiometabolic conditions. However, causality cannot be established, and longitudinal studies are warranted to confirm these findings.