Design, Setting, and
Participants This prospective cohort study of US health care
professionals included 131 342 participants from the Nurses’
Health Study (1980 to end of follow-up on June 1, 2012) and Health
Professionals Follow-up Study (1986 to end of follow-up on January
31, 2012). Animal and plant protein intake was assessed by regularly
updated validated food frequency questionnaires. Data were analyzed
from June 20, 2014, to January 18, 2016.
Main Outcomes and
Measures Hazard ratios (HRs) for all-cause and cause-specific
mortality.
Results Of the
131 342 participants, 85 013 were women (64.7%) and 46 329 were
men (35.3%) (mean [SD] age, 49 [9] years). The median protein intake,
as assessed by percentage of energy, was 14% for animal protein
(5th-95th percentile, 9%-22%) and 4% for plant protein (5th-95th
percentile, 2%-6%). After adjusting for major lifestyle and dietary
risk factors, animal protein intake was not associated with all-cause
mortality (HR, 1.02 per 10% energy increment; 95% CI, 0.98-1.05; P
for trend = .33) but was associated with higher cardiovascular
mortality (HR, 1.08 per 10% energy increment; 95% CI, 1.01-1.16; P
for trend = .04). Plant protein was associated with lower
all-cause mortality (HR, 0.90 per 3% energy increment; 95% CI,
0.86-0.95; P for trend less than .001) and cardiovascular
mortality (HR, 0.88 per 3% energy increment; 95% CI, 0.80-0.97; P for
trend = .007). These associations were confined to participants
with at least 1 unhealthy lifestyle factor based on smoking, heavy
alcohol intake, overweight or obesity, and physical inactivity, but
not evident among those without any of these risk factors. Replacing
animal protein of various origins with plant protein was associated
with lower mortality. In particular, the HRs for all-cause mortality
were 0.66 (95% CI, 0.59-0.75) when 3% of energy from plant protein
was substituted for an equivalent amount of protein from processed
red meat, 0.88 (95% CI, 0.84-0.92) from unprocessed red meat, and
0.81 (95% CI, 0.75-0.88) from egg.
Conclusions and
Relevance High animal protein intake was positively associated with
cardiovascular mortality and high plant protein intake was inversely
associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, especially
among individuals with at least 1 lifestyle risk factor. Substitution
of plant protein for animal protein, especially that from processed
red meat, was associated with lower mortality, suggesting the
importance of protein source.
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