Animal vs. Plant Protein, Adiposity, Persistent Organic Pollutants and Endocrine Disruption

Intake of vegetable protein is negatively correlated with waist circumference and BMI. In contrast, intake of animal protein is positively correlated with waist circumference and BMI, at least in Belgians. There are a lot of questions to raise with this including the possibility that people who eat less animal protein consume less animal fat which can be a rich source of bioactive, lipophilic contaminants which may also be endocrine disruptors that increase adiposity or alter blood lipids. Note Ruzzin et. al.'s April 2010 paper "Persistent Organic Pollutant Exposure Leads to Insulin Resistance Syndrome." (Very nice work! Congratulations to all authors.) Also possible that people who eat a lot of vegetable protein also eat fewer calories, are less sedentary etc. There is also the argument that lean, grass-fed animals (happy cattle, miserable chickens) would eliminate this vulnerability in meat eaters. That would be an interesting study. BMI and blood lipid profiles in matched cohorts of grass-fed/organic animal protein eaters vs. regular grocery store consumers. Anyone . . . ?


Ruzzin J, Petersen R, Meugnier E, Madsen L, Lock EJ, Lillefosse H, Ma T, Pesenti S, Sonne SB, Marstrand TT, Malde MK, Du ZY, Chavey C, Fajas L, Lundebye AK, Brand CL, Vidal H, Kristiansen K, & Frøyland L (2010). Persistent organic pollutant exposure leads to insulin resistance syndrome. Environmental health perspectives, 118 (4), 465-71 PMID: 20064776

Lin, Y., Bolca, S., Vandevijvere, S., De Vriese, S., Mouratidou, T., De Neve, M., Polet, A., Van Oyen, H., Van Camp, J., De Backer, G., De Henauw, S., & Huybrechts, I. (2010). Plant and animal protein intake and its association with overweight and obesity among the Belgian population British Journal of Nutrition, 1-11 DOI: 10.1017/S0007114510004642