HRV and BIA in healthy young vegetarian people

.The Western diet is one of the leading causes of the increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome and intractable diseases. For these reasons, there has been increased interest in vegetarian diets. A number of studies have been conducted on long-term vegetarian dietary habits, and several studies have reported that a long-term vegetarian diet reduces death rate, helps regulate diabetes, and reduces the incidence and mortality associated with vascular disease. The term “vegetarian diet” is rather generic, because it actually refers to four types of diet: semi-vegetarian which excludes meat intake; lacto-ovo-vegetarian excludes meat and seafood; lacto-vegetarian excludes meat, seafood, and eggs, except milk and dairy products; and vegan excludes all foods of animal origin. Thus, vegan diet is probably the “true” vegetarian diet. vegetarian diets may play a beneficial role in promoting health and preventing obesity. However, there are conflicting results in the literature on HRV and body composition in people taking an omnivorous diet and those who take a vegetarian diet. The aim of our study is to evaluate the HRV with linear and non linear methods and the body composition analyzed by bioimpedentiometric method (BIA). We enrolled 17 young man: 9 on free diet (age 27±0.85 years) and 8 vegetarian/vegan (age 30±1.53 years) who have been following this diet for a minimum of six months. We did not include people with the following conditions: Body mass index (BMI) >25 kg/m2; smokers, systolic and or diastolic blood pressure >140/90 mmHg (at rest); cardiac diseases; sportsman. Data collection was performed, between 11 and 14 AM, at a room temperature between 21°C and 25°C. Volunteers were instructed not to ingest alcohol and caffeine for 24 h prior to evaluation. Protocol: After 10 rest minutes we recorded a ECG for 5 minutes. Using dedicated software (Cardiolab – Xai Medica) we analysed the HRV indexes in the time and frequency domain; with the Kubios software we analysed the non linear indexes (Poincaré plot and Detrended Fluctuation analysis – DFA). The second step was the measurement of body composition with bioimpedentiometry (Akern). Standard statistical methods. We used the T-test. Differences was considered significant when the probability of a Type I error was less than 5% (P < 0.05). We used the software SigmaStat 3.5. Data are expressed as mean ± ESM. Results: We reported only the data in which there is a significant difference between the control and the vegetarian group. HRV: LF (nu) 53.23 ± 5.36 vs 69.91 ± 5.47; HF 46.71 ± 5.35 vs 26.44 ± 4.82; LF/HF 1.46 ± 0.38 vs 5.02 ± 2.12; Poincarè Plot: SD2/SD1 1.84 ± 0.14 vs 2.38 ± 0.39; DFA: α1 1.00 ± 0.06 vs α1 1.21 ± 0.10. BIA: ICW 57.60 ± 0.73 vs 54.98 ± 0.54; ECW 42.44 ± 0.73 vs 45.06 ± 0.55; BCM 57.38 ± 0.82 vs 54.60 ± 0.57. In the frequency domain our data shows that there is a significant difference in the LF/HF in vegetarians when compared to control subjects. This fact is due to both a significant increase in LF and a significant decrease in HF oscillatory components. These data indicate an increase of sympathetic modulation to sinus node confirmed also by the non linear analysis of HRV. In fact the Poincarè plot SD2/SD1 ratio is significantly higher, and a significant increase of alpha1 index, using the DFA in the vegetarian people was noticed. That condition is a charming feedback in the data of the bioimpedentiometry. In vegetarian subjects we observed a significant ECW increase and concomitant significant ICW decrease, confirmed by the BCM (body cell mass), higher in the control group. We propose to measure the inflammatory cytokines involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases like reactive C protein, IL-6, TNF-alfa, IL-1 beta, IL17beta. These cytokines will be measured on frozen serum, withdrawn from enrolled subjects in this study.