Eating a plant-based diet may help reduce levels of a key inflammation marker in the body, according to new research from the University of Warwick published in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases.
The study is the first systematic review to draw exclusively on randomised controlled trial data when examining the link between plant-based eating and C-reactive protein (CRP), a standard measure of inflammation used to assess cardiovascular risk. Seven eligible trials covering 541 participants were identified from an initial pool of nearly 3,000 studies.
Across all seven trials, plant-based diets, including vegan, vegetarian, and wholefood plant-based patterns, were associated with meaningfully lower CRP levels compared with omnivorous diets.
Lead author Luke Bell said: “We found that consuming a plant-based diet instead of an omnivorous diet reduced CRP levels by 1.13 mg/L on average. CRP is one of the body’s main signals of inflammation, and lower levels generally indicate less background inflammation circulating in the body.”
What the findings mean
Chronic low-grade inflammation is increasingly understood as a driver of age-related conditions including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. Reducing it through diet is an area of growing scientific interest.
Co-author Joshua Gibbs noted that plant-based diets are already associated with improvements in blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, and body weight, and that this research points to inflammation reduction as a further potential benefit. Studies that combined dietary changes with structured exercise showed the largest reductions overall.
Professor Francesco Cappuccio concluded: “Although the results suggest a plausible effect of plant-based food in reducing inflammation, given the paucity of large trials, we should encourage more robust evidence to support these early findings.”
