Among 268 participants, 54.2% were women and 41.4% had weight excess. Stratifying according to dietary pattern, 66 were strict vegetarians, 102 lacto-ovo-vegetarians, and 100 omnivores, and groups did not differ according to male-to-female ratios and age (Table 1). The frequencies of weight excess [26% (95%CI 15–37) versus 38% (95%CI 29–47) versus 55% (95%CI 45–65), pre-diabetes [21% (95%CI 11–31) versus 29% (95%CI 20–38) and 36% (95%CI 27–45)], and hypertension [18% (95%CI 9–27) versus 26% (95%CI 17–34) and 33% (95%CI 24–43)] were higher in the omnivores than in lacto-ovo-vegetarians and strict vegetarians, respectively. The omnivorous group showed higher mean values of anthropometric measurements including percentage of fat mass than the other groups (Table 1). The gradient in fasting plasma glucose across groups did not reach statistical significance, but the insulin and HOMA-IR values?. Also, omnivores had a worse lipid profile. Medians of CRP, LPS, and TNF-α/IL-10 ratio exhibited gradual and significant increase from the strict vegetarians, lacto-ovo-vegetarians to the omnivorous group. …show more content…
Large relative amounts of Firmicutes (40.7 ± 15.9%) and Bacteroidetes (39.5 ± 19.9%) were found, followed by Proteobacteria. According to dietary patterns, the proportion of Firmicutes (Figure 1, panel A) was lower and that of Bacteroidetes was higher in the strict vegetarian group (Figure 1, panel B) when compared to lacto-ovo-vegetarians and