Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Aug 13;64(6):254.
doi: 10.1007/s00394-025-03746-2.

Protein intake and cardiovascular diseases: an umbrella review of systematic reviews for the evidence-based guideline on protein intake of the German Nutrition Society

Sarah Egert  1 , Anna M Amini  2 , Lea Klug  1 , Nicole Kalotai  2 , Julia Haardt  2 , Heiner Boeing  3 , Anette E Buyken  4 , Anja Kroke  5 , Stefan Lorkowski  6 , Sandrine Louis  7 , Katharina Nimptsch  8 , Matthias B Schulze  9   10 , Lukas Schwingshackl  11 , Roswitha Siener  12 , Gabriele I Stangl  13 , Armin Zittermann  14 , Bernhard Watzl  2 , Sabine Ellinger  15 ; German Nutrition Society
Affiliations
Review

Protein intake and cardiovascular diseases: an umbrella review of systematic reviews for the evidence-based guideline on protein intake of the German Nutrition Society

Sarah Egert et al. Eur J Nutr. .

Abstract

Purpose: This umbrella review aimed to investigate the evidence for an association of dietary intake of total protein as well as animal and plant protein with the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and total cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

Methods: PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Database were systematically searched for systematic reviews (SRs) of prospective studies with or without meta-analysis (MA) published between January 2012 and April 2024. Methodological quality, outcome-specific certainty of evidence, and overall certainty of evidence were assessed using established tools and predefined criteria.

Results: Ten SRs were considered eligible for the umbrella review; all were based on prospective cohort studies, and six conducted a MA. Dietary intakes of total, animal and plant protein were not associated with the risk of CHD or stroke. For CHD, the overall certainty of evidence for the absence of an association was "probable" for total, animal and plant protein. For stroke and total CVD, the overall certainty of evidence was rated as "possible" for the absence of an association with the intake of total protein and plant protein and insufficient for animal protein intake.

Conclusion: Given that most SRs on dietary protein intake did not indicate an association, it seems that protein intake plays no major role in the development of CVD. This investigation was registered at PROSPERO as CRD42018082395.

Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Coronary heart disease; Protein intake; Stroke; Umbrella review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: A list of any possible conflicts of interest is provided in Supplementary Material 8.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Alonso-Coello P, Schünemann HJ, Moberg J et al (2016) GRADE Evidence to decision (EtD) frameworks: a systematic and transparent approach to making well informed healthcare choices. 1: Introduction. BMJ 353:i2016. 10.1136/bmj.i2016 - PubMed
    1. Althnaibat RM, Bruce HL, Wu J, Ganzle MG (2024) Bioactive peptides in hydrolysates of bovine and camel milk proteins: A review of studies on peptides that reduce blood pressure, improve glucose homeostasis, and inhibit pathogen adhesion. Food Res Int 175:113748. 10.1016/j.foodres.2023.113748 - PubMed
    1. Anand SK, Governale TA, Zhang X, Razani B, Yurdagul A Jr, Pattillo CB, Rom O (2024) Amino acid metabolism and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Am J Pathol 194(4):510–524. 10.1016/j.ajpath.2023.12.006 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Boeing H, Amini AM, Haardt J, Schmidt A, Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Buyken AE, Egert S, Ellinger S, Kroke A, Lorkowski S, Louish S, Nimptsch K, Schulze MB, Schutkowski A, Schwingshackl L, Siener R, Zittermann A, Watzl B, Stangl GI, Society obotGN (2023) Dietary protein and blood pressure: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and evaluation of the evidence. Eur J Nutr 63:1041 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Boushey C, Ard J, Bazzano L, Heymsfield S, Mayer-Davis S, Sabaté J, Snetselaar L, Van Horn L, Schneeman B, English LK, Bates M, Callahan E, Butera G, Terry N, Obbagy J (2020) Dietary patterns and risk of cardiovascular disease: a systematic review. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review. Available at: 10.52570/NESR.DGAC2020.SR0102

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources