Vegan Diet Increases Weight Loss and Insulin Sensitivity
A low-fat, plant-based diet is more effective at helping women
lose weight and improve insulin sensitivity than a low-fat omnivorous
diet, shows a new study appearing in the September issue of The
American Journal of Medicine. The study, involving 59 overweight,
postmenopausal women, was conducted by PCRM president Neal Barnard,
M.D., with colleagues from Georgetown University Hospital and George
Washington University. Half the study participants followed a vegan
diet; the other half followed a control diet based on National
Cholesterol Education Program guidelines.
Those in the vegan group lost about one pound a week—about the same amount
most low-calorie dieters can expect—and twice as much as the control
group. But the vegan group didn’t have to limit calories, portions, or
carbohydrates.
Although most of the weight loss is apparently due to the naturally
low calorie content of a plant-based diet, the study also showed
that vegan dieters increased their after-meal calorie burn. Investigators
measured each participant’s calorie-burning speed by measuring
how much oxygen she consumed minute by minute, and how much carbon
dioxide she exhaled while at rest. Then, each woman drank a liquid
meal, and her calorie-burning speed was measured over the next
three hours. After 14 weeks on the vegan diet, the women had a
noticeable jump in their after-meal burn, while those in the control
group had no significant change.
Researchers also noted that the vegan diet improved the dieters’ insulin
sensitivity, meaning their cells were able to pull glucose out of their bloodstream
more quickly. This result suggests that a vegan diet may help in managing diabetes,
the subject of PCRM’s newest study, whose initial results were presented
this summer at the American Diabetes Association’s 65th Scientific Sessions
in San Diego and the American Association of Diabetes Educators in Washington,
D.C.
PCRM Online,
September 2005
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