Background
Vegetarian diets may promote weight loss, but evidence remains inconclusive.
Eating no meat or following a vegan diet is beneficial for losing excess weight, according to a Taiwanese meta-study published in the “Journal of General Internal Medicine”. Ina short time Vegans can shed up to 2.5 kg more than meat eaters.
The researchers at E-Da Hospital in Kaohsiung reviewed 12 randomised trials involving 1,151 dieters who followed a specific eating regime for between nine and 74 weeks. They then compared the results of vegetarian diets against dieters following other eating plans.
Overall, individuals assigned to the vegetarian diet groups lost significantly more weight (around two kilogrammes) than dieters who ate meat. Vegan dieters lost even more weight – around 2.5 kilogrammes more than non-vegetarian dieters, while vegetarians lost around 1.5 kilogrammes more than non-vegetarian dieters.
According to lead researcher Ru-Yi Huang, the abundant intake of whole grains, fruits and vegetables might play a role in the favorable results seen in vegetarian diets. Whole-grain products and vegetables generally have low glycemic index values and don’t cause blood sugar levels to spike. Fruits are rich in fiber, antioxidants, minerals and protective chemicals that naturally occur in plants. However, he added that longer term intervention trials are needed to investigate the effect of vegetarian diets on weight control and cardio-metabolic risk.
Conclusions
Vegetarian diets appeared to have significant benefits on weight reduction compared to non-vegetarian diets. Further long-term trials are needed to investigate the effects of vegetarian diets on body weight control.
Huang, R., Huang, C., Hu, F. B., & Chavarro, J. E. (2015). Vegetarian Diets and Weight Reduction: a Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Vegetarian Diets and Weight Reduction: a Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials,7(2015). Journal of Internal Medicine: doi:10.1007/s11606-015-3390-7