There were two studies published in the Public Library of Science (PLOS) journals this month that found benefits for eating more plant-based foods and reducing the amount of animal food in the diet.
In the first study, researchers in Korea randomized participants who had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes to either a vegan diet (excluding all animal-based food including fish) or a conventional diet recommended by the Korean Diabetes Association 2011:
Effect Of A Brown Rice Based Vegan Diet And Conventional Diabetic Diet On Glycemic Control Of Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A 12-week Randomized Clinical Trial, PLOS ONE, 2 June 2016
The vegan group followed a diet consisting of whole grains, vegetables, fruit, and legumes. They were instructed to avoid all animal food products including meat, poultry, fish, dairy, and eggs. They had no restriction on calories.
The conventional diet group were told to limit their calories and to consume a diet consisting of 50–60% carbohydrate, 15–20% protein, less than 25% fat, less than 7% saturated fat, minimal trans-fat, and less than 200 mg/day cholesterol.
After 12 weeks, those who followed the vegan diet had greater reductions in HbA1c and fasting glucose. They also lost more weight and reduced their waist circumference compared to those following the conventional diabetes diet.
Conclusion: Both diets led to reductions in HbA1c levels; however, glycemic control was better with the vegan diet than with the conventional diet. Thus, the dietary guidelines for patients with T2D should include a vegan diet for the better management and treatment.
In the second study, researchers from Harvard analyzed the diets of over 200,000 participants of the Nurses’ Health Studies 1 and 2 and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study:
Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes in US Men and Women: Results from Three Prospective Cohort Studies, PLOS Medicine, 14 June 2016
Those who consumed the most plant-based foods including whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes lowered their risk for developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who consumed more animal products such as dairy food, eggs, and meat (including poultry and seafood).
The researchers attribute the benefit of a plant-based diet to its dietary fiber, antioxidants, unsaturated fatty acids, and micronutrients such as magnesium, as well as its low levels of saturated fat. They also suggest that a plant-based diet may benefit the gut microbiome.
Conclusions: Our study suggests that plant-based diets, especially when rich in high-quality plant foods, are associated with substantially lower risk of developing T2D. This supports current recommendations to shift to diets rich in healthy plant foods, with lower intake of less healthy plant and animal foods.
The study’s senior author, Frank Hu, from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health said:
“A shift to a dietary pattern higher in healthful plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and lower in animal-based foods, especially red and processed meats, can confer substantial health benefits in reducing risk of type 2 diabetes.”