A vegetarian, vegetable-based diet more effectively reduces fat, helps improve metabolism, and is ideal for people with type 2 diabetes to lose weight. This is the main conclusion of the study carried out by experts from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington DC (USA) and collected in the journal J ournal of the American College of Nutrition.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes and develops because the body does not make or use insulin effectively. Although it can develop at any age, it is more common in older or middle-aged people.
The authors decided to compare the effects of a conventional diabetic diet with those of a vegetarian diet in 74 patients with type 2 diabetes (43% men and 57% women) in relation to glucose control.
They randomly assigned 37 participants to a vegetarian diet and the other 37 to the control group. Both diets had as a guideline the reduction of 500 calories per day and during the time that the study lasted, 6 months, they provided all the necessary meals to the participants of the experiment.
In the vegetarian diet, around 60% of the calories came from carbohydrates, 15% from proteins and 25% from fats (legumes, vegetables, fruits and nuts).
In the conventional diabetic diet, about 50% of the calories were carbohydrates, 20% protein, and no more than 30% fat.
The participants did not have to change their physical activity habits for the first 3 months. After that time they added an aerobic exercise program , performing tests at the beginning, at 3 months and at 6 months with the end of the study.
The results showed that the average weight loss in the vegetarian diet group was 6.2 kilograms, almost twice the average weight loss of the control group. This result occurred even taking into account that both groups took in the same number of calories per day. There was also a difference in subcutaneous fat loss.
“What we found is that a plant-based vegetarian diet is a useful tool for anyone who wants to get serious about staying healthy, especially as we age,” explains Hana Kahleová, leader of the work.
Reference: The Effect of a Vegetarian vs Conventional Hypocaloric Diabetic Diet on Thigh Adipose Tissue Distribution in Subjects with Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Study. June 2017. Journal of the American College of Nutrition dx.doi.org/10.1080/07315724.2017.1302367
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