Mixed
Adhering to a vegan diet for at least 12 weeks significantly reduces body weight, BMI, HbA1c, total cholesterol, and LDL-C in individuals with overweight or type 2 diabetes compared to control diets.
If you have overweight or type 2 diabetes, switching to a vegan diet for at least 12 weeks can lead to meaningful weight loss and improved blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Most studies used low-fat vegan diets and provided B12 supplements. You do not necessarily need to count calories, as some studies were ad libitum, but energy intake was often lower. Ensure you get B12 supplementation.
In comparison with control diets, vegan diets reduced body weight ((cid:1)4.1 kg, 95% confidence interval (CI) (cid:1)5.9 to (cid:1)2.4, p < 0.001), body mass index (BMI) ((cid:1)1.38 kg/m2, 95% CI (cid:1)1.96 to (cid:1)0.80, p < 0.001), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) ((cid:1)0.18% points, 95% CI (cid:1)0.29 to (cid:1)0.07, p = 0.002), total cholesterol ((cid:1)0.30 mmol/L, 95% CI (cid:1)0.52 to (cid:1)0.08, p = 0.007), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ((cid:1)0.24 mmol/L, 95% CI (cid:1)0.40 to (cid:1)0.07, p = 0.005).
Why this rating
Based on 11 RCTs with moderate certainty (GRADE) for weight/BMI/HbA1c and low for lipids, though heterogeneity was high.
Source
Effects of vegan diets on cardiometabolic health: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials
Anne‐Ditte Termannsen et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2022
DOI 10.1111/obr.13462
More from this paper
- Vegan diets do not significantly affect blood pressure, HDL-C, or triglycerides compared to control diets in individuals with overweight or type 2 diabetes.Good
- The magnitude of weight loss and HbA1c reduction is greater when vegan diets are compared to habitual (passive) control diets rather than other active dietary interventions.Good
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