Research
Energy balance
Vegetarian and vegan diets are associated with lower body mass index (BMI) and reduced weight gain over time compared to omnivorous diets.
If you want to manage your weight, adopting a plant-based diet can help. Vegetarians and vegans tend to have a lower BMI and gain less weight over time than meat-eaters. Focus on whole plant foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
BMI is on average 1–2 kg/m2 less in vegetarians and vegans compared with age- and gender-matched non-vegetarians
Why this rating
Based on large prospective cohorts (EPIC-Oxford) and RCTs showing greater weight loss with vegan diets.
Source
Vegetarian diets, low-meat diets and health: a review
Claire T. McEvoy et al. · Public Health Nutrition · 2012
DOI 10.1017/s1368980012000936
narrative_reviewCited 314×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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