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Overweight adults who followed a low-fat vegan diet lost 5.9 kg in 16 weeks, cut their liver fat by 34% and improved their insulin sensitivity, a randomised trial finds. The control group, who made no diet changes, saw none of these improvements.
Researchers from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Yale School of Medicine, led by Dr. Hana Kahleova, randomly assigned 244 adults in Washington, DC, to a low-fat vegan diet or no change. The results are published in JAMA Network Open. Dr. Kahleova is director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee, a non-profit that promotes plant-based diets.
The vegan group's after-meal calorie burn rose by 14%, and in a subgroup of 44 people the fat stored inside muscle cells fell by 10%. In the Physicians Committee press release, Dr. Kahleova said:
When fat builds up in liver and muscle cells, it interferes with insulin's ability to move glucose out from the bloodstream and into the cells. After just 16 weeks on a low-fat, plant-based diet, study participants reduced the fat in their cells and lowered their chances for developing type 2 diabetes.
Fruit, vegetables, whole grains and beans made up the menu.
It confirms the team's earlier trial in which a vegan diet beat a control diet for weight and fat loss, and last year's review finding plant-based diets improve weight, metabolism and inflammation.
Lighter, leaner and better at handling sugar, in just four months.