Whole-Food Plant-Based Diet Helps Nearly Two-Thirds of Type 2 Diabetics Cut Their Medication

A whole-food plant-based diet helped 63% of people with type 2 diabetes who were on medication to cut their glucose-lowering drugs, compared with 24% on standard care, in a new randomised trial. Their HbA1c, the key long-term blood sugar measure, fell by an extra 1.3 percentage points at 12 weeks, and 23% of those starting with an HbA1c under 9% reached remission.

The trial, run by researchers at Loma Linda University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is published in Diabetologia. It randomised 169 adults aged 18 to 75 in the Marshall Islands, which has some of the highest diabetes rates in the world, to 24 weeks of either standard medical care (SMC) or a whole-food plant-based program with moderate exercise, including 12 weeks of provided meals, exercise sessions and group classes. The authors call it the largest and longest trial of its kind. The plant-based group also lost 2.7kg more and cut inflammation and blood pressure medication use.

The authors conclude in the paper:

A whole-food, plant-based lifestyle intervention was more effective for improving glycaemic control than SMC. It also reduced the need for diabetes and cardiovascular medications and induced diabetes remission in some participants.

Anyone with diabetes should change medication only with their doctor, but more beans, whole grains and veg can be on the menu from today.

Our guide to diabetes and plant-based diets covers the background, and a 2018 meta-analysis found vegetarian diets lower blood sugar, cholesterol and weight in people with diabetes.

Fewer pills, more plants. That's progress!