A new study has found that following a low-fat vegan diet can significantly reduce the body’s acid levels and help people lose weight, compared to a Mediterranean diet. The study was conducted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and published in Frontiers in Nutrition.
Researchers discovered that replacing animal products like meat, eggs, and dairy with plant-based foods led to lower dietary acid load and noticeable weight loss.
The study included 62 adults who were overweight. Each person followed either a Mediterranean diet or a low-fat vegan diet for 16 weeks. After a four-week break, participants switched diets and followed the alternate one for another 16 weeks.
Researchers tracked their eating habits and used these records to measure something called dietary acid load—essentially, how acidic or alkaline their diet was. This was calculated using two common scientific scores: Potential Renal Acid Load (PRAL) and Net Endogenous Acid Production (NEAP). Higher scores mean more acid is being produced in the body from the food we eat.
Animal-based foods like red meat, fish, cheese, and eggs increase the amount of acid in the body. Too much acid can lead to chronic inflammation, which is linked to weight gain and problems with metabolism. In contrast, plant-based foods are more alkaline, which helps lower acid levels and can improve overall health.
The results showed that both PRAL and NEAP scores dropped significantly for those on the low-fat vegan diet. Meanwhile, there was no meaningful change in acid scores for those following the Mediterranean diet. Even more striking, people lost an average of 13.2 pounds on the vegan diet, while there was no weight change on the Mediterranean diet.
Dr. Hana Kahleova, the lead author of the study and director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee, said, “Eating acid-producing foods like meat, eggs, and dairy can increase inflammation, which is tied to weight gain. But switching to plant-based foods like leafy greens, legumes, and berries can lower inflammation and help people lose weight.”
The link between reduced acid load and weight loss remained strong even when researchers accounted for how much food participants were eating, showing that it wasn’t just about calories. The type of food mattered too.
Vegan diets are rich in alkalizing foods that help balance the body’s pH levels. These include vegetables (like spinach, broccoli, cabbage, and carrots), fruits (such as apples, cherries, and berries), legumes (like lentils, beans, and chickpeas), and grains (like quinoa and millet).
These foods not only help reduce acid levels but also support a healthier gut and improve insulin sensitivity and blood pressure.
This study adds to growing evidence that low-fat, plant-based diets may be more effective than other popular diets in promoting weight loss and improving overall health. It also suggests that looking at the acid or alkaline effects of foods could be an important factor in managing weight and preventing chronic diseases.
In summary, switching to a low-fat vegan diet can help reduce harmful acidity in the body and support healthy, lasting weight loss—even more so than the widely praised Mediterranean diet.
If you care about weight loss, please read studies that hop extract could reduce belly fat in overweight people, and early time-restricted eating could help lose weight .
For more health information, please see recent studies that Mediterranean diet can reduce belly fat much better, and Keto diet could help control body weight and blood sugar in diabetes.
The research findings can be found in Frontiers in Nutrition.
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