Scientists from SLUHN Family Medicine Residency–Warren and other institutions have found that plant-based diets may play a major role in preventing obesity and related chronic diseases.
Obesity is widespread in the United States and represents a major public health concern. It is associated with numerous conditions, including certain cancers, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, as well as increased risk of premature death and substantial economic costs.
The obesity epidemic is a major driver of the broader chronic disease epidemic. However, current treatment approaches have shown limited long-term effectiveness.
In the current study, researchers examined the effectiveness of plant-based diets—including vegan, vegetarian, and plant-based whole-food diets—in treating obesity and related cardiometabolic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.
The team reviewed 84 published studies conducted between November 2019 and February 2020.
They found that plant-based diets were generally associated with better weight control and improved cardiometabolic outcomes, including lower cholesterol levels, reduced blood pressure, improved insulin sensitivity, lower HbA1c, reduced fasting blood glucose, and decreased risk of diabetes.
These benefits were often stronger than those seen with typical diets and, in some cases, even greater than results observed with established health-oriented dietary patterns such as those recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA), the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and the Mediterranean diet.
The findings suggest that plant-predominant diets, when practiced as part of comprehensive lifestyle interventions, may help stabilize or even reverse type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Based on these results, the researchers concluded that plant-based diets could play a significant role in addressing the obesity and chronic disease epidemics.
When combined with sustained lifestyle changes, these dietary patterns may halt or potentially reverse conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The researchers emphasized that further studies are needed to confirm and expand upon these findings.
The research was published in Nutrition Reviews and conducted by Alan Remde and colleagues.
