Adapting to a vegan diet helps you lose weight: New Study

When it comes to losing weight, a new study claims that people on a vegetarian diet, and especially those following a vegan one, shed kilos faster than others.

Ru-Yi Huang of E-Da Hospital in Taiwan reviewed twelve randomised controlled trials, involving 1,151 dieters who followed a specific eating regime for between nine and 74 weeks, and concluded that the vegan diet could help people lose around two kilogramme more on the short term.

It is the first study to combine the findings from various independent projects that weighed up the results of vegetarian diets against other eating plans. These include the Atkins diet, and ones recommended by the American Diabetes Association or the US National Cholesterol Education Program.

According to Huang, the abundant intake of whole grains, fruits and vegetables might play a role in the favorable results seen in vegetarian diets. Whole-grain products and vegetables generally have low glycemic index values and don't cause blood sugar levels to spike. Fruits are rich in fiber, antioxidants, minerals and protective chemicals that naturally occur in plants. Whole-grain products contain soluble fiber. Such so-called good fiber helps to delay the speed by which food leaves the stomach and ensures good digestion. It also allows enough nutrients to be absorbed while food moves through the intestines. Several studies have reported that fiber consumption helps with weight loss.

The results are published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer.