Plant protein is the best

Vegan diet achieves effortless weight loss and improved blood sugar control

Type 2 diabetes usually follows obesity, going through several phases – impaired blood sugar control, prediabetes and then the dreaded diagnosis. An original study aimed to investigate the effects of a plant-based diet not just on weight-loss of the participants but also on their blood sugar control.

After four months on a low-fat vegan diet with no calorie restriction, the participants lost weight but, more importantly, their visceral fat (surrounding vital organs) reduced and their blood sugar control improved greatly. The authors ascribed some of the positive effects to the replacement of animal by plant proteins as they contain different – more favourable – proportions of essential amino acids (protein building blocks). And, of course, the reduction in animal fat intake also played a big part in the achieved results.

_{Kahleova H et al., 2018. A plant-based diet in overweight individuals in a 16-week randomized clinical trial: metabolic benefits of plant protein. Nutrition & Diabetes. 8(1): 58.}