There are many reasons to avoid animal foods such as milk, eggs, meat and fish, and recently, researchers from Copenhagen have investigated how healthy it is to follow a purely plant-based diet.
Veganism is booming: more and more people are giving up animal products. In Austria, 106,000 people follow a plant-based diet (11 percent are vegetarians and 30 percent consider themselves flexitarians); in Switzerland, 0.6 percent of the population, and in Germany, 3.2 percent of the population follow a purely plant-based diet. The reasons for this conscious change of diet are manifold and range from moral aspects to questions of sustainability and environmental protection to health reasons.
A few months after the dietary change, the benefits of vegan nutrition become apparent, according to the results of a current study at the Steno Diabetes Center in Copenhagen, which Anne-Ditte Termannsen recently presented at the European Congress on Obesity. The scientists found that avoiding animal products improved blood sugar levels and helped with weight loss.
The Danish researchers analysed data from eleven studies involving 796 people suffering from obesity or type 2 diabetes. One group of participants abstained from animal products for twelve weeks, one group changed their diet to a Mediterranean diet, and a control group kept their usual eating habits.
The participants in the study who ate a purely plant-based diet improved their blood sugar and cholesterol levels and lost an average of four kilograms.
Since vegan meals usually contain less fat but significantly more dietary fibre than meals that include animal products, vegans feel full more quickly despite eating fewer calories. The improved blood sugar level could also be due to the high fibre content. In addition to the feeling of satiety, dietary fibre also influences nutrient absorption and promotes the biodiversity of our microbiome.
»This assessment of the best studies available to date suggests that adherence to a vegan diet for at least twelve weeks may result in clinically significant weight loss and improvement in blood glucose levels,« said Anne-Ditte Termannsen, lead author of the study and a PhD student at the Steno Diabetes Center.
According to a survey by nu3, vegans have the best sex: a proud 72 percent are (very) satisfied with their sex life, and 82 percent of vegans feel better overall than ever before.
According to the Washington Post, British researchers’ analysis of four long-term studies from 1999, published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that abstaining from animal products is good for the heart. Data analysis from more than 66,000 subjects indicated far lower mortality due to heart disease. According to the WHO, a plant-based diet increases life expectancy, as meat consumption increases the risk of cancer.
However, a study by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) showed that vegans had inferior bone health. Therefore, when abstaining from animal products, it is essential to ensure a balanced nutrient intake, and B vitamins must also be provided.
