Vegan diet better for weight loss than Mediterranean diet

A vegan diet is more effective for weight loss and cholesterol control than a Mediterranean diet a new study suggestsThe findings published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition indicated that the study participants lost an average of 6 kilograms on the vegan diet compared with no mean change on the Mediterranean dietPrevious studies have suggested that both Mediterranean and vegan diets improve body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors but until now their relative efficacy had not been compared in a randomized trial said researcher Hana Kahleova from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine a nonprofit organization in the USAccording to the researchers a lowfat vegan diet has better outcomes for weight body composition insulin sensitivity and cholesterol levels compared with a Mediterranean dietFor the study the team randomly assigned participants who were overweight and had no history of diabetes to a vegan diet or a Mediterranean diet in a 11 ratioFor 16 weeks half of the participants started with a lowfat vegan diet that eliminated animal products and focused on fruits vegetables whole grains and legumesThe other half started with the Mediterranean diet which followed the PREDIMED protocol which focuses on fruits vegetables legumes fish lowfat dairy and extra virgin olive oil while limiting or avoiding red meat and saturated fatsThe study found that the vegan diet decreased total and LDL cholesterol levels by 187 mgdL and 153 mgdL respectively while there were no significant cholesterol changes on the Mediterranean dietBlood pressure decreased on both diets but more on the Mediterranean diet the researchers saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever