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New research has indi­cated that fol­low­ing a pro-veg­e­tar­ian diet, rich in plant foods while low in ani­mal foods, can reduce the risk of obe­sity by almost half. This eat­ing plan includes whole grains, fruits, veg­eta­bles and olive oil, all of which are com­po­nents of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet).

As this approach to weight loss doesn’t require count­ing calo­ries or self-depri­va­tion, it has long-term sus­tain­abil­ity. Instead of being a sys­tem that involves gim­micks, pills or potions, the MedDiet is a lifestyle of eat­ing nutri­tious food. In con­trast with some weight loss mea­sures that carry health risks or side effects, this eat­ing plan is renowned for its health ben­e­fits. For these rea­sons, it’s the best pos­si­ble strat­egy for weight man­age­ment.

The study at the University of Navarra and the Carlos III Institute of Health in Spain tracked 16,000 peo­ple for an aver­age of ten years. Participants were required to com­plete food sur­veys to record their intake of seven plant food groups and five ani­mal food groups. The plant foods were veg­eta­bles, fruits, whole grains, legumes, olive oil, nuts and pota­toes; and the ani­mal foods were eggs, ani­mal fats, dairy, meat, fish and other seafood. During the study’s time span, 584 indi­vid­u­als became obese.

Analysis of the data found the higher the con­sump­tion of plant foods in the diet, com­pared to the con­sump­tion of meats and ani­mal fats, the lower the like­li­hood of becom­ing over­weight. The 20 per­cent of those who ate the most plant foods had a 43 per­cent lower risk of devel­op­ing obe­sity, com­pared to the 20 per­cent who ate the least plant foods.

Participants with the low­est risk didn’t com­pletely elim­i­nate meat, but their intake was much lower than the quan­tity typ­i­cally found in the west­ern diet. Those in this group also ate plenty of fish, which is an impor­tant part of the MedDiet.

“Our study sug­gests that plant-based diets are asso­ci­ated with sub­stan­tially lower risk of devel­op­ing obe­sity. This sup­ports cur­rent rec­om­men­da­tions to shift to diets rich in plant foods, with lower intake of ani­mal foods,” said the study’s authors. The find­ings were pre­sented at the European Congress on Obesity in Porto, Portugal.

What char­ac­ter­is­tics of the MedDiet make it espe­cially con­ducive to weight man­age­ment? ​“Eating the nutri­tion-dense foods of the MedDiet sim­ply serves to crowd out higher calo­rie, lower qual­ity, high-glycemic processed foods known to cause inflam­ma­tion and obe­sity,” natur­o­pathic physi­cian Vickie Modica of Seattle, Washington told Olive Oil Times. ​“In this way, it’s a sim­ple mat­ter of more healthy food leav­ing less room for unhealthy, dis­ease caus­ing foods.”

“Perhaps more inter­est­ingly, we’re see­ing evi­dence that these same diets affect the gut microflora in a way that seems to have an anti-obe­sity effect. The details of how these bac­te­ria sig­nal changes to our endocrine and ner­vous sys­tems are cur­rently being researched and hold promise in obe­sity pre­ven­tion,” she said.

The Mediterranean diet is com­monly con­sumed in Spain, Italy and Greece. It’s com­prised of three serv­ings of fruit and four serv­ings of veg­eta­bles per day, along with gen­er­ous amounts of olive oil, nuts, seeds, whole grains and legumes. The plan usu­ally includes at least four serv­ings of fish per week, but it lim­its meat to no more than three serv­ings per week.

• Science Newsline Medicine


• The Telegraph