When people want to lose weight, going vegetarian can be an advantage.
The discovery comes from Susan Berkow, PhD, CNS and Neal Barnard, MD, Doctors Committee for responsible medicine (PCRM), a non-profit group that supports vegetarian diets.
Berkow and Barnard revised 87 studies passed by several researchers. They found that vegetarians were less likely to be obese and that vegetarian diets brought greater weight loss.
The revised studies generally used the word "vegetarian" for people who avoid meat, but consume dairy and egg products. "Vegans avoid all animal food products", write Berkow and Barnard.
The review is due to appear in the April issue of nutrition periodicals.
Diet Plan For Tummy Fat Loss - Vegetarian Diet May Help Weight Loss
in weight loss studies, participants who were randomly assigned to follow vegetarian or vegan diets lost more weight than those who are not on diets Vegetarians.
These studies were short and typically had vegetarian diets with low fat. In several studies, participants were requested not to change their exercise habits. That way, your weight loss would have rescued diet, not extra exercise.
The review also included observational studies, in which participants were not asked to change their diets. Observational studies have shown that up to 6% of vegetarians were obese, compared with 5% -45% of noncompatants, and that vegetarians tended to weigh less than non-Angers.
Were these differences due to diet, or other factors (such as exercise) important? The review does not provide the details of each study that was revised, so this is not clear.
Vegans and vegetarians usually eat diets that are higher in carbohydrates and dietary and lower fiber in calories, protein, total fat, cholesterol and saturated fat, according to the revision.
