Can I Lose Weight Through Vegan Nutrition without Hunger?

Many people have been able to lose weight by switching to a vegan diet. But why does that work? Researchers have now found an answer.

Atilla Hildmann once showed how to do it: The author has lost a lot of weight with vegan nutrition – and many have successfully emulated him. But why does the vegetable nutrition have such effects on our body? Researchers of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) have investigated this question in a study and examined 148 overweight and obese adults over a period of 16 weeks.

What does vegan nutrition do to the body?

The test persons were divided into two groups: Group one was given the task to eat low-fat and vegan food in the future, group two was not given such requirements. Both groups consumed the same number of daily calories. The result: test persons from group one had clearly lost weight in comparison with those from group two. And not only that: Two thirds of this lost weight consisted of body fat. The researchers presented the study results at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

The new data are not the first to suggest that a vegan diet can help people lose weight. The big question so far has been: Why did the test persons achieve such good results with this form of nutrition? With the new study, the scientists have now come a step closer to finding the answer to this question: Accordingly the concentration of certain healthy intestine bacteria was particularly high with the test persons of the veganen group.

All good things are in the gut

In an interview with the medical platform “MedScape Medical News”, Hana Kahleova, author of the study and head of PCRM, said: “A plant-based diet rich in dietary fibre changes the composition of the intestinal microbiome for the better by feeding the right type of bacteria”. The study data focused on two healthy bacterial species that had multiplied during the study:

• Bacteroidetes, which are responsible for the digestion of roughage, are important for the metabolism and produce short-chain fatty acids
• Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, which is said to be related to weight loss and to the dietary fibre from plant products. This bacterium also improves insulin sensitivity – this not only strengthens the metabolism, but also reduces the risk of diabetes.

In another test, Kahleova and her team now want to compare vegan nutrition with other nutritional concepts that are considered healthy, such as the Mediterranean diet.

Do we all have to be vegan now?

The result of the study does not mean that we will all have to do without meat and other animal products completely in the future. For many people, this is hardly tenable – and it is precisely this aspect that nutritional scientists see as the most important basis for a successful change in diet, whether you want to lose weight or simply do something for your health. In addition, a vegan diet always carries the risk of a deficient supply of various nutrients and B vitamins. If you would like to try a vegan diet, you should first discuss possible health objections with your doctor.