Wt Loss: Low Fat Vs Vegan

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While the study doesn't give enough details to do the

actual calculations, the results are not based on the

diet being " vegan " per-see but because of the emphasis

on lower calorie density foods (which also happen to

be vegan). High fat vegan foods were limited but the

issue with these high fat vegan foods (avocados, nuts

seeds) is not the fat per see (or the type of fat) in

a weight loss study, but the caloric density. The

NCEP diet is fairly calorie dense.

The study does at least acknowledge this partially...

quoting

" This dietary profile (low-fat, high-fiber) can lead

to a diet that is less energy-dense. Therefore, the

vegan group may have been taking in somewhat less

energy, despite the fact that this was not detected in

the diet records. They were also able to eat a greater

volume of food than the NCEP group, without taking in

extra calories. This may explain why the vegan group

was able to be more successful long-term on the diet

than the NCEP group. "

A Two-Year Randomized Weight Loss Trial Comparing a

Vegan Diet to a More Moderate Low-Fat Diet

le M. -McGrievy,* Neal D. Barnard,† and

R. Scialli‡

Obesity. 2007;15:2276 –2281.

Objective: The objective was to assess the effect of a

low-fat, vegan diet compared with the National

Cholesterol

Education Program (NCEP) diet on weight loss mainte-

nance at 1 and 2 years.

Research Methods and Procedures: Sixty-four

overweight,

postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to a vegan

or NCEP diet for 14 weeks, and 62 women began the

study.

The study was done in two replications. Participants

in the

first replication (N 28) received no follow-up

support

after the 14 weeks, and those in the second

replication (N

34) were offered group support meetings for 1 year.

Weight

and diet adherence were measured at 1 and 2 years for

all

participants. Weight loss is reported as median

(interquartile

range) and is the difference from baseline weight at

years 1

and 2.

Results: Individuals in the vegan group lost more

weight

than those in the NCEP group at 1 year [4.9 (0.5, 8.0)

kg vs. 1.8 (0.8, 4.3); p 0.05] and at 2 years [3.1

(0.0, 6.0) kg vs. 0.8 (3.1, 4.2) kg; p 0.05]. Those

participants offered group support lost more weight at

1

year (p 0.01) and 2 years (p 0.05) than those

without

support. Attendance at meetings was associated with

im-

proved weight loss at 1 year (p 0.001) and 2 years (p

0.01).

Discussion: A vegan diet was associated with

significantly

greater weight loss than the NCEP diet at 1 and 2

years.

Both group support and meeting attendance were

associated

with significant weight loss at follow-up.