As obesity continues to become a growing issue in society, so do many correlated health issues. Health problems linked to high body mass index (BMI) such as type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia are costly and take a toll on the lives of these patients. Researchers, doctors, and nutritionists work hard to find solutions to these problems, but expecting patients to completely change their lifestyle is unrealistic. This is where a plant-based diet comes into play. A plant-based diet refers to a diet involving mostly plant-based foods and low amounts of animal products and processed foods. This is not a super restrictive diet that requires constant calorie tracking, it just categorizes food based on what you should consume the most. There is also no worry of constant calorie tracking; the diet allows freedom in how much you consume as long as you are conscientious of the food category. “A plant-based diet is not an all-or-nothing program, but a way of life that is tailored to each individual” (Tuso et al. 2013). This diet sets up patients for long term success because it allows for adaptation and freedom.
There is always a new diet or exercise being promoted that promises fast weight loss. These ‘solutions’ rarely fulfill their promises for long term goals, or at all. As medical professionals continue to try to find a solution to these health implications besides costly treatment, attention has been drawn to the plant-based diet. Researchers Wright, Wilson, Smith, Duncan, and McHugh committed to testing the relationship of the plant based diet on BMI and cholesterol to find if it was effective in improving overall health in patients struggling with obesity along with either type 2 diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, hypertension or hypercholesterolaemia. The researchers hypothesized that after six months the intervention participants would show a drop in their BMI and a healthier cholesterol level. Exercise nor calorie count were factors in this study, it was purely based on changing eating habits.
The experiment took place in New Zealand and lasted from August 2014 to February 2015. Sixty-five subjects diagnosed with obesity and some sort of related disease were randomly assigned to the control group or intervention group. Ages ranged from thirty five to seventy and were all patients at a general practice in Gisborne, New Zealand, the region with “New Zealand’s highest rates of socioeconomic deprivation, obesity and type 2 diabetes” (Wright et al. 2017). Intervention patients were instructed on how to follow a low-fat version of the plant-based diet. There was no instruction on calorie counting nor exercise, the patients were told to eat until satisfaction and follow the chart given to them on which foods to avoid. Along with the diet instruction, intervention patients were supplied with vitamin B12 supplements and were required to attend two hour meetings once a week for twelve weeks. These meetings included a variety of focuses such as a cooking tutorial or a presentation from a doctor.
Data was initially taken through questionnaires given to both the intervention and control group. These gave the researchers information on personality traits that are correlated with how well they were predicted to follow the study’s requirements. Prior to and during the study, other data included self reported health assessments. Even though exercise was not required, the researchers tracked the exercise and averaged it to account for extraneous variables. Cost of food was calculated and diet indiscretions were noted. Physical assessments such as blood pressure and bodily measurements were also tracked.
After the six month period, BMI and cholesterol were shown to be lower in the intervention patients. Not only were the researchers able to find a connection between lowering of BMI and cholesterol, intervention group patients were able to decrease their medication usage, reported to have a higher quality of life, and decrease in cardiovascular risk factors. In fact, the control group was shown to have an eight percent increase of medication usage and the intervention group had a twenty-nine percent decrease. Many medications used for the health implications these patients have are costly and cost is often an obstacle for many patients struggling with their health. To sum up the success of the study, the researchers mention,“to the best of our knowledge, there are no randomized controlled trials that have achieved a greater average weight loss over a 6- or 12-month period, without mandating regular exercise or restricting total caloric intake” (Wright et al. 2017).
In regard to how the study was carried out, there were parts of the experiment done exceptionally well. The study was randomized and the participants followed a much more natural way of life, they were not told exactly what to do with their food choices. This program also dedicated a lot of time into education. Previous studies mentioned that lack of knowledge on the diet caused limitations on the reliability of their results. Along with these positives, the study was lacking in areas as well. Though unforeseen, there were changes in the study; an intervention patient passed away in a car wreck and a control group member began a plant-based diet. This throws off some of the data and shows that since some of the results were self reported, there could have been forgetfulness or neglect of the truth. The average attendance for the intervention patients attending their required meetings were seventy-nine percent.. Not having complete participation could also throw off some of the data since some of the patients were not getting the same information. The researchers admit a weakness to their study being that the intervention group was not completely compliant. Another notable flaw is that it only lasted six months, which doesn’t seem like enough time to track the long term effects. Additionally, it is hard to say what each participant was eating and doing, because there was not much structure besides the broad diet plan. This could be a good thing because it shows that each participant was given the freedom to interpret the diet, but the replicability of the study is more difficult.
Overall, this study portrays the plant-based diet as an effective, cost efficient, and rewarding diet to adopt. It appears to increase quality of life, improve overall health, and it does not require increased exercise or limiting how much food you should eat. From here, future studies can continue to investigate this diet with larger, more diverse groups of people and for a longer amount of time for more reliable results. This study is important to individuals as well as society as a whole. Together, we can all improve and prevent health conditions with the plant-based diet.
References
Tuso P, Ismail M, Ha B, Bartolotto C. 2013. Nutritional update for physicians: Plant-based
diets. PubMed Central. Volume 17(2): 61-66. https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/12-085.
Wright N, Wilson L, Smith M, Duncan B, McHugh P. 2017. The BROAD study: A randomized
controlled trial using a whole food plant-based diet in the community for obesity,
ischemic heart disease or diabetes. Nutrition and Diabetes. 7(e256): 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1038/nutd.2017.3.
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