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. 2020 Aug 28;16(3):260-270.
doi: 10.1177/1559827620949205. eCollection 2022 May-Jun.

Whole-Food Plant-Based Lifestyle Program and Decreased Obesity

Boštjan Jakše  1 , Barbara Jakše  2 , Stanislav Pinter  3 , Jernej Pajek  4 , Nataša Fidler Mis  5
Affiliations

Whole-Food Plant-Based Lifestyle Program and Decreased Obesity

Boštjan Jakše et al. Am J Lifestyle Med. .

Abstract

Failure of weight-loss programs is high. We evaluated a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) lifestyle program. We investigated the obesity indices of 151 healthy adults who were on our ongoing, community-based program for the short (0.5 to ≤2 years), medium (2 to ≤5 years), or long term (5 to 10 years). Body composition indices were measured by medically approved bioimpedance. Body composition changes were favorable for all 3 groups and both genders. There were no differences in body composition between the males for all 3 groups, while there were lower body mass (BM), body mass index (BMI), and muscle mass in females on long-term versus short-term programs. All participants experienced a decrease in BMI (-2.5 kg/m2), BM (-7.1 kg), and body fat percentage (-6.4%; P < .001 for all). The reductions for those with a baseline BMI of obese, overweight, and normal were -5.6, -2.4, and -0.9 kg/m2 for BMI, -16.1, -7.1, and -2.5 kg for total BM, and -9.5%, -6.6%, and -4.8% for body fat percentage (baseline vs current; P < .001 for all). A total of 86% of parents of underage children introduced the WFPB lifestyle to children. Our WFPB lifestyle program provides a long-term reversal of obesity.

Keywords: body composition; obesity; plant-based diet; weight loss.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: JP and NFM do not declare any conflict of interest and collaborated as independent researchers. Barbara Jakše and SP are receiving royalty compensation at Herbalife Nutrition, which did not have any role in the design of the study, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, nor in writing the manuscript. Boštjan Jakše is Barbara Jakše’s spouse and therefore derives income from the same sources.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Enrolment of the participants and completion of the study.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Group comparison of participants with normal BMI (18.5-24.9 kg/m2).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Group comparison of obesity by body fat percentage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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