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. 2022 Aug 13;14(1):114.
doi: 10.1186/s13098-022-00879-w.

A vegan diet improves insulin resistance in individuals with obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Peng Chen  1 , Ying Zhao  2 , Yan Chen  3
Affiliations

A vegan diet improves insulin resistance in individuals with obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Peng Chen et al. Diabetol Metab Syndr. .

Abstract

Background: A vegan diet has benefits on weight reduction and on the parameters of glucose and lipid metabolism. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the efficacy of plant-based diets on insulin resistance and blood lipids in patients with obesity.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for available papers published up to March 2021. The primary outcome was insulin resistance which was assessed by Homeostasis Model Assessment Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR), other metabolic parameters measures including the pre/post-diet changes in triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol. All analyses were performed using the random-effects model.

Results: Six studies (seven datasets) were included. Compared with baseline, the plant-based diet improved the HOMA-IR (SMD = 1.64, 95%CI 0.95, 2.33; I2 = 91.8%, Pheterogeneity < 0.001), total cholesterol (SMD = 2.51, 95% CI 0.88, 4.13; I2 = 98.0%, Pheterogeneity < 0.001), HDL-cholesterol (SMD = 1.55, 95% CI 0.66, 2.44; I2 = 92.0%, Pheterogeneity < 0.001), and LDL-cholesterol (SMD = 2.50, 95% CI 1.30, 3.70; I2 = 94.4%, Pheterogeneity < 0.001), but not the triglycerides (SMD = - 0.62, 95% CI - 1.92, 0.68; I2 = 97.8%, Pheterogeneity < 0.001). The sensitivity analyses showed that the results were robust.

Conclusions: In obese individuals with insulin resistance, a vegan diet improves insulin resistance and dyslipidemia, except for triglycerides.

Keywords: Insulin resistance; Meta-analysis; Obesity; Type 2 diabetes mellitus; Vegan diet.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram of the literature search and filtering results for a systematic review of the effectiveness of a plant diet on obesity
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot illustrating the impact of plant diet on the metabolic parameter of HOMA-IR in obese patients
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Forest plot illustrating the impact of plant diet on the metabolic parameter of total cholesterol in obese patients
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Forest plot illustrating the impact of plant diet on the metabolic parameter of HDL-cholesterol in obese patients
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Forest plot illustrating the impact of plant diet on the metabolic parameter of LDL-cholesterol in obese patients
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Forest plot illustrating the impact of plant diet on the metabolic parameter of triglycerides in obese patients
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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