People with type 2 diabetes may find that eliminating meat and animal-derived foods from their diet can improve their heart health and help them lower blood sugar naturally, a new study suggests.
Reported on WebMD, the research which was partially funded by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine studied 99 patients with diabetes over the course of 22 weeks.
One group followed a low-fat, low-glycemic vegan eating plan, while the other ate foods that have been recommended by the American Diabetes Association.
Both groups successfully reduced their weight and levels of hemoglobin A1c, but those who followed the vegan diet saw more significant decreases in both categories.
The researchers also calculated each groups score on the Alternate Healthy Eating Index, which has been shown in past studies to correlate with a risk of heart disease.
They found that the vegan eaters improved their scores compared with their pre-study figures, while the other group did not.
“The results of this study suggest that, if followed for the long-term, a low-fat vegan diet may be associated with a reduced risk of major chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease,” the research states, according to WebMD.
Some 26.3 million people in the U.S. suffer from diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.