Low-Fat Vegan Diet Linked to Weight Loss Without Calorie Counting

Researchers studied whether people could lose weight by changing what they ate rather than eating smaller portions.

Adults with overweight followed either a low-fat vegan diet or their usual diet for 16 weeks.

The vegan diet included fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes.

Participants were not told to count calories or eat less food.

People on the vegan diet ate about 357 fewer calories each day.

They still ate about the same weight of food, but their food contained fewer calories per gram.

This happened because plant foods often contain more water and fibre than meat, dairy, and eggs.

The researchers found that bigger decreases in food energy density were linked with more weight loss.