The Impact of a Low-Fat, Plant-Based Diet on Body Weight, Metabolism, and Insulin Sensitivity: A Comprehensive Study

This summarizes the research study “A multicenter randomized controlled trial of a plant-based nutrition program to reduce body weight and cardiovascular risk in the corporate setting: the GEICO study” published in 2013 by S. Mishra, J. Xu, U. Agarwal, J. Gonzales, S. Levin, and N.D. Barnard.

The study aimed to test whether a low-fat vegan diet program versus no diet change improved weight, cholesterol, blood sugar, and other health markers in overweight corporate employees across 10 locations of the company GEICO.

Methods

- 291 overweight employees were randomly split into a vegan diet group provided weekly support and education or control group.

- Outcomes measured at baseline and 18 weeks included:

- Weight, BMI

- Cholesterol

- Blood pressure

- Blood sugar (for diabetics)

Results

- The vegan diet group lost an average of 2.9 kg compared to almost no weight change in control group

- The vegan group had greater improvements in BMI, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and blood sugar

- Engagement with the weekly meetings correlated with amount of weight loss

- The drop-out rate was 34% in vegan group

Conclusion

The 18-week corporate plant-based diet intervention resulted in modest but significant weight loss and improvements in cardiovascular risk factors among overweight employees across 10 geographically diverse workplace locations.

Mishra, S., Xu, J., Agarwal, U., Gonzales, J., Levin, S., & Barnard, N. D. (2013). "A multicenter randomized controlled trial of a plant-based nutrition program to reduce body weight and cardiovascular risk in the corporate setting: the GEICO study." European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 67(7), 718–724. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3701293/