A plant-based diet has several positive health effects. Limiting red meat consumption and consuming whole grains, legumes, and an array of vibrant fruits and vegetables can reduce cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular disease, avoid type 2 diabetes, and perhaps extend human life, as well as the life of the planet, according to studies.
However, in terms of preventing diabetes, those advantages might only materialize if the plant-based diet is a healthful one that reduces intake of highly processed or sugar-filled meals, as per a recent study that examined 206 distinct food kinds.

Based on their consumption of fresh fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, participants in the 12-year dietary patterns analysis of over 113,000 individuals in the UK Biobank project—a longitudinal study of health among the nation’s citizens—were divided into four groups.
The majority of those in the top 25% consumed a plant-based diet low in desserts, sugary drinks, refined grains, and sweets. The poorest 25% of people ate a lot more of those unhealthful plant-based diets.

According to a study published in the journal Diabetes & Metabolism on Tuesday, individuals who consumed the most whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, and minimized their consumption of unhealthy alternatives, had a 24% lower chance of developing diabetes than those in the lowest tier.

In addition to having lower waist circumference and body mass index, those who followed the healthiest diet also had better blood sugar control and reduced levels of inflammation.
According to the study, the benefit also applied to those with other diabetes risk factors, such as obesity, and those who were genetically predisposed to the disease.

First author Alysha Thompson, a doctoral student at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland, said in a statement that the findings are “really important, particularly for those thought to be at high risk of developing type two diabetes as it demonstrates they can greatly reduce their risk by following a healthy plant-based diet.”
Nonetheless, the study discovered that those with the least healthful plant-based diet had a 37% increased risk of type 2 diabetes, a larger waist circumference, and higher levels of triglycerides, a kind of cholesterol.

As per the statement released by coauthor Tilman Kühn, who holds the chair in public health nutrition at the Medical University of Vienna and is a lecturer at the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast, obesity is in fact a “key mediator underlying greater type two diabetes risk among individuals following unhealthful plant-based diets.”

What is the fundamental process?

In what ways might a plant-based diet prevent type 2 diabetes in the body? By influencing several antidiabetic mechanisms, “such as lipid and blood sugar levels and reduced body fatness,” according to Kühn.

Another result, according to coauthor Aedín Cassidy, a professor at Queen University Belfast’s Institute for Global Food Security, was the significant role the kidney and liver play in lowering the incidence of type 2 diabetes.

“We have demonstrated for the first time that a healthy plant-based diet can improve both metabolism and the function of the liver and kidney, which may help to explain how this diet can lower the risk of type 2 diabetes,” a statement from Cassidy said.
The results were “interesting,” according to Duane Mellor, a qualified dietitian and senior teaching fellow at Aston Medical School in Birmingham, UK, in a statement to the Science Media Centre in London, despite the fact that the study only discovered a relationship and not a clear cause and effect.

According to Mellor, who was not involved in the study, the analysis “looked at aspects of liver health and other measures of inflammation and explored how they might be linked to diet and risk of developing type 2 diabetes.” “This raises several potential research questions to determine whether this kind of plant-based diet can genuinely lower the risk of type 2 diabetes in the future.”