Low-Fat Plant-Based Diet Study to Evaluate Impact on Chronic Disease Risk Factors

Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) pose significant health burdens, with diet playing a crucial role in their development. Current dietary guidelines often struggle to achieve sustained improvements in risk factors. The efficacy of a diet completely free from animal-sourced nutrients, particularly when supplemented with meal replacements, in weight reduction programs and its impact on various NCD risk factors remains underexplored. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap by investigating such a dietary approach, specifically targeting improvements in metabolic markers.

This non-randomized interventional study will enroll participants from applicants to a free-living population-based diet optimizing program. Participants will self-select into the interventional arm, adhering to a low-fat plant-based diet supplemented with two daily plant-based meal replacements eaten ad libitum. The primary endpoint is serum LDL cholesterol. Secondary endpoints include total cholesterol, triglycerides, serum fasting glucose, serum urate, serum insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), and body fat mass. Measurements will occur at baseline, after 10 weeks, and after 36 weeks of intervention.