The Role of Plant-Based Diets in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

A whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet is generally defined as a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and herbs and spices. Many define a WFPB diet as being exclusively plant-based with no animal products, excluding all red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy products. Other sources define it as a plant-forward dietary pattern that may still include small amounts of meat, eggs or dairy. A WFPB dietary pattern focuses on unprocessed plant foods, while avoiding processed foods containing refined grains, refined oils and added sugars. Figure 1 depicts an example of a balanced WFPB meal.
 On a practical level, it is important to distinguish a WFPB diet from a vegan diet, which eliminates all animal products but may include processed vegan foods (e.g., plant-based meats, pastries and fried foods). However, in the scientific literature, the term “vegan” is often used, and at times it is difficult to assess the amount of processed food included in diets of vegans included in observational studies. This paper will focus primarily on the evidence for an exclusively WFPB dietary pattern in the prevention and management of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity. However, given certain limitations in the literature, some data on vegan diets and plant-rich but not exclusively plant-based diets will also be included.