US expert recommends plant-based diet to reverse diabetes

Bengaluru: A strict plant-based approach is the best way to tackle non-communicable diseases like diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases, an expert from the United States has said.

Sharing her personal journey with DH, Dr Vanita Rahman, a US-based lifestyle medicine physician who was recently in Bengaluru, said that a plant-based diet helped her overcome thyroid cancer, diagnosed when she was 41 years.

Dr Vanita said Type 2 diabetes could be reversed with a vegan diet when diagnosed at an early stage. Plant-based diets can also help improve heart conditions, asthma, and other auto-immune conditions.

"Fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes are essentially what we need. The only nutrient we may not get from a plant-based diet is Vitamin B12, which is produced in the intestines of animals. So, a Vitamin B12 supplement is recommended for anybody aged above 50, who is on a plant-based diet,” she said, adding that B12 is essential for overall brain and blood cell health.

Although lean meats like poultry, seafood and eggs are rich in Vitamin B12, they are also high in cholesterol and fat that increase the risk of non-communicable and auto-immune diseases.

"South Asians, particularly Indians, have a very high risk of diabetes because of our unique genotype. We carry more body weight, abdominal fat, and muscle mass. It impacts our risk of developing these chronic conditions,” she said, citing a recent consensus statement issued by health experts indicating that Indians are considered overweight by a Body Mass Index (BMI) value of 23 per cent and obese at BMI value 25 per cent.

Even though a BMI value of 18.5 per cent to 22.9 per cent is considered normal for Indians, we start developing complications (abnormal blood pressure, high blood sugar or lipid levels) at a BMI closer to 19.6 per cent, she said.

She said this is the result of Indian’s unique genetic predisposition to store fat in the belly, unlike the Europeans, whose body fat get stored in the hips and thighs. She believes this leaves Indians exposed to a high risk of developing visceral fat that cause chronic conditions like diabetes and obesity.

Promoting veganism

But public health experts in India say eating meat is generally criminalised in the Indian context, despite growing malnutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

While instances of segregation based on dietary preferences, acts of lynching, and the withholding of eggs from children in midday meal programmes remain obscured, market-driven initiatives aimed at promoting veganism receive greater attention, they say.

High-risk candidates 

1) South Asians, particularly Indians, are at a very high risk of diabetes because of their unique genotype.

2) They carry more body weight, abdominal fat, and muscle mass. It has a direct impact on developing chronic conditions.