Vegan Diets: A Healthy Option For Diabetics?

A vegan diet is a type of vegetarian diet that involves cutting out all animal products, including meat, fish, eggs, poultry, milk, cheese, and other dairy products. Vegans also typically avoid wearing or using animal products, such as leather.

A vegan diet can be beneficial for people with diabetes. Research suggests that a vegan diet may help improve blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity, as well as aid weight loss. However, careful planning is required to ensure that vegans with diabetes get all the nutrients they need.

People with diabetes who are considering going vegan should talk to their healthcare professional, as they may need to adjust their insulin doses or other medications. It is also important to monitor blood sugar levels, as carbohydrates will still cause blood sugar spikes.

A vegan diet for people with diabetes should focus on non-starchy vegetables, plant-based protein, and healthy fats. It is also important to eat a variety of plant-based protein sources to ensure the body gets all the essential amino acids it needs.

A vegan diet may help with blood sugar management and insulin sensitivity

The vegan diet is completely free of meat, dairy, and animal-based products. Although it can be a nutritious way of eating, it requires careful planning to make sure you’re meeting all of your nutritional needs. For people with diabetes, following a vegan diet will require an extra layer of planning.

In general, people with diabetes need to keep their carb intake consistent throughout the day, as carbs affect blood sugar levels more significantly than protein and fat. Meals and snacks should also be balanced with carbs, protein, and healthy fat since including non-carb foods in your meal can help reduce the carbs’ effects on your blood sugar.

There is some evidence that a vegan diet can help improve blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity, as well as aid weight loss among people with overweight or obesity.

Vegan diets tend to be lower in saturated fat, higher in fibre, fruit and vegetables and other protective substances like phytochemicals and antioxidants – as a result, they fit well with the current dietary guidelines for people with diabetes.

One 12-week study in 93 Korean people with diabetes compared the effects of a low glycemic vegan diet and a conventional diet for diabetes. Researchers found that following a vegan diet resulted in slightly improved blood sugar management than following a conventional diet. Another review noted that diets that emphasized plant-based food intake, including vegan, vegetarian, Mediterranean, and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, tended to reduce hemoglobin A1C by 0.8%.

Your hemoglobin A1C level is a measure of blood sugar management across the previous 3 months, and it’s a good indicator of long-term blood sugar management.

In one 16-week study among 244 overweight adults, researchers noted that those who switched to a low-fat vegan diet had greater decreases in their HOMA-IR than those eating their normal diet, meaning they became more sensitive to insulin. A similar study in 75 overweight adults noted that a vegan diet significantly reduced HOMA-IR, along with body weight and fat mass, compared with a control diet.

A vegan diet may be beneficial for people with type 2 diabetes by helping them manage their weight. Losing weight can help improve insulin sensitivity, and vegan diets tend to be lower in fat and calories than omnivorous diets, which may make it easier to lose weight.

Alongside the improvements in insulin resistance observed in the studies above, researchers also noted that the vegan diet resulted in more body fat and weight loss. In another 6-month study in 63 overweight adults, researchers noted that those who followed a vegan diet experienced more than double the weight loss of those following less strict plant-based eating patterns like vegetarian, pescatarian, and semi-vegetarian diets.

There are some potential downsides to the vegan diet in general — and particularly for people with diabetes. Fortunately, these downsides are avoidable with careful planning. People who eat vegan diets are at a greater risk of developing certain nutrient deficiencies than other people, particularly deficiencies in vitamin B12, vitamin B6, niacin, iron, calcium, omega-3 fats, iodine, and zinc, which are all more prevalent in animal foods.

However, you can get all of these nutrients by either supplementing or purposefully including plant-based foods that are good sources of these nutrients in your diet. For example, vitamin B12 can be found in fortified nutritional yeast, fortified cereals, and tempeh.

It can also be difficult for people on vegan diets to get enough protein and the right variety of amino acids (the building blocks of protein) to maintain optimal health. Protein is necessary for creating new bodily tissues, and amino acids play a variety of roles in your health. Although again, this problem can be solved with a little bit of planning. Great vegan sources of protein include soy, legumes, nuts, seeds, grains, and protein powders.

In addition, most vegan protein sources are considered incomplete — meaning that, unlike animal protein sources, they don’t contain all of the essential amino acids in the right amounts. To make sure you’re getting all of the amino acids you need, mix up your protein sources and get your protein from various plant-based sources each day.

One final pitfall of the vegan diet that can affect people with diabetes, in particular, is that it’s easy to overdo it on the carbs, which can affect your blood sugar levels. Plant foods tend to be higher in carbs than animal foods, so a vegan diet will naturally be higher in carbs than an omnivorous diet. If you eat many highly processed vegan foods, it can be easy to eat carbs in excess of what your healthcare team recommends.

While carbs as a whole aren’t unhealthy and can certainly be part of a healthy diet for diabetes, it’s important to moderate your intake to maintain healthy blood sugar levels. Talk to your healthcare team about the optimal amount of carbs for you.

Vegans are at a greater risk of developing certain nutrient deficiencies, such as vitamin B12, vitamin B6, niacin, iron, calcium, omega-3 fats, iodine, and zinc

Vitamin B12 is mainly found in animal products, so vegans will need to eat foods fortified with B12, such as nutritional yeast, fortified cereals, and tempeh, or take a supplement. Vitamin B6 can be found in chickpeas, potatoes, bananas, and fortified cereals.

Iron is another nutrient that is more prevalent in animal products, but vegans can get enough iron by eating fortified cereals, white beans, dark chocolate, lentils, spinach, and tofu.

Calcium is important for strong bones, and vegans can get enough of this nutrient by eating fortified orange juice, tofu, fortified cereals, turnip greens, and kale.

Omega-3 fats are useful in the treatment and prevention of heart disease, and vegans can get these healthy fats from chia seeds, flaxseeds, canola oil, soybean oil, and edamame.

Iodine is important for thyroid function, and while plant-based sources are unreliable, vegans can get iodine from seaweed, iodized salt, soy milk, and almond milk.

Zinc helps the body fight infection, and vegans can get enough of this nutrient by eating a varied diet that includes beans, pulses, nuts, seeds, tofu, grains, and wholemeal bread.

In addition to these specific nutrients, it's important for vegans to get enough protein and amino acids. Soy, legumes, nuts, seeds, grains, and protein powders are all great sources of vegan protein. However, most vegan protein sources are considered incomplete, meaning they don't contain all the essential amino acids in the right amounts. To ensure you're getting all the amino acids you need, it's important to mix up your protein sources and get protein from a variety of plant-based sources each day.

A vegan diet may be beneficial for people with type 2 diabetes by helping them manage their weight

A vegan diet is completely free of meat, dairy, and animal-based products. It can be a nutritious way of eating, but careful planning is required to meet all nutritional needs. For people with diabetes, an extra layer of planning is needed to keep their carb intake consistent throughout the day, as carbs affect blood sugar levels more than protein and fat.

Vegan diets tend to be lower in saturated fat, higher in fibre, fruit and vegetables, and other protective substances like phytochemicals and antioxidants. They fit well with the current dietary guidelines for people with diabetes.

There is evidence that a vegan diet can help improve blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity, as well as aid weight loss among people with overweight or obesity.

Vegan diets are typically lower in fat and calories than omnivorous diets, which may make it easier to lose weight. Losing weight can help improve insulin sensitivity.

In one study, researchers noted that those who followed a vegan diet experienced more than double the weight loss of those following less strict plant-based eating patterns like vegetarian, pescatarian, and semi-vegetarian diets.

However, it is important to be mindful of potential nutrient deficiencies when following a vegan diet. For example, vegans are at a greater risk of developing vitamin B12 and B6, niacin, iron, calcium, omega-3 fats, iodine, and zinc deficiencies.

To avoid these deficiencies, it is important to either supplement or include plant-based foods that are good sources of these nutrients in the diet. For example, to get enough vitamin B12, one can eat fortified nutritional yeast, fortified cereals, or tempeh.

In addition, it can be challenging to get enough protein and the right variety of amino acids on a vegan diet. Protein is necessary for creating new bodily tissues, and amino acids play a variety of roles in health.

To ensure adequate protein intake on a vegan diet, it is important to include a variety of plant-based protein sources, such as soy, legumes, nuts, seeds, grains, and protein powders.

In summary, a vegan diet may be beneficial for people with type 2 diabetes by helping them manage their weight. However, careful planning is required to meet nutritional needs and avoid potential deficiencies.

A vegan diet may be healthier for people with diabetes due to it being lower in saturated fat, higher in fibre, fruit and vegetables

Lower in saturated fat

Vegan diets tend to be lower in saturated fat, which is found primarily in animal-based foods. This is beneficial for people with diabetes as saturated fat can lead to inflammation and heart disease, making insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes more likely.

Higher in fibre, fruit and vegetables

Vegan diets are typically higher in fibre, fruit and vegetables, which are associated with lower levels of type 2 diabetes. These foods are also often linked to lower hypertension, lower cholesterol levels and reduced cancer rates.

Vegan diets are also associated with lower body weight and a lower percentage of body fat, which can further reduce the risk of many diseases.

Other considerations

While a vegan diet may be healthier for people with diabetes, it is important to ensure that it provides all the key nutrients necessary for good health. For example, vegans may need to take supplements to ensure they are getting enough vitamin B12, vitamin B6, niacin, iron, calcium, omega-3 fats, iodine and zinc.

A vegan diet may be more challenging for people with diabetes due to the need to carefully plan meals

Meals and snacks should be balanced with carbs, protein, and healthy fats since including non-carb foods in your meal can help reduce the carbs' effects on your blood sugar. Fortunately, many plant-based foods, such as beans and grains, contain a mixture of carbs, protein, and fat, so they can pull double or triple duty in your meal planning.

Fiber, a type of indigestible carb found in most plant-based foods, helps make these foods more filling and may also help reduce their blood sugar impact.

However, it's easy to overdo it on the carbs with a vegan diet, which can affect your blood sugar levels. Plant foods tend to be higher in carbs than animal foods, so a vegan diet will naturally be higher in carbs than an omnivorous diet. If you eat many highly processed vegan foods, it can be easy to eat carbs in excess of what your healthcare team recommends.

To succeed at a vegan diet with diabetes, make sure to plan, balance each meal and snack, take supplements if necessary, vary your proteins, add lots of non-starchy veggies to your meals, and regularly check your blood sugar levels.

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