Vegetarian diet helps keep pounds off

People gain less weight when they go meat-free, five-year study finds

LONDON - If you want to keep the weight down, switch to a meat-free diet, scientists said on Tuesday.

Researchers who studied the eating habits of 22,000 people over five years, including meat eaters and vegetarians, found they all put on a few pounds but meat eaters who changed to a vegetarian or vegan diet gained the least.

"Contrary to current popular views that a diet low in carbohydrates and high in protein keeps weight down, we found that the lowest weight gain came in people with high intake of carbohydrates and low intake of protein," said Professor Tim Key.
The research compared weight gain among meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans -- who eat no animal products — and is published in the International Journal of Obesity.

It showed that on average people gained 4.4 lb over five years. None of the volunteers was overweight.

"The weight gain was less in the vegans than in the meat-eaters and somewhere in between in the other groups," said Key, of Britain's Cancer Research UK charity and the University of Oxford, who conducted the study.

"The lowest weight gain was in people who changed their diet to eat fewer animal products," he told Reuters. For complete information go on to