Effectiveness of a vegan based high soy protein diet on weight loss and serum lipids

Background: High protein, low carbohydrate diets have focused on animal protein sources, but their associated saturated fat may result in undesirable blood lipid effects. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a vegan based high soy protein diet on body weight and blood lipids, under metabolic and real‐world conditions. Method: 44 overweight hyperlipidemic subjects (18M, 26F; 56.2±7.5y; 31.1±2.6kg/m2; LDL 4.07±1.21mmol/L) took either a vegan based high protein diet (vegan) or a low fat (NCEP Step 2) control. Subjects consumed 60% of their estimated energy requirements during the 1‐month metabolic phase and were advised to follow their respective diet for an additional 6 months ad libitum. 23 participants completed both phases. Results: On the metabolic phase, both NCEP and vegan diets resulted in weight loss (−5.1±0.2%, P<0.005; −4.9±0.4%, p<0.005; respectively) and total:HDL‐C reductions (−6.4±2.8%, P=0.046; −19.2±6.5%, P=0.002; respectively). At the end of the ad libitum phase, body weight reduction on the NCEP and vegan diets, compared to baseline, were −6.6±1.0% (P<0.005) and −7.3±1.2% (P<0.005) and total:HDL‐C were −3.4±2.6% (P=0.127) and −10.1±.3.2% (P=0.005), respectively. Conclusion: Under real‐world conditions, a high soy protein vegan diet appears to improve the blood lipid profile compared to a NCEP diet despite similar weight reductions. Research support: The Solae Company