Plant based diets have been found to lessen the risk of diabetes in previous studies, but a new study published in PLOS Medicine has found that the quality of the diet is important too.

Prior studies on plant based diets and type 2 diabetes (T2D) have defined plant based diets as ‘vegetarian’ and not further differentiated those who eat plant foods that are less nutrient dense such as refined grains, potatoes and sugar sweetened foods from those who eat a healthier plant based diet, to see what effect this has on T2D risk.

Study details

Scientists from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts analysed data from three studies that followed more than 200,000 male and female health professionals across the US for more than 20 years, regularly collecting information on their diet, lifestyle, medical history, and new disease diagnoses.

They found that a diet focused on plant foods and low in animal foods was associated w...

Vitamin B12 is a complex compound with some quite complex activities and functions as you can see from the diagram below. I’ll try not to bore you too much with the science, but there are some important things for you to understand about B12 when on a plant based diet.

Why is B12 important?

A unique and complex vitamin, B12 is often referred to as cobalamin due to the fact that it contains a metal ion cobalt. There are various forms of cobalamins, with only two being active as co-enzymes in the human body methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin. Most supplemental B12 is supplied as cyanocobalamin due to its stability and this must be converted to a biologically active form in the body.

Vitamin B12 is essential for normal blood formation, neural function and growth and is involved in cells’ metabolism, DNA synthesis and regulation.

The diagram below shows how B12 is required for the synthesis of the amino acid methionine which is part of a biological process called methylation. Dysfunction in...

The Vegan Society are campaigning at the moment for people to take the 30 Day Vegan Pledge and are posting thought provoking articles on their social media about how it's not just humans that form bonds with their mothers. 

Many of you may already be vegetarian or vegan or even just thinking about trying a more plant based diet. Everyone has their own reasons for excluding animal products to whatever extent and here at Vegucate we aim to support you no matter what your beliefs or dietary requirements are.

If you do currently include dairy in your diet, the following information may interest you. I am vegan myself but the rest of my family are lacto-vegetarian and I was previously, so I fully understand how challenging the thought of giving up dairy can be. However, when you take a moment to think about the bonds between animals, and the distress and suffering that the dairy industry inevitably causes, it might make that cheesy pizza less appealing. Then again it might not, it's complet...