Key articles supporting plant-based nutrition:
- Dewell, A., Weidner, G., Sumner, M. D., Chi, C. S., & Ornish, D. (2008). A very-low-fat vegan diet increases intake of protective dietary factors and decreases intake of pathogenic dietary factors. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 108(2), 347-356.
- Melina, V., Craig, W., & Levin, S. (2016). Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 116(12), 1970-1980.
- Rohrmann, S., Overvad, K., Bueno-de-Mesquita, H. B., . . . Linseisen, J. (2013). Meat consumption and mortality–results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. BMC Medicine, 11, 63.
- Song, M., Fung, T. T., Hu, F. B., Willett, W. C., Longo, V. D., Chan, A. T., & Giovannucci, E. L. (2016). Association of Animal and Plant Protein Intake With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality. JAMA Internal Medicine, 176(10), 1453-1463.
- Tuso, P. J., Ismail, M. H., Ha, B. P., & Bartolotto, C. (2013). Nutritional update for physicians: plant-based diets. Permanente Journal, 17(2), 61-66.
- Yang, Y., Zhao, L. G., Wu, Q. J., Ma, X., & Xiang, Y. B. (2015). Association between dietary fiber and lower risk of all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of cohort studies. American Journal of Epidemiology, 181(2), 83-91.
Key articles and further resources by disease:
Autoimmune diseases
- Barnard, N. D., Levin, S., Crosby, L., Flores, R., Holubkov, R., & Kahleova, H. (2022). A Randomized, Crossover Trial of a Nutritional Intervention for Rheumatoid Arthritis. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine.
- McDougall, J., Bruce, B., Spiller, G., Westerdahl, J., & McDougall, M. (2002). Effects of a very low-fat, vegan diet in subjects with rheumatoid arthritis. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 8(1), 71-75.
Cancer
- Ornish, D., Weidner, G., Fair, W. R., . . . Carroll, PR (2005), Intensive lifestyle changes may affect the progression of prostate cancer, Journal of Urology, vol. 174, no. 3, pp. 1065-9; discussion 9-70. **RCT**
- Ornish, D., Lin, J., Chan, J. M., . . . Blackburn, E. H. (2013). Effect of comprehensive lifestyle changes on telomerase activity and telomere length in men with biopsy-proven low-risk prostate cancer: 5-year follow-up of a descriptive pilot study. The Lancet Oncology, 14(11), 1112-1120. **RCT**
- Tantamango-Bartley, Y., Jaceldo-Siegl, K., Fan, J., & Fraser, G. (2013). Vegetarian Diets and the Incidence of Cancer in a Low-risk Population. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 22(2), 286-294 – Based on data from the Adventist Health Study 2.
- More Cancer resources
Diabetes
- Barnard, N. D., Cohen, J., Jenkins, D. J. A., Turner-McGrievy, G., Gloede, L., Green, A., & Ferdowsian, H. (2009). A low-fat vegan diet and a conventional diabetes diet in the treatment of type 2 diabetes: a randomized, controlled, 74-wk clinical trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89(5), S1588-S1596. **RCT**
- Kahleova, H., Znayenko-Miller, T., Smith, K., Khambatta, C., Barbaro, R., Sutton, M., . . . Barnard, N. D. (2024). Effect of a Dietary Intervention on Insulin Requirements and Glycemic Control in Type 1 Diabetes: A 12-Week Randomized Clinical Trial. Clinical Diabetes.
- More Diabetes resources
Gut health
- David, L.A. et al. (2014). Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome. Nature, 505(7484), 559-63.
- Levine, A., Sigall Boneh, R., & Wine, E. (2018). Evolving role of diet in the pathogenesis and treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. Gut, 67(9), 1726-1738.
- More Gut health resources
Heart health
- Esselstyn C. B., Gendy, G., Doyle, J., Golubic, M., & Roizen, M. F.
(2014). A way to reverse CAD? Journal of Family Practice, 63(7), 356-364b. - Esselstyn, C. B. (1999). Updating a 12-year experience with arrest and reversal therapy for coronary heart disease (an overdue requiem for palliative cardiology). American Journal of Cardiology, 84(3), 339-341, A338.
- Ornish, D., Brown, S. E., Scherwitz, L. W., . . . Gould, K. L. (1990). Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease? The Lifestyle Heart Trial. Lancet, 336(8708), 129-133. **RCT**
- More Heart health resources
Obesity
- Wright, N., Wilson, L., Smith, M., Duncan, B., & McHugh, P. (2017). The BROAD study: A randomised controlled trial using a whole food plant-based diet in the community for obesity, ischaemic heart disease or diabetes. Nutrition & Diabetes, 7(3), e256. **RCT**
- See Weight Management resources
Websites dedicated to nutrition research:
- NutritionFacts.Org – developed by Dr Michael Greger. He has developed thousands of short videos presenting the science of nutrition. Each video lists the peer-reviewed articles referred to with links to PubMed so you can track down the original article.
- Plant Based Research
- Plant Positive: Making the Case for Plant-Based Nutrition – takes a very detailed look at the evidence behind articles promoting high-protein and high-fat diets.