Evidence continue to suggest that vegetarian, plant-based diet is associated with prevention and treatment of obesity. One of the many benefits of a plant-based diet is attributed to that fact that fruits and vegetables are high in phytochemicals.

Dietary phytochemical index is the percentage of total dietary calories derived from foods rich in phytochemicals. In case you don’t know, these foods high in phytochemical are plants like fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and whole grains.

Researchers from Jilin University in China published their research exploring the association between phytochemical index and overweight/obesity published in the journal Nutrients. For this pooled meta-analysis study, they included 9 studies for a total of 100,753 subjects.

They found that high phytochemical index was inversely associated with risk of being overweight or obese in a gradual, dose-dependent manner in adults. Increasing caloric intake from food of high phytochemical content prevented unhealthy weight gain and promoted weight loss.

C Wei et al. Association between the phytochemical index and overweight/obesity: a meta-analysis. Nutrients. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14071429