A new study reveals that a low-fat vegan diet, even without restricting calories or carbohydrates, may help people with type 1 diabetes significantly reduce both their insulin needs and insulin costs.
A new study from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, published in BMC Nutrition, suggests that following a low-fat vegan diet without restricting calories or carbohydrates may help people with type 1 diabetes lower both their insulin use and related costs.
Insulin is a hormone that moves glucose (sugar) from the bloodstream into the muscles and liver, where it can be used for energy. Because people with type 1 diabetes do not produce enough insulin, they must take it regularly.
Some individuals need even more insulin if they experience insulin resistance, a condition in which the body’s cells respond poorly to the hormone, leaving excess glucose in the blood. Research shows that dietary fat plays a major role in insulin resistance, as high levels of fat can make it harder for glucose to enter cells effectively.
Study Details and Key Findings
The new research, which is a secondary analysis of a 2024 Physicians Committee study, compared the effect of a low-fat vegan diet to a portion-controlled diet on insulin use and insulin costs in people with type 1 diabetes. The analysis found that the total dose of insulin decreased by 28%, or 12.1 units, per day in the vegan group, compared to no significant change in the portion-controlled group.
The reductions in insulin use in the vegan group likely reflect improved insulin sensitivity, or how well the body responds to insulin. Total insulin costs decreased by 27%, or $1.08 per day, in the vegan group, compared to no significant change in the portion-controlled group.
Broader Health Benefits
The 2024 study found that a vegan diet also led to an average weight loss of 11 pounds, improved insulin sensitivity and glycemic control, and improved cholesterol levels and kidney function in people with type 1 diabetes.
The new research comes as insulin prices in the United States continue to rise. Spending on insulin in the United States tripled in the past 10 years, reaching $22.3 billion in 2022, due to the increased usage and higher price of insulin, according to the American Diabetes Association. The inflation-adjusted cost of insulin increased by 24% from 2017 to 2022.
“As insulin prices continue to rise, people with type 1 diabetes should consider a low-fat vegan diet, which can help improve their insulin sensitivity and reduce the amount of insulin they need, potentially saving them hundreds of dollars a year,” says Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD, the lead author of the study and director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Reference: “Can a vegan diet help people with type 1 diabetes save on insulin? A secondary analysis of a 12-Week randomized clinical trial” by Hana Kahleova, Cristina Maracine, Tatiana Znayenko-Miller, Shihchen Kuo, William H. Herman, Richard Holubkov and Neal D. Barnard, 14 October 2025, BMC Nutrition.
DOI: 10.1186/s40795-025-01175-2
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1 Comment
As a now eighty-one year old lay American male I’m generally not one to argue with success. However, in the case of diet and chronic diseases, I favor my own successes over those of less well informed so-called “experts” who are still ignorant of a kind of practically harmless individual sub-acute non-IgE-mediated food allergy reaction (Dr. Arthur F. Coca, by 1935) which, to my experience (as opposed to fatally-flawed “evidence-based” medicine), can be seriously aggravated to become deadly dangerous long-term (months, myself, to decades, most others it seems) with officially (FDA in the US) approved vegan food poisoning (namely: soy [late 1960s], MSG [1980] and HFCS [1983]) and excessive related/resultant medical errors. A vegan diet for Type 1 Diabetes is just one of much the experts keep getting wrong. Allergies rule.