Hana Kahleova

Hana Kahleova is a Czech physician and researcher who trained in Prague, at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine and Charles University, and now directs clinical research at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC. She designs and runs many of the low-fat vegan trials PCRM publishes.

Best known for

Randomized trials in which a low-fat vegan diet reduced body weight, fat inside liver and muscle cells and insulin resistance, including a 2020 trial in JAMA Network Open, and earlier work in Prague on eating two larger meals early in the day.

Approach

The PCRM diet: low-fat vegan, about three quarters of calories from carbohydrate, high in fiber and without added oils. Her own focus is the mechanism: measuring with imaging and metabolic tests why the diet works.

Main talking points

• Her trials report that a low-fat vegan diet lowers fat stored inside liver and muscle cells.
• The diet may improve how the pancreas releases insulin, not only insulin sensitivity.
• Eating more of the day's food early, with a large breakfast, helped weight in her trials.
• In a crossover trial, a low-fat vegan diet led to more weight loss than a Mediterranean diet.