Chennai, (PTI): A US-based doctors' body, whose research has proved the efficacy of low-fat vegetarian diets in reversing blood sugar levels of diabetic patients, is set to conduct two similar studies in India.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine had found that a vegetarian diet with less oil and no milk products could remarkably bring down blood sugar level, cholesterol, blood pressure and weight even in people suffering from diabetes.

The committee's founder Dr Neal Barnard has initiated steps to conduct the two similar studies -- one on adult patients and another on children -- in collaboration with Indian physicians.

Barnard who is here for a week-long visit to India, was holding talks with doctors in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Goa, Coimbatore and Puducherry on conducting the study as well as propagating the efficacy of vegetarian diet in the treatment of diabetes.

The studies would commence this year and selection of patients and funding processes would commence soon, Barnard told PTI.

"Our aim was to prove and promote the efficacy of food in diabetes treatment rather than use of medicines," he said.