Most people go vegetarian out of some combination of ethical, environmental or health concerns.

But to drop pounds? That could soon become another reason to go meatless. A meta-analysis published in early July shows that people who followed a vegetarian diet overall lost more weight than people on an average American diet.

Previous research has linked vegetarian diets to decreased risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. But there have been few big studies showing whether people can lose weight if they cut out the meat.

So a group of researchers affiliated with Harvard University's T. H. Chan School of Public Health combed through published clinical trials – nearly all of them small — that looked at the effects of vegetarian diets on weight ...Read more on NPR »