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Adherence and eating experiences differ between participants following a flexitarian diet including red meat or a vegetarian diet including plant-based meat alternatives: findings from a 10-week randomised dietary intervention trial

BACKGROUND: Flexitarian, vegetarian and exclusively plant-based diets are increasingly popular, particularly amongst young adults. This is the first randomised dietary intervention to investigate the health, wellbeing, and behavioural implications of consuming a basal vegetarian diet that additional...

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Autores principales: Gillies, Nicola A., Worthington, Anna, Li, Larissa, Conner, Tamlin S., Bermingham, Emma N., Knowles, Scott O., Cameron-Smith, David, Hannaford, Rina, Braakhuis, Andrea
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10305861/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37388633
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1174726
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author Gillies, Nicola A.
Worthington, Anna
Li, Larissa
Conner, Tamlin S.
Bermingham, Emma N.
Knowles, Scott O.
Cameron-Smith, David
Hannaford, Rina
Braakhuis, Andrea
author_facet Gillies, Nicola A.
Worthington, Anna
Li, Larissa
Conner, Tamlin S.
Bermingham, Emma N.
Knowles, Scott O.
Cameron-Smith, David
Hannaford, Rina
Braakhuis, Andrea
author_sort Gillies, Nicola A.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Flexitarian, vegetarian and exclusively plant-based diets are increasingly popular, particularly amongst young adults. This is the first randomised dietary intervention to investigate the health, wellbeing, and behavioural implications of consuming a basal vegetarian diet that additionally includes low-to-moderate amounts of red meat (flexitarian) compared to one containing plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs, vegetarian) in young adults (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04869163). The objective for the current analysis is to measure adherence to the intervention, nutrition behaviours, and participants’ experience with their allocated dietary group. METHODS: Eighty healthy young adults participated in this 10-week dietary intervention as household pairs. Household pairs were randomised to receive either approximately three serves of red meat (average of 390 g cooked weight per individual, flexitarian group) or PBMAs (350–400 g per individual, vegetarian group) per week on top of a basal vegetarian diet. Participants were supported to adopt healthy eating behaviours, and this intervention was developed and implemented using a behaviour change framework. Adherence (eating allocated red meat or PBMA, abstaining from animal-based foods not provided by researchers) was continuously monitored, with total scores calculated at the end of the 10-week intervention period. Eating experiences were measured by the Positive Eating Scale and a purpose-designed exit survey, and a food frequency questionnaire measured dietary intake. Analyses used mixed effects modeling taking household clustering into account. RESULTS: The total average adherence score was 91.5 (SD = 9.0) out of a possible 100, with participants in the flexitarian group scoring higher (96.1, SD = 4.6, compared to 86.7, SD = 10.0; p < 0.001). Those receiving red meat were generally more satisfied with this allocation compared to those receiving the PBMAs, even though a leading motivation for participants joining the study was an opportunity to try plant-based eating (35% expressed that their interest in taking part was related to trying plant-based eating). Participants in both intervention groups had increased vegetable intake (p < 0.001), and reported more positive eating experiences (p = 0.020) and satisfaction with eating (p = 0.021) at the end of the 10-week intervention relative to baseline values. CONCLUSION: Methods to encourage engagement with the trial were successful, as participants demonstrated excellent adherence to the intervention. Observed differences in participants’ adherence and experiences between flexitarian and vegetarian groups holds implications for the adoption of healthy, sustainable dietary patterns beyond this study alone.
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spelling pubmed-103058612023-06-29 Adherence and eating experiences differ between participants following a flexitarian diet including red meat or a vegetarian diet including plant-based meat alternatives: findings from a 10-week randomised dietary intervention trial Gillies, Nicola A. Worthington, Anna Li, Larissa Conner, Tamlin S. Bermingham, Emma N. Knowles, Scott O. Cameron-Smith, David Hannaford, Rina Braakhuis, Andrea Front Nutr Nutrition BACKGROUND: Flexitarian, vegetarian and exclusively plant-based diets are increasingly popular, particularly amongst young adults. This is the first randomised dietary intervention to investigate the health, wellbeing, and behavioural implications of consuming a basal vegetarian diet that additionally includes low-to-moderate amounts of red meat (flexitarian) compared to one containing plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs, vegetarian) in young adults (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04869163). The objective for the current analysis is to measure adherence to the intervention, nutrition behaviours, and participants’ experience with their allocated dietary group. METHODS: Eighty healthy young adults participated in this 10-week dietary intervention as household pairs. Household pairs were randomised to receive either approximately three serves of red meat (average of 390 g cooked weight per individual, flexitarian group) or PBMAs (350–400 g per individual, vegetarian group) per week on top of a basal vegetarian diet. Participants were supported to adopt healthy eating behaviours, and this intervention was developed and implemented using a behaviour change framework. Adherence (eating allocated red meat or PBMA, abstaining from animal-based foods not provided by researchers) was continuously monitored, with total scores calculated at the end of the 10-week intervention period. Eating experiences were measured by the Positive Eating Scale and a purpose-designed exit survey, and a food frequency questionnaire measured dietary intake. Analyses used mixed effects modeling taking household clustering into account. RESULTS: The total average adherence score was 91.5 (SD = 9.0) out of a possible 100, with participants in the flexitarian group scoring higher (96.1, SD = 4.6, compared to 86.7, SD = 10.0; p < 0.001). Those receiving red meat were generally more satisfied with this allocation compared to those receiving the PBMAs, even though a leading motivation for participants joining the study was an opportunity to try plant-based eating (35% expressed that their interest in taking part was related to trying plant-based eating). Participants in both intervention groups had increased vegetable intake (p < 0.001), and reported more positive eating experiences (p = 0.020) and satisfaction with eating (p = 0.021) at the end of the 10-week intervention relative to baseline values. CONCLUSION: Methods to encourage engagement with the trial were successful, as participants demonstrated excellent adherence to the intervention. Observed differences in participants’ adherence and experiences between flexitarian and vegetarian groups holds implications for the adoption of healthy, sustainable dietary patterns beyond this study alone. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-06-14 /pmc/articles/PMC10305861/ /pubmed/37388633 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1174726 Text en Copyright © 2023 Gillies, Worthington, Li, Conner, Bermingham, Knowles, Cameron-Smith, Hannaford and Braakhuis. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Nutrition
Gillies, Nicola A.
Worthington, Anna
Li, Larissa
Conner, Tamlin S.
Bermingham, Emma N.
Knowles, Scott O.
Cameron-Smith, David
Hannaford, Rina
Braakhuis, Andrea
Adherence and eating experiences differ between participants following a flexitarian diet including red meat or a vegetarian diet including plant-based meat alternatives: findings from a 10-week randomised dietary intervention trial
title Adherence and eating experiences differ between participants following a flexitarian diet including red meat or a vegetarian diet including plant-based meat alternatives: findings from a 10-week randomised dietary intervention trial
title_full Adherence and eating experiences differ between participants following a flexitarian diet including red meat or a vegetarian diet including plant-based meat alternatives: findings from a 10-week randomised dietary intervention trial
title_fullStr Adherence and eating experiences differ between participants following a flexitarian diet including red meat or a vegetarian diet including plant-based meat alternatives: findings from a 10-week randomised dietary intervention trial
title_full_unstemmed Adherence and eating experiences differ between participants following a flexitarian diet including red meat or a vegetarian diet including plant-based meat alternatives: findings from a 10-week randomised dietary intervention trial
title_short Adherence and eating experiences differ between participants following a flexitarian diet including red meat or a vegetarian diet including plant-based meat alternatives: findings from a 10-week randomised dietary intervention trial
title_sort adherence and eating experiences differ between participants following a flexitarian diet including red meat or a vegetarian diet including plant-based meat alternatives: findings from a 10-week randomised dietary intervention trial
topic Nutrition
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10305861/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37388633
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1174726
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