Cargando…

Application of a Modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI-Flex) to Compare the Diet Quality of Flexitarians, Vegans and Omnivores in Germany

Interest in plant-based nutrition has steadily increased in the western world in the recent years. The number of people following a meat-reduced, flexitarian diet is growing continuously. However, little is known about the diet quality of flexitarians compared to vegans or omnivores. Therefore, in t...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Bruns, Anja, Mueller, Mattea, Schneider, Inga, Hahn, Andreas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9330316/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35893892
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14153038
_version_ 1784758131452018688
author Bruns, Anja
Mueller, Mattea
Schneider, Inga
Hahn, Andreas
author_facet Bruns, Anja
Mueller, Mattea
Schneider, Inga
Hahn, Andreas
author_sort Bruns, Anja
collection PubMed
description Interest in plant-based nutrition has steadily increased in the western world in the recent years. The number of people following a meat-reduced, flexitarian diet is growing continuously. However, little is known about the diet quality of flexitarians compared to vegans or omnivores. Therefore, in this cross-sectional study, the food intake of 94 participants aged between 25–45 years was recorded via a validated food frequency questionnaire and 28 self-designed questions about the consumption of plant-based alternatives. An adapted Healthy Eating Index, HEI-flex, was developed to evaluate the diet quality of flexitarians, vegans and omnivores. Higher score points (SP) of the HEI-flex are associated with higher compliance with the official diet recommendations (V(max) = 100 SP). Finally, flexitarians scored significantly more highly when compared to omnivores (54 ± 8 vs. 47 ± 9 SP; p = 0.008) but lower than vegans (54 ± 8 vs. 61 ± 10 SP; p = 0.010). The results showed that the HEI-flex is a useful tool for assessing and comparing the diet quality of flexitarians, vegans and omnivores. Despite the consumption of highly processed plant-based alternatives, reduction in meat and meat products seems to be accompanied by increased overall diet quality.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9330316
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-93303162022-07-29 Application of a Modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI-Flex) to Compare the Diet Quality of Flexitarians, Vegans and Omnivores in Germany Bruns, Anja Mueller, Mattea Schneider, Inga Hahn, Andreas Nutrients Article Interest in plant-based nutrition has steadily increased in the western world in the recent years. The number of people following a meat-reduced, flexitarian diet is growing continuously. However, little is known about the diet quality of flexitarians compared to vegans or omnivores. Therefore, in this cross-sectional study, the food intake of 94 participants aged between 25–45 years was recorded via a validated food frequency questionnaire and 28 self-designed questions about the consumption of plant-based alternatives. An adapted Healthy Eating Index, HEI-flex, was developed to evaluate the diet quality of flexitarians, vegans and omnivores. Higher score points (SP) of the HEI-flex are associated with higher compliance with the official diet recommendations (V(max) = 100 SP). Finally, flexitarians scored significantly more highly when compared to omnivores (54 ± 8 vs. 47 ± 9 SP; p = 0.008) but lower than vegans (54 ± 8 vs. 61 ± 10 SP; p = 0.010). The results showed that the HEI-flex is a useful tool for assessing and comparing the diet quality of flexitarians, vegans and omnivores. Despite the consumption of highly processed plant-based alternatives, reduction in meat and meat products seems to be accompanied by increased overall diet quality. MDPI 2022-07-24 /pmc/articles/PMC9330316/ /pubmed/35893892 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14153038 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Bruns, Anja
Mueller, Mattea
Schneider, Inga
Hahn, Andreas
Application of a Modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI-Flex) to Compare the Diet Quality of Flexitarians, Vegans and Omnivores in Germany
title Application of a Modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI-Flex) to Compare the Diet Quality of Flexitarians, Vegans and Omnivores in Germany
title_full Application of a Modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI-Flex) to Compare the Diet Quality of Flexitarians, Vegans and Omnivores in Germany
title_fullStr Application of a Modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI-Flex) to Compare the Diet Quality of Flexitarians, Vegans and Omnivores in Germany
title_full_unstemmed Application of a Modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI-Flex) to Compare the Diet Quality of Flexitarians, Vegans and Omnivores in Germany
title_short Application of a Modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI-Flex) to Compare the Diet Quality of Flexitarians, Vegans and Omnivores in Germany
title_sort application of a modified healthy eating index (hei-flex) to compare the diet quality of flexitarians, vegans and omnivores in germany
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9330316/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35893892
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu14153038
work_keys_str_mv AT brunsanja applicationofamodifiedhealthyeatingindexheiflextocomparethedietqualityofflexitariansvegansandomnivoresingermany
AT muellermattea applicationofamodifiedhealthyeatingindexheiflextocomparethedietqualityofflexitariansvegansandomnivoresingermany
AT schneideringa applicationofamodifiedhealthyeatingindexheiflextocomparethedietqualityofflexitariansvegansandomnivoresingermany
AT hahnandreas applicationofamodifiedhealthyeatingindexheiflextocomparethedietqualityofflexitariansvegansandomnivoresingermany