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Appetite Aug 2024This article is concerned with the dynamics of change in protein consumption practices from the perspective of the consumer. It is based on a model, informed by social...
This article is concerned with the dynamics of change in protein consumption practices from the perspective of the consumer. It is based on a model, informed by social representation theory, that aims to understand the role played by various types of representation of alternative proteins in the process of changing food consumption practices. It discusses the reception, by consumers, of the representations associated with alternative proteins on Instagram. Methodologically, three focus groups were organized with different consumer segments (omnivorous, flexitarian and vegetarian and vegan consumers), as well as seven individual interviews. Participants were submitted to the social representations of alternative proteins, and visual stimuli from social media were mobilized for this purpose. Results show that the publications which boast the environmental, animal welfare or health attributes of alternative proteins generally contribute to the cultivation of new elements of practices. While this kind of publications is essential to help consumers question their established practices linked to meat and dairy consumption, they can also generate a critical reception that is not conducive to change, making them a double-edge sword. Publications that relate to the representations involved in daily food consumption proteins (e.g. that alternative proteins are versatile and crowd-pleasing) emerge as being safer in terms of reception, although as standalone they may not be able to achieve a deep level of change in food consumption practices. The results of this study show the importance of deploying a diverse communication strategy about alternative proteins that appeal to a variety of consumer segments.
Topics: Humans; Focus Groups; Female; Male; Consumer Behavior; Adult; Social Media; Dietary Proteins; Food Preferences; Middle Aged; Diet, Vegetarian; Feeding Behavior; Vegans; Vegetarians; Meat; Diet, Vegan; Young Adult; Diet
PubMed: 38735309
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107391 -
Development of the VEGANScreener, a Tool for a Quick Diet Quality Assessment among Vegans in Europe.Nutrients Apr 2024Plant-based diets are not inherently healthy. Similar to omnivorous diets, they may contain excessive amounts of sugar, sodium, and saturated fats, or lack diversity....
BACKGROUND
Plant-based diets are not inherently healthy. Similar to omnivorous diets, they may contain excessive amounts of sugar, sodium, and saturated fats, or lack diversity. Moreover, vegans might be at risk of inadequate intake of certain vitamins and minerals commonly found in foods that they avoid. We developed the VEGANScreener, a tool designed to assess the diet quality of vegans in Europe.
METHODS
Our approach combined best practices in developing diet quality metrics with scale development approaches and involved the following: (a) narrative literature synthesis, (b) evidence evaluation by an international panel of experts, and (c) translation of evidence into a diet screener. We employed a modified Delphi technique to gather opinions from an international expert panel.
RESULTS
Twenty-five experts in the fields of nutrition, epidemiology, preventive medicine, and diet assessment participated in the first round, and nineteen participated in the subsequent round. Initially, these experts provided feedback on a pool of 38 proposed items from the literature review. Consequently, 35 revised items, with 17 having multiple versions, were suggested for further consideration. In the second round, 29 items were retained, and any residual issues were addressed in the final consensus meeting. The ultimate screener draft encompassed 29 questions, with 17 focusing on foods and nutrients to promote, and 12 addressing foods and nutrients to limit. The screener contained 24 food-based and 5 nutrient-based questions.
CONCLUSIONS
We elucidated the development process of the VEGANScreener, a novel diet quality screener for vegans. Future endeavors involve contrasting the VEGANScreener against benchmark diet assessment methodologies and nutritional biomarkers and testing its acceptance. Once validated, this instrument holds potential for deployment as a self-assessment application for vegans and as a preliminary dietary screening and counseling tool in healthcare settings.
Topics: Humans; Europe; Diet, Vegan; Delphi Technique; Nutrition Assessment
PubMed: 38732591
DOI: 10.3390/nu16091344 -
Nutrients Apr 2024Uncertainty remains about the composition of contemporary plant-based diets and whether they provide recommended nutrient intakes. We established Feeding the Future...
Uncertainty remains about the composition of contemporary plant-based diets and whether they provide recommended nutrient intakes. We established Feeding the Future (FEED), an up-to-date online cohort of UK adults following different plant-based diets and diets containing meat and fish. We recruited 6342 participants aged 18-99 [omnivores (1562), flexitarians (1349), pescatarians (568), vegetarians (1292), and vegans (1571)] between February 2022 and December 2023, and measured diet using a food frequency questionnaire and free text. We compared personal characteristics and dietary intakes between diet groups and assessed compliance with dietary guidelines. Most participants met UK dietary recommendations for fruit and vegetables, sodium, and protein, although protein intakes were lowest among vegetarians and vegans. Omnivores did not meet the fibre recommendation and only vegans met the saturated fat recommendation. All diet groups exceeded the free sugars recommendation. Higher proportions of vegetarians and vegans were below the estimated average requirements (EARs) for zinc, iodine, selenium, and, in vegans, vitamins A and B12, whereas calcium intakes were similar across the diet groups. People following plant-based diets showed good compliance with most dietary targets, and their risk for inadequate intakes of certain nutrients might be mitigated by improved dietary choices and/or food fortification.
Topics: Humans; Adult; Middle Aged; United Kingdom; Male; Female; Diet, Vegetarian; Aged; Young Adult; Adolescent; Nutrition Policy; Aged, 80 and over; Diet, Vegan; Diet, Plant-Based
PubMed: 38732583
DOI: 10.3390/nu16091336 -
Nutrients Apr 2024Plant-based diets are becoming more and more widespread among the Spanish population, progressively replacing the Mediterranean dietary pattern. Different studies have...
BACKGROUND
Plant-based diets are becoming more and more widespread among the Spanish population, progressively replacing the Mediterranean dietary pattern. Different studies have shown the motivations for adherence to these diets, and others have highlighted some health advantages and disadvantages.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Further studies are needed to define the socio-demographic determinants that influence the choice of a plant-based diet and to study the relationship that the choice of dietary pattern has on the health and lifestyle habits of the population.
METHODS
A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted on the Spanish population. The NutSo-HH questionnaire, developed and validated by the research team, was used to gather socio-demographic, nutritional, social, and lifestyle information through non-probabilistic snowball sampling.
RESULTS
The questionnaire was completed by 22,181 Spanish citizens, of whom only 19,211 were of interest to the study. The socio-demographic variables gender, age, educational level, income level, and place of residence do not seem to influence the prevalence of a plant-based diet ( 1638) compared to a Mediterranean diet ( 17,573). People following a vegetarian or vegan diet have a lower BMI, and they consume less fried food, fast food, and ultra-processed dishes and fewer energy drinks or sugary beverages. They also do more exercise and sleep longer hours, smoke less, and consume alcohol less frequently. However, there seem to be more diagnosed eating disorders among people who follow a plant-based diet than those who follow a Mediterranean diet.
CONCLUSIONS
People who adopt a plant-based diet tend to exhibit healthier lifestyle patterns and consume fewer foods that are detrimental to their health. However, it is essential for such dietary choices to be supervised by healthcare professionals to mitigate the risk of maladaptive behaviors evolving into eating disorders.
Topics: Humans; Diet, Mediterranean; Spain; Male; Female; Cross-Sectional Studies; Middle Aged; Adult; Life Style; Diet, Vegetarian; Feeding Behavior; Socioeconomic Factors; Aged; Young Adult; Surveys and Questionnaires; Adolescent; Sociodemographic Factors; Health Behavior; Diet, Plant-Based; Dietary Patterns
PubMed: 38732525
DOI: 10.3390/nu16091278 -
Food Research International (Ottawa,... Jun 2024Commercial beef burgers and vegan analogues were purchased and, after a microwave treatment, they were submitted to an in vitro digestion (INFOGEST). Vegan cooked...
Commercial beef burgers and vegan analogues were purchased and, after a microwave treatment, they were submitted to an in vitro digestion (INFOGEST). Vegan cooked burgers showed similar protein content (16-17 %) but lower amounts of total peptides than beef burgers. The protein digestibility was higher in beef burgers. Peptide amounts increased during in vitro digestion, reaching similar amounts in both types of products in the micellar phase (bioaccessible fraction). The fat content in cooked vegan burgers was significantly lower than in beef burgers (16.7 and 21.2 %, respectively), with a higher amount of PUFAs and being the lipolysis activity, measure by FFA, less intense both after cooking and after the gastrointestinal process. Both types of cooked samples showed high carbonyl amounts (34.18 and 25.51 nmol/mg protein in beef and vegan samples, respectively), that decreased during in vitro digestion. On the contrary, lipid oxidation increased during gastrointestinal digestion, particularly in vegan samples. The antioxidant capacity (ABTS and DPPH) showed higher values for vegan products in cooked samples, but significantly decreased during digestion, reaching similar values for both types of products.
Topics: Microwaves; Cooking; Digestion; Red Meat; Animals; Cattle; Antioxidants; Meat Products; Lipolysis; Diet, Vegan
PubMed: 38729723
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2024.114376 -
Frontiers in Microbiology 2024Grape-associated microbial community is influenced by a combination of viticultural, climatic, pedological and anthropological factors, collectively known as ....
Grape-associated microbial community is influenced by a combination of viticultural, climatic, pedological and anthropological factors, collectively known as . Therefore, grapes of the same cultivar grown in different areas can be appreciated for their distinctive biogeographic characteristics. In our previous study, we showed that the phenotypic response of Aglianico and Cabernet grapevines from Molise and Sicily regions is significantly influenced by the prevailing pedoclimatic conditions, particularly soil physical properties. However, the scale at which microbial communities differ could be important in clarifying the concept of , including whether it is linked to the grape variety present in a particular vineyard. To explore this further, in the research presented here, a comparative study on the fungal communities inhabiting the berry surfaces of Cabernet and Aglianico cultivars was conducted on different vineyards located in Southern Italy (Molise, Sicily and Campania regions, the first two of which had been involved in our previous study) by using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and multivariate data analysis. The descriptive approach through relative abundance analysis showed the most abundant (Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Chytridiomycota), families (, , , , , , , , and ) and genera (, , , and ) detected on grape berries. The multivariate data analysis performed by using different packages (phyloseq, Vegan, mixOmics, microbiomeMarker and ggplot2) highlighted that the variable "vineyard location" significantly affect the fungal community, while the variable "grape variety" has no significant effect. Thus, some taxa are found to be part of specific vineyard ecosystems rather than specific grape varieties, giving additional information on the microbial contribution to wine quality, thanks to the presence of fermentative yeasts or, conversely, to the involvement in negative or detrimental roles, due to the presence of grape-deriving fungi implied in the spoilage of wine or in grapevine pathogenesis. In this connection, the main functions of core taxa fungi, whose role in the vineyard environment is still poorly understood, are also described.
PubMed: 38725687
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1399968 -
Clinical and Translational... Jun 2024Diet can affect ammoniagenesis in cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy (HE), but the impact of dietary preferences on metabolomics in cirrhosis is unclear. As most... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
INTRODUCTION
Diet can affect ammoniagenesis in cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy (HE), but the impact of dietary preferences on metabolomics in cirrhosis is unclear. As most Western populations follow meat-based diets, we aimed to determine the impact of substituting a single meat-based meal with an equal protein-containing vegan/vegetarian alternative on ammonia and metabolomics in outpatients with cirrhosis on a meat-based diet.
METHODS
Outpatients with cirrhosis with and without prior HE on a stable Western meat-based diet were randomized 1:1:1 into 3 groups. Patients were given a burger with 20 g protein of meat, vegan, or vegetarian. Blood for metabolomics via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and ammonia was drawn at baseline and hourly for 3 hours after meal while patients under observation. Stool microbiome characteristics, changes in ammonia, and metabolomics were compared between/within groups.
RESULTS
Stool microbiome composition was similar at baseline. Serum ammonia increased from baseline in the meat group but not the vegetarian or vegan group. Metabolites of branched chain and acylcarnitines decreased in the meat group compared with the non-meat groups. Alterations in lipid profile (higher sphingomyelins and lower lysophospholipids) were noted in the meat group when compared with the vegan and vegetarian groups.
DISCUSSION
Substitution of a single meat-based meal with a non-meat alternatives results in lower ammoniagenesis and altered serum metabolomics centered on branched-chain amino acids, acylcarnitines, lysophospholipids, and sphingomyelins in patients with cirrhosis regardless of HE or stool microbiome. Intermittent meat substitution with vegan or vegetarian alternatives could be helpful in reducing ammonia generation in cirrhosis.
Topics: Humans; Ammonia; Liver Cirrhosis; Male; Female; Middle Aged; Diet, Vegetarian; Hepatic Encephalopathy; Metabolomics; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Diet, Vegan; Feces; Aged; Carnitine; Meat; Amino Acids, Branched-Chain; Adult
PubMed: 38696431
DOI: 10.14309/ctg.0000000000000707 -
Frontiers in Microbiology 2024Pet guardians are increasingly seeking vegan dog foods. However, research on the impact of these diets on gastrointestinal (GI) physiology and health is limited. In...
PURPOSE
Pet guardians are increasingly seeking vegan dog foods. However, research on the impact of these diets on gastrointestinal (GI) physiology and health is limited. In humans, vegan diets modify the GI microbiota, increasing beneficial digestive microorganisms. This study aimed to examine the canine fecal microbiota in response to a vegan diet compared to an animal-based diet.
METHODS
Sixty-one client-owned healthy adult dogs completed a randomized, double-blinded longitudinal study. Dogs were randomly assigned into two groups that were fed either a commercial extruded animal-based diet (MEAT, = 30) or an experimental extruded vegan diet (PLANT, = 31) for 12 weeks. Fecal collections occurred at the start of the experimental period and after 3 months of exclusively feeding either diet. Bacterial DNA was extracted from the feces, and the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified using PCR and sequenced on Illumina MiSeq. Beta-diversity was measured using Jaccard and Bray-Curtis distances, and the PERMANOVA was used to assess for differences in fecal microbiota within and between groups. Alpha-diversity indices for richness, evenness, and diversity, as well as relative abundance, were calculated and compared between groups.
RESULTS
Beta-diversity differences occurred between diet groups at exit time-point with differences on Bray-Curtis distances at the family and genus levels ( = 0.007 and = 0.001, respectively), and for the Jaccard distance at the family and genus level ( = 0.006 and = 0.011, respectively). Significant differences in alpha-diversity occurred when comparing the PLANT to the MEAT group at the exit time-point with the PLANT group having a lower evenness ( = 0.012), but no significant differences in richness ( = 0.188), or diversity ( = 0.06). At exit-timepoint, compared to the MEAT group, the relative abundance of , , and was lower in the PLANT group. The relative abundance of decreased over time in the PLANT group, while no change was observed in the MEAT group.
CONCLUSION
These results indicate that vegan diets may change the canine gut microbiota. Future studies are warranted to confirm our results and determine long-term effects of vegan diets on the canine gut microbiome.
PubMed: 38694809
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1367493 -
The American Journal of Clinical... Apr 2024Eating healthier is associated with a range of favorable health outcomes. Our previous model estimated the impact of dietary changes on life expectancy gains but did not...
BACKGROUND
Eating healthier is associated with a range of favorable health outcomes. Our previous model estimated the impact of dietary changes on life expectancy gains but did not consider height, weight, or physical activity.
OBJECTIVES
We aimed to estimate the increase in life expectancy resulting from the transition from typical national dietary patterns to longevity-optimizing dietary changes, more feasible dietary modifications, and optimized vegan dietary changes in China, France, Germany, Iran, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
METHODS
Our modeling study used data from meta-analyses presenting dose-response relationships between intake of 15 food groups and mortality. Background mortality data were from the Global Burden of Disease Study. We used national food intake data and adjusted for height, weight, and physical activity level.
RESULTS
For 40-y-olds, estimated life expectancy gains ranged from 6.2 y (with uncertainty interval [UI]: 5.7, 7.5 y) for Chinese females to 9.7 y (UI: 8.1, 11.3 y) for United States males following sustained changes from typical country-specific dietary patterns to longevity-optimized dietary changes, and from 5.2 y (UI: 4.0, 6.5 y) for Chinese females to 8.7 y (UI: 7.1, 10.3 y) for United States males following changes to optimized vegan dietary changes.
CONCLUSIONS
A sustained change from country-specific typical dietary pattern patterns to longevity-optimized dietary changes, more feasible dietary changes, or optimized vegan dietary changes are all projected to result in substantial life expectancy gains across ages and countries. These changes included more whole grains, legumes, and nuts and less red/processed meats and sugars and sugar-sweetened beverages. The largest gains from dietary changes would be in the United States.
PubMed: 38692410
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.04.028 -
Frontiers in Sociology 2024Veganism is a movement that avoids consuming animal products. This lifestyle is commonly represented as elitist despite the broad range of people who follow it. Using...
INTRODUCTION
Veganism is a movement that avoids consuming animal products. This lifestyle is commonly represented as elitist despite the broad range of people who follow it. Using Bourdieu's taste theory, this study analyzes how personal culinary tastes of different social classes generate favorable (or unfavorable) dispositions to adopting veganism.
METHODS
We analyzed 73 biographical interviews with 40 young vegans in three different waves.
RESULTS
The findings reveal that all social classes exhibit favorable dispositions towards veganism. In upper-class individuals, dispositions to embrace healthy and exotic food facilitate the adoption of new flavors and reflexivity in eating practices. Conversely, lower-class individuals have traditional meatless culinary practices rooted in their restricted budget, facilitating the transition to a plant-based diet.
DISCUSSION
These results demonstrate the relevance of social class in understanding the diversity of vegan practices, and they contribute to breaking stereotypes around this movement.
PubMed: 38690292
DOI: 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1356457