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Maternal Health, Neonatology and... Feb 2024Breastfeeding is important for the healthy growth and development of newborns, and the nutrient composition of human milk can be affected by maternal nutrition and...
BACKGROUND
Breastfeeding is important for the healthy growth and development of newborns, and the nutrient composition of human milk can be affected by maternal nutrition and supplementation. In Germany, iodine supplementation is recommended for all lactating mothers, and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation is recommended for mothers with inadequate or no fish intake. Vitamin B12 supplementation is required for strict vegans during lactation, and other nutrient supplementation may be necessary depending on the individual's nutritional status. To address the lack of data on dietary supplements used by lactating mothers following a vegetarian or vegan diet, an online survey was conducted in Germany, with a focus on iodine, DHA, and vitamin B12.
METHODS
Study participants were asked to report whether they followed specific dietary patterns (omnivorous [OM], vegetarian [VT], vegan [VN]) as well as their use of dietary supplements. Relationships between diets and supplement use were analyzed using chi-square tests.
RESULTS
2054 lactating women were included (1240 OM, 410 VT, and 404 VN) in this analysis. Within OM, VT and VN, at least one dietary supplement was taken by 67.3%, 84.9% and 98.0% respectively (p < 0.001). Overall, 53.2% OM, 66.8% VT, 88.4% VN reported taking at least one supplement containing iodine (p < 0.001). 54.6% OM, 61.7% VT and 58.2% VN reported supplements containing vitamin B12, while 34.1% OM, 40.2% VT and 38.6% VN mentioned supplements containing DHA (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSION
More than half of the participants reported the use of supplements during lactation with the highest proportion in vegans. However, over one third of the mothers did not report supplementing with iodine, regardless of their dietary pattern and most participants also did not report DHA supplements. It is worrisome that a high number of vegans did not report vitamin B12 supplementation, but this could be partly due to issues with reporting. It is crucial to provide further education to breastfeeding mothers about the importance of taking micronutrient supplements, especially for those following a vegetarian or vegan diet. This will help ensure that mothers and their breastfed infants receive optimal nutrition for a healthy development.
PubMed: 38297389
DOI: 10.1186/s40748-023-00171-3 -
Nature Communications Feb 2024Plant-based alternatives (PBAs) are increasingly becoming part of diets. Here, we investigate the environmental, nutritional, and economic implications of replacing...
Plant-based alternatives (PBAs) are increasingly becoming part of diets. Here, we investigate the environmental, nutritional, and economic implications of replacing animal-source foods (ASFs) with PBAs or whole foods (WFs) in the Swedish diet. Utilising two functional units (mass and energy), we model vegan, vegetarian, and flexitarian scenarios, each based on PBAs or WFs. Our results demonstrate that PBA-rich diets substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions (30-52%), land use (20-45%), and freshwater use (14-27%), with the vegan diet showing the highest reduction potential. We observe comparable environmental benefits when ASFs are replaced with WFs, underscoring the need to reduce ASF consumption. PBA scenarios meet most Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, except for vitamin B12, vitamin D and selenium, while enhancing iron, magnesium, folate, and fibre supply and decreasing saturated fat. Daily food expenditure slightly increases in the PBA scenarios (3-5%) and decreases in the WF scenarios (4-17%), with PBA diets being 10-20% more expensive than WF diets. Here we show, that replacing ASFs with PBAs can reduce the environmental impact of current Swedish diets while meeting most nutritional recommendations, but slightly increases food expenditure. We recommend prioritising ASF reduction and diversifying WFs and healthier PBAs to accommodate diverse consumer preferences during dietary transitions.
Topics: Sweden; Diet; Environment; Nutritional Status; Vitamins; Plants
PubMed: 38296977
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45328-6 -
Journal of Health, Population, and... Jan 2024Vegan diets have recently gained popularity in Switzerland as well as globally. The aim of the present study was to develop a diet quality score for vegans (DQS-V) based...
BACKGROUND
Vegan diets have recently gained popularity in Switzerland as well as globally. The aim of the present study was to develop a diet quality score for vegans (DQS-V) based on the Swiss dietary recommendations for vegans.
METHODS
The dataset included 52 healthy vegan adults. Dietary intake data were assessed by three-day weighed food records. Body weight and height were measured, and a venous blood sample for the analysis of vitamin and mineral status was collected. Spearman rank correlation coefficients were used due to not-normally distributed data. Dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis (PCA).
RESULTS
The DQS-V score (mean ± SD) was 48.9 ± 14.7. Most vegans adhered to the recommended portions of vegetables, vitamin C-rich vegetables, fruits, omega-3-rich nuts, fats and oils, and iodized salt. However, the intake of green leafy vegetables, vitamin C-rich fruits, wholegrains, legumes, nuts and seeds, selenium-rich nuts, zero caloric liquid, and calcium-fortified foods was suboptimal. The sample overconsumed sweet-, salty-, fried foods, and alcohol. The DQS-V had a significantly positive correlation with intakes of fibre, polyunsaturated fatty acids, potassium, zinc, and phosphorus intakes (p's < 0.05) but was negatively correlated with vitamin B12 and niacin intakes (p's < 0.05). Two dietary patterns were derived from PCA: 1) refined grains and sweets and 2) wholegrains and nuts. The correlation between the DQS-V and the first dietary pattern was negative (- 0.41, p = 0.004) and positive for the second dietary pattern (0.37, p = 0.01). The refined grains and sweets dietary pattern was inversely correlated with beta-carotene status (- 0.41, p = 0.004) and vitamin C status (r = - 0.51, p = 0.0002).
CONCLUSION
The newly developed DQS-V provides a single score for estimating diet quality among vegan adults. Further validation studies examining the DQS-V in relation to an independent dietary assessment method and to biomarkers of nutritional intake and status are still needed before the general application of the DQS-V.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Diet, Vegan; Vegans; Switzerland; Diet; Vegetables; Ascorbic Acid; Diet, Vegetarian
PubMed: 38291526
DOI: 10.1186/s41043-024-00498-3 -
Nature Medicine Feb 2024Nutrition has broad impacts on all physiological processes. However, how nutrition affects human immunity remains largely unknown. Here we explored the impact of a...
Nutrition has broad impacts on all physiological processes. However, how nutrition affects human immunity remains largely unknown. Here we explored the impact of a dietary intervention on both immunity and the microbiota by performing a post hoc analysis of a clinical trial in which each of the 20 participants sequentially consumed vegan or ketogenic diets for 2 weeks ( NCT03878108 ). Using a multiomics approach including multidimensional flow cytometry, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic and metagenomic datasets, we assessed the impact of each diet, and dietary switch, on host immunity and the microbiota. Our data revealed that overall, a ketogenic diet was associated with a significant upregulation of pathways and enrichment in cells associated with the adaptive immune system. In contrast, a vegan diet had a significant impact on the innate immune system, including upregulation of pathways associated with antiviral immunity. Both diets significantly and differentially impacted the microbiome and host-associated amino acid metabolism, with a strong downregulation of most microbial pathways following ketogenic diet compared with baseline and vegan diet. Despite the diversity of participants, we also observed a tightly connected network between datasets driven by compounds associated with amino acids, lipids and the immune system. Collectively, this work demonstrates that in diverse participants 2 weeks of controlled dietary intervention is sufficient to significantly and divergently impact host immunity, which could have implications for precision nutritional interventions. ClinicalTrials.gov registration: NCT03878108 .
Topics: Humans; Diet, Ketogenic; Diet, Vegan; Proteomics; Clinical Trials as Topic
PubMed: 38291301
DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02761-2 -
Appetite Apr 2024Plant-based diets are quickly gaining popularity for their benefits to animal welfare, the environment, and public health. Compared to meat-eaters, meat-abstainers such...
Plant-based diets are quickly gaining popularity for their benefits to animal welfare, the environment, and public health. Compared to meat-eaters, meat-abstainers such as vegetarians and vegans are especially motivated by animal rights and the environment. However, little is known about the motivational and psychological factors that distinguish vegetarians from vegans, and what prevents vegetarians to shift towards a fully plant-based diet. In a sample of vegans (n = 335) and vegetarians (n = 182), we investigated a) motives for reducing or quitting meat consumption and b) motives for reducing or quitting animal product (dairy and egg products) consumption, as well as moral psychological and social-contextual factors that may explain potential differences. Results demonstrate that vegetarians and vegans tend to be similar in their motives to abstain from meat consumption and are most strongly motivated by animal rights. However, vegetarians are less motivated by health, environmental, and especially animal rights for dairy/egg reduction compared to meat reduction and compared to vegans. Lower moral concern for animals, stronger beliefs in human supremacy over animals, and heightened veganism threat among vegetarians (vs. vegans) partly explained why vegetarians were less strongly motivated by animal rights for dairy/egg reduction. Human supremacy beliefs also explained differences between vegetarians and vegans in health and environmental motives for dairy/egg reduction. Furthermore, vegetarians reported significantly less social support for plant-based diets and perceived more practical barriers to plant-based diets than vegans. These findings reveal meaningful differences in the motivational and psychological profiles of vegetarians and vegans and highlight the value of distinguishing between motives for meat-free diets and motives for plant-based diets.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Vegans; Diet, Vegan; Diet, Plant-Based; Diet; Vegetarians; Meat; Plants; Diet, Vegetarian
PubMed: 38286335
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107232 -
Nutrients Jan 2024Supplements based on protein hydrolysates have been used as an effective source to access amino acids with greater bioavailability, promoting absorption to improve body...
Supplements based on protein hydrolysates have been used as an effective source to access amino acids with greater bioavailability, promoting absorption to improve body composition. Five groups of young women were randomly selected. They followed a personalized eating plan that included different protein supplements (meat, vegan, branched-chain amino acids [BCAAs], whey, and control group), combined with an exercise plan, for eight weeks, aiming to assess their consumption effects combined with resistance exercise on body composition. Bioelectrical impedance before and after the treatment was conducted. The results showed that the supplementation with BCAAs presented a significant decrease ( < 0.05) on the BMI in this group (initial BMI = 19.7 kg/m; final BMI = 19.4 kg/m). When comparing the final measures among the groups, the BCAAs and vegan supplements caused a significant decrease in body weight (50.24 kg and 51.34 kg, respectively). The BMI of the group supplemented with meat proteins was statistically higher (22.06 kg/m) than that the group supplemented with BCAAs (19.4 kg/m) ( < 0.05). No significant changes were observed in the type of protein consumed to produce muscle mass in the participants after eight weeks of study under a controlled diet and anaerobic resistance exercise. Participants exhibited energy deficiencies, but their macronutrient distribution appeared normal. Following an 8-week intervention, meat and BCAAs reduced weight and BMI, although no statistical differences were observed. It is recommended to extend the treatment for a more comprehensive understanding.
Topics: Humans; Female; Pilot Projects; Resistance Training; Anaerobiosis; Dietary Supplements; Amino Acids, Branched-Chain; Body Composition
PubMed: 38276559
DOI: 10.3390/nu16020321 -
Journal of Affective Disorders Apr 2024Reducing animal product consumption has benefits for population health and the environment. The relationship between vegetarianism and mental health, however, remains...
BACKGROUND
Reducing animal product consumption has benefits for population health and the environment. The relationship between vegetarianism and mental health, however, remains poorly understood. This study explores this relationship in a nationally representative cohort in Great Britain.
METHODS
We use data from the 1970 British Cohort Study, which collected information on vegetarianism at age 30 in 2000 (n = 11,204) and psychological distress (PD) at ages 26, 30, 34, 42, and 46-48 in 2016/18. We first developed a statistical adjustment strategy by regressing PD at age 30 on vegetarianism and 14 confounders measured at ages 10 and 26. We then ran multilevel growth curve models, testing whether within-person changes in PD between ages 30 and 46-48 differed by vegetarianism, before and after statistical adjustment.
RESULTS
At age 30, 4.5 % of participants reported being vegetarian. In the cross-sectional models at age 30, vegetarians reported more distress compared with non-vegetarians in bivariate analysis (b = 0.30, 95%CI 0.09, 0.52), but this difference disappeared in the fully-adjusted model (b = 0.02, 95%CI -0.17, 0.21). In the longitudinal models between ages 30 and 46/48, there were no differences in within-person changes in psychological distress between vegetarians and non-vegetarians (p = .723). Sensitivity analyses using red meat consumption yielded similar findings.
CONCLUSION
In this British cohort, vegetarianism at age 30 was not associated with changes in psychological distress during mid-adulthood. Since psychological distress in early adulthood predicted vegetarianism at age 30, more studies are needed to disentangle the progression of this relationship over the life-course.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Adult; Cohort Studies; Mental Health; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diet, Vegetarian; United Kingdom
PubMed: 38272367
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.01.183 -
Journal of Eating Disorders Jan 2024The vegetarian vegan eating disorder screener (V-EDS) is an 18-item self-report screening tool designed to assess the unique elements of eating disorder symptomology in...
Preliminary identification of clinical cut-off of the vegetarian vegan eating disorder screener (V-EDS) in a community and self-reported clinical sample of vegetarians and vegans.
BACKGROUND
The vegetarian vegan eating disorder screener (V-EDS) is an 18-item self-report screening tool designed to assess the unique elements of eating disorder symptomology in vegetarians and vegans. Previous results have suggested strong initial psychometric properties in non-clinical community samples of vegetarians and vegans. The present study sought to identify a preliminary threshold cut-off score to discriminate eating disorder pathology in a self-reported clinical and community sample.
METHODS
This study involved secondary analysis using data collected in McLean et al. (Development and preliminary validation of a novel eating disorder screening tool for vegetarians and vegans: the V-EDS, 2023), comprising 599 non-clinical participants and 51 self-reported clinical participants. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to compute possible cut-off values for the V-EDS.
RESULTS
ROC analysis indicated good performance of the V-EDS (area under the curve = 0.87), with integration of the Youden index demonstrating a global score of ≥ 18 to be optimal in predicting clinical caseness with good sensitivity (0.804) and specificity (0.843).
CONCLUSIONS
The present study fills an important gap as the first to investigate an optimal V-EDS score to discriminate level of impairment from eating disorder pathology in a sample of vegetarian and vegan community and self-reported clinical participants. We extend the utility of the V-EDS in discovering good discrimination power in classifying clinical caseness with a cut-off score of 18 shown to optimise the trade-off between sensitivity and specificity. Future research should focus on expanding the psychometric properties of the V-EDS in larger and more diverse participant groups, including gender, age, cultural identity, and eating disorder history.
PubMed: 38268035
DOI: 10.1186/s40337-024-00969-2 -
Acta Obstetricia Et Gynecologica... Jun 2024The number of people adhering to plant-based diets has been increasing dramatically in recent years, fueled by both environmental and animal welfare concerns. Beneficial... (Observational Study)
Observational Study
INTRODUCTION
The number of people adhering to plant-based diets has been increasing dramatically in recent years, fueled by both environmental and animal welfare concerns. Beneficial or possible adverse consequences of such diets, particularly the most restrictive forms during pregnancy, have been minimally explored. The aim of this prospective observational study was to examine associations between different forms of plant-based diets during pregnancy with birth outcomes and pregnancy complications.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The Danish National Birth Cohort included 100 413 pregnancies to 91 381 women in 1996-2002. The population consisted of 66 738 pregnancies, about which sufficient dietary data were available and included in the study. Dietary and supplemental intake was assessed by Food Frequency Questionnaire in gestational week 25 and women were characterized as fish/poultry-vegetarians, lacto/ovo-vegetarians, vegans or omnivorous, based on their self-report in gestational week 30. Main outcome measures were pregnancy and birth complications, birthweight and small for gestational age.
RESULTS
A total of 98.7% (n = 65 872) of participants were defined as omnivorous, whereas 1.0% (n = 666), 0.3% (n = 183) and 0.03% (n = 18) identified themselves as fish/poultry vegetarians, lacto/ovo-vegetarians or vegans, respectively. Protein intake was lower among lacto/ovo-vegetarians (13.3%) and vegans (10.4%) than among omnivorous participants (15.4%). Intake of micronutrients was also considerably lower among vegans, but when dietary supplements were taken into consideration, no major differences were observed. Compared with omnivorous mothers, vegans had a higher prevalence of preeclampsia and their offspring had on average -240 g (95% confidence interval -450 to -30) lower birthweight.
CONCLUSIONS
The women reporting that they adhered to vegan diets during pregnancy had offspring with lower mean birthweight and higher risk of preeclampsia compared with omnivorous mothers. Low protein intake might be one plausible explanation for the observed association with birthweight.
Topics: Humans; Female; Pregnancy; Prospective Studies; Denmark; Diet, Vegetarian; Adult; Pregnancy Outcome; Infant, Newborn; Birth Weight; Pregnancy Complications; Infant, Small for Gestational Age; Cohort Studies; Diet, Plant-Based
PubMed: 38263894
DOI: 10.1111/aogs.14778 -
Frontiers in Nutrition 2023[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1294497.].
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1294497.].
PubMed: 38249605
DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1354336