Comparison of diet quality of US adults based on primary motivation for following a vegetarian diet: A cross-sectional online study

This study aimed to evaluate the general quality of life (QoL) of Brazilian vegetarians. A cross-sectional study was conducted with Brazilian vegetarian adults (18 years old and above). Individuals were recruited to participate in a nationwide online survey that comprised the WHOQOL-BREF as well as sociodemographic and characterization questions related to vegetarianism. The WHOQOL-BREF is composed of 24 items which are divided into four domains (domain 1: physical health; domain 2: psychological well-being; domain 3: social relationships; and domain 4: environment), plus two general items which were analyzed separately, totaling 26 items. The answers from the questionnaire were converted into scores with a 0–100 scale range, with separate analyses for each domain. Results were compared among groups based on the different characteristics of the vegetarian population. A total of 4375 individuals completed the survey. General average score results were 74.67 (domain 1), 66.71 (domain 2), 63.66 (domain 3) and 65.76 (domain 4). Vegans showed better scores when compared to the other vegetarians, except in domain four, where the statistical difference was observed only for semi-vegetarians (lower score). Individuals adopting a vegetarian diet for longer (>1 year) showed better results for domains one and two, with no difference for the other domains. Having close people also adopting a vegetarian diet positively influenced the results for all domains. On the other hand, it was not possible to distinguish any clear influence of the motivation for adopting a vegetarian diet on the scores’ results. Adopting a vegetarian diet does not have detrimental effects on one’s QoL. In fact, the more plant-based the diet, and the longer it was adopted, the better the results were.

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Food Waste and Its Association with Diet Quality of Foods Purchased in South Florida

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu13082535 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 2535

Author(s):

Vanessa Mijares ◽

Jair Alcivar ◽

Cristina Palacios

Keyword(s):

Food Waste ◽

Diet Quality ◽

Linear Regression Analysis ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

South Florida ◽

Analysis Of Covariance ◽

Grocery Stores ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Grocery Purchase

The objective of this study was to explore the associations between food waste and the diet quality of foods purchased and with grocery purchasing behaviors. This was a cross-sectional study among 109 primary household food providers conducting primary shopping. Participants were recruited outside of local grocery stores and were asked to complete a survey assessing amounts of avoidable food waste and grocery purchasing behaviors. The diet quality of the foods purchased was assessed from grocery receipts using the Grocery Purchase Quality Index-2016 (GPQI-2016). Variables were associated using linear regression, analysis of covariance, and point biserial correlations. We found that fresh fruits (63%) and leafy greens (70%) were the foods that were the most wasted. The GPQI-2016 total score was significantly inversely associated with the total amount of food wasted (β = −0.63; 95% CI: −1.14,−0.12) after adjusting for important confounders. The reason “food past the date printed on the package” was directly correlated with food wasted (r = 0.40; p < 0.01) but inversely correlated with GPQI-2016 score (r = −0.21; p = 0.04). Food wasted, but not the GPQI-2016 score, was significantly higher among those who grocery shop 2–4 times per week compared to 1 time every 1–2 weeks (p = 0.02). In conclusion, food waste is inversely associated with diet quality and directly associated with grocery purchasing frequency.

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Nutritional intake and overall diet quality of female soccer players before the competition period

Revista de Nutrição ◽

10.1590/1678-98652016000400010 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 555-565 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Daniel dos SANTOS ◽

Jacqueline Queiroz da SILVEIRA ◽

Thais Borges CESAR

Keyword(s):

Nutritional Status ◽

Dietary Intake ◽

Healthy Eating ◽

Diet Quality ◽

Protein Quality ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Soccer Players ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Professional Soccer

ABSTRACT Objective: To assess the dietary intake and overall diet quality of female soccer players before the competitive games. Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study included 21 women aged 20.8±4.5 years from a professional soccer team. Their nutritional status and dietary adequacy during the training period, before competition season, were assessed. Dietary intake was assessed by three 24-hour recalls, one food frequency questionnaire, and the Healthy Eating Index, an overall diet quality index based on food group intake. Results: The athletes have shown proper nutritional status, but a diet deficient in energy due largely to low carbohydrate intake. On the other hand, the intakes of protein, fatty acids, and sodium were above the recommended intakes, even for athletes. Diet quality assessment by the Healthy Eating Index - 2010 resulted in a mean score of 54.6 points of a maximum of 100, indicating a need of improving the overall diet quality. Conclusion: The study found that the dietary patterns of female football players were both quantitatively and qualitatively inappropriate. A nutritional intervention is indicated to improve diet quality, with the inclusion of various foods, such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and better protein quality, along with a reduction in saturated fats, sodium, and added sugar.

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Healthy Eating Index: Assessment of the Diet Quality of a Brazilian Elderly Population

Nutrition and Metabolic Insights ◽

10.1177/1178638818818845 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

pp. 117863881881884

Author(s):

Dalila Pinto de Souza Fernandes ◽

Maria Sônia Lopes Duarte ◽

Milene Cristine Pessoa ◽

Sylvia do Carmo Castro Franceschini ◽

Andréia Queiroz Ribeiro

Keyword(s):

Healthy Eating ◽

Diet Quality ◽

Saturated Fat ◽

Population Based ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Whole Grains ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Global Quality

Background: The food consumption assessment is necessary to monitor elderly’s nutritional status because it allows detecting nutrition deficits and guiding the elaboration of effective conducts. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the global quality of the elderly’s diet in Viçosa—MG, Brazil. Methods: This is a population-based cross-sectional study, involving noninstitutionalized elderly. Diet quality was assessed through the Brazilian Healthy Eating Index-Revised (BHEI-R) validated to the Brazilian population. Results: The study comprised 620 elderly individuals. The mean total BHEI-R score was 64.28. The worse consumption scores concerned the components Whole grains, Milk and derivatives, Sodium, Total fruit, and Whole fruit. Approximately 82% scored zero (0%) for Whole grains and 67% for Sodium. Men presented significantly lower scores than women, who have presented maximal score in the same items. Women’s scores were not only significantly higher for Total fruit, Whole fruit, Milk and derivatives, but also significantly lower for Saturated fat. Discussion: Most elderly need to improve their diet quality. Strategies heading toward the improvement of diet quality must be priority in policies to health promotion toward the healthy and active aging.

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Influences on the diet quality of pre-school children: importance of maternal psychological characteristics

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1017/s136898001400250x ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 18 (11) ◽

pp. 2001-2010 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Megan Jarman ◽

Hazel M Inskip ◽

Georgia Ntani ◽

Cyrus Cooper ◽

Janis Baird ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Diet Quality ◽

Psychological Factors ◽

Maternal Education ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Cluster Membership ◽

Health Related ◽

Quality Diet ◽

Mealtime Environment

AbstractObjectiveTo test the hypothesis that maternal psychological profiles relate to children’s quality of diet.DesignCross-sectional study. Mothers provided information on their health-related psychological factors and aspects of their child’s mealtime environment. Children’s diet quality was assessed using an FFQ from which weekly intakes of foods and a diet Z-score were calculated. A high score described children with a better quality diet. Cluster analysis was performed to assess grouping of mothers based on psychological factors. Mealtime characteristics, describing how often children ate while sitting at a table or in front of the television, their frequency of takeaway food consumption, maternal covert control and food security, and children’s quality of diet were examined, according to mothers’ cluster membership.SubjectsMother–child pairs (n 324) in the Southampton Initiative for Health. Children were aged 2–5 years.SettingHampshire, UK.ResultsTwo main clusters were identified. Mothers in cluster 1 had significantly higher scores for all psychological factors than mothers in cluster 2 (all P<0·001). Clusters were termed ‘more resilient’ and ‘less resilient’, respectively. Children of mothers in the less resilient cluster ate meals sitting at a table less often (P=0·03) and watched more television (P=0·01). These children had significantly poorer-quality diets (β=−0·61, 95 % CI −0·82, −0·40, P≤0·001). This association was attenuated, but remained significant after controlling for confounding factors that included maternal education and home/mealtime characteristics (P=0·006).ConclusionsThe study suggests that mothers should be offered psychological support as part of interventions to improve children’s quality of diet.

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Diet quality, assessed by the Healthy Eating Index-2010, and exercise associated factors of obesity: a cross-sectional study

Revista Española de Nutrición Humana y Dietética ◽

10.14306/renhyd.25.2.1109 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 189-198

Author(s):

Ismael San Mauro Martin ◽

Elena Garicano Vilar ◽

Paula Mendive Dubourdieu ◽

Victor Paredes Barato ◽

Cristina Garagarza ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Diet Quality ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Overweight And Obesity ◽

Quality Data ◽

Dietary Intakes ◽

Anthropometric Measures ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The Mean

Introduction: Certain weight management methods may be associated with unhealthy dietary intakes, skewing toward certain dietary components and lacking others. Management of weight should not ignore the quality of the diet, as both obesity and poor diet are associated with higher risk of chronic disease. Objective: To conduct a diet quality and exercise scan and observe their repercussion on BMI, in adults from Spain, Portugal, Uruguay and Mexico. Material and methods:An observational retrospective cohort study was designed, with 1181 adults aged 18-65 years. HEI-2010 score was used to assess diet quality. Data on type, days a week and hours/day of exercise, and participant’s anthropometric measures were collected.Results: The mean HEI-2010 score was 65.21. There were no statistically significant differences between HEI-2010 score and BMI [p=0.706], BMI and days of exercise per week [p=0.151], BMI and hours/day of exercise [p=0.590] and BMI and being active [>3 days/week] [p=0.106]. On the contrary, overall exercise influenced BMI significantly [p<0.001]. Conclusions: Dietary patterns may help to prevent weight gain and fight overweight and obesity. This study, however, did not observe associations between the quality of the diet nor specifics of exercise with lower BMIs. The quality of the diet of adults in Spain, Portugal, Uruguay and Mexico fell short of recommendations.

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Health Biomarkers in Adults Are More Closely Linked to Diet Quality Attributes Than to Plant-Based Diet Categorization

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu11061427 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1427 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Selicia Mayra ◽

Noel Ugarte ◽

Carol S. Johnston

Keyword(s):

Diet Quality ◽

Vegetarian Diet ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Quality Attributes ◽

Activity Level ◽

Self Report ◽

Short Version ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Activity Assessment ◽

Quality Health

Although plant-based diets are promoted for healthy outcomes, these diets are not synonymous with high-quality diets. Plant-based diets can include highly processed, less healthful foods, including savory snacks, pastries, and sugary fruit drinks. This cross-sectional study examined the diet quality of vegetarian and omnivorous adults, matched for gender, age, and adiposity, and related diet quality to standard health biomarkers. Diet quality was assessed using the Rapid Eating and Activity Assessment for Participants Short Version questionnaire. Participants (17 vegetarians and 16 omnivores; 28.2 ± 8.9 years; 22.5 ± 2.7 kg/m2) were non-smokers and healthy by self-report. The median duration of adherence to the vegetarian diet was 27 months. Physical activity level and diet quality did not differ significantly between diet groups. Moreover, health biomarkers did not differ by diet groups. When participants were regrouped by low versus high diet quality, health biomarkers differed significantly between groups for fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, triglyceride (TG)/HDL ratio, and blood folate, with more favorable levels in the group with high diet quality. These data suggest that health biomarkers more closely align with diet quality attributes than with plant-based diet categorization. Thus, messaging focused on healthy diet attributes may lead to better health outcomes than the simple promotion of plant-based diets.

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Quality of Plant-based Diet and Risk of Total, Ischemic, and Hemorrhagic Stroke

Neurology ◽

10.1212/wnl.0000000000011713 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 10.1212/WNL.0000000000011713

Author(s):

Megu Y Baden ◽

Zhilei Shan ◽

Fenglei Wang ◽

Yanping Li ◽

JoAnn E Manson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Diet Quality ◽

Medical Records ◽

Hemorrhagic Stroke ◽

Stroke Risk ◽

Vegetarian Diet ◽

Health Study ◽

Follow Up Study ◽

Hazard Ratios

Objective:To determine whether a healthful plant-based diet is related to lower stroke risk, we examined the associations of plant-based diet quality with risk of total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke.Methods:The participants were 73,890 women in Nurses’ Health Study (NHS; 1984 to 2016), 92,352 women in NHSII (1991 to 2017), and 43,266 men in Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986 to 2012) without cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline. Plant-based diet quality was evaluated by the overall plant-based diet index (PDI), the healthful PDI (hPDI), and the unhealthful PDI (uPDI). Participants who reported their meat and/or fish intakes were zero or less than one serving per month were categorized as vegetarians, and others were classified as non-vegetarians. Strokes with available medical records were subtyped as ischemic or hemorrhagic.Results:During the follow-up, 6,241 total stroke cases (including 3,015 ischemic and 853 hemorrhagic strokes) were documented. Compared to participants with the lowest PDIs, among participants with the highest PDIs the hazard ratios (HRs) for total stroke were 0.94 (95% confidence interval 0.86 to 1.03) for PDI, 0.90 (0.83 to 0.98) for hPDI, and 1.05 (0.96 to 1.15) for uPDI. Participants in the highest hPDI showed marginally lower HR for ischemic stroke (0.92 [0.82 to 1.04]) and no consistent associations for hemorrhagic stroke. We observed no association between a vegetarian diet and total stroke (1.00 [0.76 to 1.32]), although the number of cases was small.Conclusions:Lower risk of total stroke was observed by those who adhered to a healthful plant-based diet.

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The cross-sectional relationships between consumption of takeaway food, eating meals outside the home and diet quality in British adolescents

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1017/s1368980018002690 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 63-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ayyoub K Taher ◽

Nina Evans ◽

Charlotte EL Evans

Keyword(s):

Diet Quality ◽

Household Income ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Dietary Guidelines ◽

Nutrition Survey ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Frequent Consumption ◽

The Uk ◽

Score Range

AbstractObjectiveThe present study aimed to evaluate the association of frequency of consuming takeaway meals and meals out with diet quality of UK adolescents.DesignThe Diet Quality Index for Adolescents (DQI-A) tool was used to assess diet quality, where adolescents’ food intake was based on 4d diary records obtained from the UK cross-sectional National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) rolling programme Years 1–6. Models included confounders.SettingThe DQI-A relies on three components, specifically diet quality, diversity and equilibrium, which reflect the degree of adherence of an adolescent’s diet with food-based dietary guidelines.ParticipantsBritish (n 2045) adolescents aged 11–18 years.ResultsMean diet quality score for all adolescents was 20·4 % (overall DQI-A score range: −33 to 100 %). After adjusting for age, gender and equivalised household income, DQI-A% score was higher for low and moderate takeaway consumers by 7·4 % (95 % CI 5·5, 9·2; P<0·01) and 3·5 % (95 % CI 1·9, 5·1; P<0·01), respectively, v. frequent consumers. Significant differences were also observed between low, moderate and frequent takeaway consumers among all DQI-A components and sub-components (P<0·05), except for the diet adequacy sub-component (DAx). Results for frequent consumption of meals out were similar but attenuated and not statistically significant for individual components before or after adjusting for confounders.ConclusionsFrequent consumption of takeaway meals may have a negative impact on adolescents’ diet quality and therefore policies to reduce the intake of takeaways should be considered in this age group.

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Factors associated with diet quality of older adults

Revista de Nutrição ◽

10.1590/1678-98652017000300003 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 297-306 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Tatiana Império de FREITAS ◽

Ágatha Nogueira PREVIDELLI ◽

Marcela Previato do Nascimento FERREIRA ◽

Karina Maffei MARQUES ◽

Rita Maria Monteiro GOULART ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Older Adults ◽

Diet Quality ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Healthy Eating Index ◽

Education Level ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Factors Associated ◽

The City

ABSTRACT Objective Evaluate the factors associated with diet quality of older adults from the city of São Caetano do Sul, São Paulo, Brazil. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 295 older adults receiving care in health care units in São Caetano do Sul. Diet quality was assessed using the Brazilian Healthy Eating Index. The associations between the diet quality mean score and the socio-demographic, economic, and anthropometric characteristics and lifestyle and health conditions were verified using multiple linear regression. Results Lower diet quality mean score were associated with the variables: marital status (widowed or separated) (β=-2.02; p=0.047), retired (β=-4.24; p=0.034), and smoking (β=-8.06; p=0.001); whereas higher diet quality mean score were associated with higher education level (9 years or more) (β=3.49; p=0.013). Conclusion Individuals with higher education level had better diet quality, and those who were widowed or separated, retired, and smokers had worse diet quality indicating that socio-demographic, economic, and lifestyle are factors that can influence food choice of older adults.

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