Pattern analysis of vegan eating reveals healthy and unhealthy patterns within the vegan diet

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to identify the types of foods that constitute a vegan diet and establish patterns within the diet. Dietary pattern analysis, a key instrument for exploring the correlation between health and disease was used to identify patterns within the vegan diet. Design: A modified version of the EPIC-Norfolk food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was created and validated to include vegan foods and launched on social media. Setting: UK participants, recruited online Participants: A convenience sample of 129 vegans voluntarily completed the FFQ. Collected data was converted to reflect weekly consumption to enable factor and cluster analyses. Results: Factor analysis identified four distinct dietary patterns including: 1) convenience, (22%); 2) health conscious, (12%); 3) unhealthy, (9%); and 4) traditional vegan (7%). Whilst two healthy patterns were defined, the convenience pattern was the most identifiable pattern with a prominence of vegan convenience meals and snacks, vegan sweets and desserts, sauces, condiments and fats. Cluster analysis identified three clusters, cluster one ‘convenience’ (26.8%), cluster two, ‘traditional’ (22%) and cluster 3 ‘health conscious’ (51.2%). Clusters one and two consisted of an array of ultra-processed vegan food items. Together, both clusters represent almost half of participants and yielding similar results to the predominant dietary pattern, strengthens the factor analysis. Conclusions: These novel results highlight a need for further dietary pattern studies with full nutrition and blood metabolite analysis in larger samples of vegans to enhance and ratify these results.

Nutritional Assessment of Plant-Based Meat Alternatives: A Comparison of Nutritional Information of Plant-Based Meat Alternatives in Spanish Supermarkets

“…In fact, most of the available PBMAs are manufactured in the form of sausages, burgers or nuggets and contain higher amounts of sodium, oil and additives, including coloring, flavoring and binding agents, in comparison to unprocessed meats [ 19 , 20 ]. Several studies have shown that the avoidance of animal-based food appears to be associated with the introduction of ultra-processed PBMAs over more natural plant sources, compromising the general quality of a plant-based diet [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Moreover, ultra-processed food has been associated with several health problems, like overweight and obesity, as well as metabolic syndrome prevalence, LDL cholesterol, risk of hypertension, and higher risks of cardiovascular, coronary heart, and cerebrovascular diseases [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Food Data Analysis using Multidimensional Visualizations based on Point Placement

“…We demonstrate the proposed method in a case study regarding the finding of substitute products for a diet plan in the context of vegan products. The idea relies on the use of different ingredients in preparations that mimic animal products commonly results in similar products from the sensory point of view, but divergent with regard to nutritional composition [14]. In this situation, suppose, for instance, a diet plan consisting of the categories pork, fish and poultry.…”

Systematic review and meta-analysis of iodine nutrition in modern vegan and vegetarian diets

“…(9) . Greater food availability and choice has permitted a larger number of dietary patterns to be followed within the standard definitions of vegan and vegetarian (9) . Following the publication of our review many new studies have examined iodine in the diet of vegans and vegetarians.…”