Publication Date

6-3-2024

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Public Health Nutrition

Volume

27

Issue

1

DOI

10.1017/S1368980024001241

Abstract

Objective: Limited research is available on how motivations to adopt plant-based diets and nutrition literacy influence diet quality. This study assessed diet quality, diet motives and nutrition literacy in vegans, vegetarians and semi-vegetarians and investigated predictors of dietary quality. Design: Cross-sectional study, participants completed an online survey about diet-related motives and nutrition literacy. Dietary intake was assessed with the Diet History Questionnaire III, and diet quality was calculated with the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015. A one-way ANCOVA was used to compare diet quality, nutrition literacy and diet motives among diets. Hierarchical regression analysis was performed to identify significant predictors of diet quality. Setting: Online survey, participants were recruited through paid targeted social media (Facebook/Instagram) advertising. Participants: Adults following a plant-based diet, including 117 (52·5 %) vegans, 51 (22·9 %) vegetarians and 55 (24·6 %) semi-vegetarians. Results: Vegans had higher HEI-2015 scores (80·8 (SD 6·5), P < 0·001) compared to vegetarians (75·1 (SD 9·1)) and semi-vegetarians (76·8 (SD 7·5)). Most participants (74 %) had good nutrition literacy scores. Total nutrition literacy did not differ between groups, but vegans had higher vegetarian nutrition literacy than vegetarians and semi-vegetarians (P < 0·001). Ecological welfare, health and sensory appeal were highly important to all participants. Motives accounted for 12·8 % of the variance in diet quality scores. HEI-2015 scores were positively associated with motives of health and natural content, but negatively associated with weight control motivation (all P < 0·05). Conclusions: Individuals following plant-based dietary patterns have high diet quality and nutrition literacy. Messages valuing intrinsic over extrinsic factors may facilitate healthier dietary adherence in this population.

Keywords

Dietary intake, Health literacy, Motivation, Plant-based diet

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Nutrition, Food Science and Packaging

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